Improve Children's Motor Skills
Motor skills are the ability to use muscle groups in a coordinated and controlled manner. Gross motor skills come into play when activities such as running and jumping are pursued, requiring the movement and control of large muscle groups. Fine motor skills involve the use of the small muscles in the hands, fingers and thumb. Writing, using scissors, buttoning, and grasping or manipulating small objects are activities that require the use of these skills. Motor skills are developed with practice in using these muscles, so activity is the key to improving children's motor skills.
Instructions
1. Make gross motor skills practice fun by exploring the local park or your neighborhood. A walk with a few minor obstacles thrown in, such as varying terrain or a curb or low wall to balance on, is a great way to work on those motor skills.
2. Play catch with your child. This is great for gross motor skills development, exercising control over upper body muscles as well as helping with hand-eye coordination. Young children may do best at learning this skill by beginning with a large beach ball or balloon, as they are slow moving and easy to grasp, then graduating to smaller ones as skills improve.
3. Take your child swimming. Wading, swimming and water play are very effective in honing gross motor skills, the water offering both support and resistance to improve strength, balance and coordination.
4. Use playground equipment to fine-tune those gross motor skills. Climbing the ladder on a slide or a jungle gym uses upper body muscles and leg muscles, offering practice in coordination and balance. Swings also encourage coordinated body movement and balance as a child learns to shift his weight and pump those legs to propel themselves.
5. Use art and crafts projects to improve children's fine motor skills. Decorating paper with stickers or coloring are great practice for small children, as is cutting snowflakes or other simple shapes and gluing them on construction paper.
6. Sort small objects with your child to encourage her to practice the pincer grasp, which is essential to many fine motor activities, including writing. Sorting colored bead or different sized coins into cups is a good way to practice this skill, as is stringing beads or placing pegs into a peg board.
7. Play with stacking toys. This is good fine motor practice for very young children, requiring focus on precise movements to keep that carefully built tower intact. Start out with large blocks, and then move along to smaller ones as skills progress.
Tags: gross motor skills, motor skills, gross motor, your child, body muscles, Children Motor