Fine motor skills can be defined as small muscle movements or the ability to manipulate a small object with the hands or fingers, such as grasping, holding, pinching, and more. They also require good hand-eye coordination. The development and integration of fine motor abilities within the first eight years play a crucial role in a child's overall growth and well-being.
Fine motor development and speech-language development are interconnected. Certain fine motor activities that strengthen the finger or hand muscles mutually benefit the muscles we need to produce speech. To create accurate and clear sounds, we need to be able to position our lips, different parts of our tongue and jaw in a certain way.
For example, in the second half of the first year, when children start to eat, they need to strengthen the muscles needed for chewing. They also need to learn to coordinate hand movement and mouth control. Later, as they start school, they need refined fine motor skills for learning to write, a complex activity that demands much more than just holding a pencil. It involves grapheme knowledge, visual perception skills, proprioception and more.
Supporting fine motor skills can be integrated through simple and fun activities such as:
Finger painting and drawing with big chalks encourage whole arm movements and early coordination, great for toddlers and pre-schoolers.
Pouring water into different-sized containers or cups (during bath time or outdoor play) develops hand strength and control.
Working with play dough offers a rich sensory experience, while strengthening hand and finger muscles through rolling, squeezing and shaping. (Baking - creating a dough and using cookie cutters could be another fun activity.)
Games where players have to stack blocks, e.g. build a tower, children practise the pincer grasp, and they strengthen their fine motor precision and coordination.
Doing a puzzle, using pegs, threading beans or picking up objects with tongs enhance hand-eye coordination, finger strength and the pincer grasp. Another fun idea that kid's love is peeling and placing stickers. Toys that allow children to turn a knob or to manipulate objects in a way so they experience trial and error will not just keep the children engaged but enhance fine motor skills, hand eye coordination as well as focus and attention span.
Fine motor skills develop in a way that they start from larger movements and progress into smaller, more precise ones.
Fine motor and speech development rely on muscle control and coordination. Fine motor control is essential for moving the tongue and lips to create clear sounds, therefore, fine motor skills activities are incorporated in speech therapy to support not only a child's speech-language development but also to create a learning environment that supports the child's overall development.
by Angela Mischkulnig
Image by Freepik