Your child’s daily activities such as dressing, opening their favorite lunchbox, or using a pencil involve fine motor skills. However, this is a challenge for many kids with difficulty coordinating their hands, fingers, and eyes. Studies have proposed that 5 to 6% of school-aged kids are affected by poor motor skills. However, kids develop their motor skills at different rates. Therefore, if your child needs an extra push, here are a few tips to leverage.
Putty and play-dough
Putty and play-dough are usually included in the sensory diet-heavy work component. They can be additionally helpful for improving your child’s motor skills. You can encourage your kid to squeeze, spring, tweak and roll play clay into “worms” and “snakes.” They can even use scissors to cut the play-dough. However, this should be under strict supervision to prevent kids from harming themselves. Playdough is perfect for kids of every age since it is reusable and non-toxic. Clays usually end up dried out in your kitchen.
Planting and gardening
Although planting and gardening may seem more suited for developing gross motor skills, other aspects utilize control in small muscles. For example, seedling transfer into the garden will need hand-eye coordination to transport the smaller plants to their new holes safely. Your child may likewise have to dig using a trowel and a pincer grasp to pick seedlings.
Drawing, coloring, and painting
Urge your kid to paint and draw since it helps their motoring skills and enhances their imagination and creativity. From chalk to crayons, finger paints, brush, or charcoal painting, there are different painting forms and mediums to generate interest and enhance hand-eye coordination in kids. While a brush may be challenging for kids, especially those dealing with different types of cp, it helps gain better control for items such as pencils.
Puzzles
Picking and moving puzzle pieces is excellent for developing a pincer grasp. It can be exhausting to watch your kid complete a puzzle all by themselves. Moreover, puzzle parts may even end up in the mouth. Yet, it can be gratifying if you stick to the task. Put puzzles together, and support your child to finish easy types before progressing to more challenging ones. After completing a puzzle, the smile and sense of accomplishment on your kid’s face can be tremendously satisfying for every parent.
Water play
Fill a cup to about a quarter full, give your child an empty one with a clean medicine syringe or eyedropper. Get your child to attempt moving the water from one cup to the next by drawing water into the syringe or dropper and spurting it into the empty cup. You may likewise give your child more cups and add coloring to make this a color mixing test.
These tips are fun, so expect your child to enjoy them. The inability of your child to perform specific daily roles may take a toll on their self-confidence, independence, and ability to care for themselves and affect their academic performance. However, you can expect your child’s motoring skills to improve once you begin to practice these tips.