DEVELOPING FINE MOTORS SKILLS

Fine motor skills can be defined as small muscle movements. Fine-motor coordination involves the ability to control the small muscles of the body and is usually defined as the ability to coordinate the action of the eyes and hands together in performing precise manipulative movements (eye-hand coordination). The early forerunners of fine-motor control appear to be the reflex grasp and avoidance reactions that become integrated and refined with increasing age and experience.

The child's motor development

One important aspect of a child's development is the development of his/her motor skills. The child takes control of the world with his/her body; thanks to his/her motricity, he/she can interact with his/her environment, manipulate objects that are part of it, adapt to it and sometimes try to change it. A child's motor development has an important influence on his/her whole person. It contributes to the child's independence (he/she can eventually get dressed or eat by him/herself), to his/her socialization (by participating in games with his/her friends), to his/her self-confidence (because he/she is getting better and better at it), and to his/her overall health (thanks to vigorous physical activities).

There are two kinds of stimulation that promote a harmonious development of a child's motricity: exploration and repetition.

Exploration: The child should have many opportunities to freely discover his/her environment, including objects that are part of it. The child needs to be encouraged and stimulated towards exploration activities, within an appropriate context, which must be reassuring, secure and possibly restricting because not everything can be allowed safely.

Repetition: Like with any other skill, adeptness and competency of a motor function come with repetition. All the activities offered to the children should be available for spontaneous repetition, and if necessary, under supervision of a reassuring adult.

Motricity depends on age

Between 2 and 4 years old: After mostly focusing on developing his large motor skills since birth, the child is now more available for activities requiring fine motor skills, especially manipulating objects that become smaller and smaller. At this age, many opportunities should be offered to the child to experiment with objects or toys without necessarily teaching the child a specific technique. The child should find in those experiments satisfaction and fun!

4 years old and older: The child is now interested and ready for both forms of motricity: fine and global. He/she is also more inclined to repetition with a specific goal such as drawing inside the lines or practicing a movement in a specific way (such as holding an object a certain way). The child usually demonstrates rapid gains in fine motor skills manipulation, finger dexterity and tool use. However, remember that fine motor skills do not develop overnight, but require patience and practice.