Fine Motor Skills

When babies are born, their brain is not developed enough to control this type of movement. This happens with time, as your baby grows.

Fine Motor skills are simply actions that involve your child using his smaller muscles, such as the ones found in his hands and fingers, to manipulate objects of different shapes and sizes.

By holding a small object between his finger and thumb, your child is using his fine motor skills. But it is not only limited to fingers. By using his mouth to taste different foods, your child is also using his fine motor skills.

When babies are born, their brain is not developed enough to control this type of movement. This happens with time, as your baby grows.

Typically, development starts in the head, and then gradually advances down to the rest of the muscles in the body.

This means that babies gain control of their face, mouth, lips, and tongue first, followed by the rest of their body muscles in time.

Fine Motor skills usually start to develop as your child’s whole body gains stability and mobility as well as with his cognitive and social development. They are a critical part of his development as he needs to learn to use his hands competently to be able to manipulate objects and to acquire self-help skills such as feeding and dressing.

If you notice your child trying to accomplish something on his own, encourage him with positive words of reinforcement and show him different ways of achieving his objective without completing the task for him.

Six-year-old’s continue to enjoy moving in a variety of ways. Although their fine motor skills are still developing, they are excited to explore and try out new activities and sports. At this age, children’ skill development will vary based on their exposure to different stimulating activities. Children who participate in activities like dance classes, team sports, or even playing in the garden might show signs of quicker skill development than those who are less active. Activities that can help in your 6 year old’s Fine Motor skill development:

• Encourage him to draw a picture based on his surroundings in as much detail as he can
• Have him practice writing his own name
• Show him how to tie his shoelaces and ask him to imitate your actions
• Ask him to hold a ball on a spoon and walk on a line or a pattern, while keeping his balance in order not to drop the ball
• Provide him with blank sheets of paper and different color pencils and ask him to draw a picture of his family in detail