by A.J. Morrison

Created on: July 12, 2008

Fine motor skills are an important part of development and school readiness. Without them a child will have difficulty writing and manipulating materials needed to perform academics. We spend the first few years of their lives working towards and celebrating in their mastery of gross motor skills. Now, it is time to fine tune.

Fine motor skills can be developed with some simple activities and games. Here are just a few:

- Stringing things along. Use yarn or shoe string and cheerios, fruit loops, noodles, or beads. Stringing items works a child's hand-eye coordination along with developing the fine muscles of the fingers and their ability to manipulate objects.

- Scribbling! Yes, scribbling. Offering paper and crayons or pencils or markers is a stepping stone to writing. While a child's attempts at writing will just be scribbles at first, it is a process that can't be ignored. Motor development in writing starts as a whole body concept. Children will use their whole arm to draw at first. They will make wide sweeping motions and large marks. As they get older you will see their ability to centralize their control to just their hand develop. As this development takes place, pictures and even writings will begin to emerge out of their scribbles.

- Tracing. Whether tracing pictures or words this is a good activity for beginning writers. They can use their fingers in various mediums from flour, to paint, to fog on the window. While a seemingly simple task, tracing with a finger is a crucial developmental step. You can go from tracing with a finger to using writing implements to practice this skill on paper or dry-erase boards.

- Sorting. This can be done with just about anything you can imagine. Empty egg cartons or ice cube trays are an inexpensive start. A child can sort beans, beads, or just about anything else small. The size of the object can start larger and get smaller as the child's ability to manipulate the materials develops. They can sort by color, size, shape, or number. Be sure the child does not still put objects in his/her mouth as this would be a choking hazard.

- Tearing. While we usually discourage children from tearing, when developing fine motor skills this is a very useful activity. Make an arts and crafts project out of it. The trick is using their fingers, not just their whole hands to recklessly rip. Tell them to pretend their fingers are like crab pinchers and they grasp the paper between their pinchers and tear little by little.

- Cutting. This is the next step after tearing. Start by snipping as if to make fringe. Once they have a managed snipping well, then you can move onto cutting on straight lines. AS they are able to do this well, you can then give them shapes and pictures to cut out. They will be a pro in no time!

Helping your child to develop fine motor skills is simply another great opportunity to play and have fun together while they learn and develop important skills!

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