As your child grows they’ll need to use their fine motor skills more and more to complete everyday tasks like getting dressed, writing and eating. These kinds of activities are achieved through control of small muscles in the hands to make movements, which we call fine motor skills. You can help your child develop these abilities by giving them opportunities to practice such movements. This prep school in Notting Hill has some advice on how you can help your child develop their fine motor skills.

Toys and games

Many children’s toys help to develop their fine motor skills. They often include small parts that children must learn to pick up and put together using small movements such as a pincer grasp or gripping. Puzzles are a good option as they contain many pieces for your child to move around, as are games like jenga or board games. Anything which encourages children to pick up small objects will help develop their ability to control the small muscles in their hands.

Creative activities

You can help your child practise fine motor skills by giving them the chance to get creative and use pens, pencils, chalk and crayons to colour in or write with. Any scribbling they do will develop their ability to grip small objects and learn to control fine movements to create something. Another good activity for this is creating your own jewellery where your child will have to thread things like beads onto some string using tiny movements. It’s also a good idea to allow your child to practise cutting things out with children’s scissors as this will also enhance their ability to control their hand movements.

Water play

Playing with water provides a great opportunity for children to develop fine motor skills. Give them some cups or empty syringes and prompt them to transfer water from one container to another. This will test their hand coordination while also being super fun for them. You can incorporate other utensils to test their skill development even further.

Get gardening

Some elements of gardening require the use of smaller muscle control, such as transferring seedlings into a hole and digging with a trowel. Encourage your child to use a pincer grasp when picking up seeds and give them a watering can to water the new seeds.

As they mature children develop their fine motor skills through a variety of different activities but you can give them a head start by letting them engage in activities like these as often as possible.