Fine motor skills are acquired when the child stimulates the small muscles of the fingers and hands to make precise movements and to appropriate the objects around him. Our advice to promote your child's fine motor skills.
From childhood, children begin to learn, grow and develop their skills. During this stage, fine motor skills play a fundamental role in the development of their intelligence, but do you know how?
What is fine motor skills?
Your child begins to become nimble with his fingers: he touches, grabs, grips and uses certain objects made available to him. With these hands-on games, children can imitate, assimilate and appropriate certain everyday gestures which will be used for their personal constructions. To help your little one, you can give them games to control their fine motor skills, which will help them use their finger and hand muscles a little more. Certain everyday activities such as brushing your teeth, buttoning a shirt, using cutlery, tying shoelaces or even writing, naturally stimulate fine motor skills.
How to develop fine motor skills in children?
When a baby is born, it has no control over its movements and that is why, little by little, as it grows, it develops its various capacities, including fine motor skills. It is during the first years of its life that your little one will start to take more control of the movements of his hands and feet. From there, your baby's autonomy will continue to increase. But it is undoubtedly, between 3 and 6 years old, that children are at the best stage to develop this skill.
There are various activities that will help develop your little one's fine motor skills. However, it is very important to keep in mind that these activities will be extracurricular for your child, so we must teach them that this is another way of having fun and being entertained. This way, your little one will take these activities as a moment of play that he will want to repeat over and over again. Always with the aim of developing motor skills.
Plasticine to facilitate movement
Who has never played with plasticine during their childhood? This soft and elastic material is one of the elements that will favor the most development of fine motor skills of your child, because to carry out this activity, it is necessary to stimulate the sensory capacities and to make movements with the hands and the fingers. In this way, toddlers develop their coordination and motor skills by molding the material. For this, we recommend that you play with your baby to make thousands of shapes with plasticine.
First of all, we recommend that you opt for a modeling clay with 100% vegetable ingredients. A very fun activity with which your child can develop fine motor skills, creativity and attention span. Here is our selection of plasticine:
Draw and color
To promote coordination of movements and development of perception, finger painting is a great option!
We love this magic painting where your little ones can draw and paint as much as they want, developing all their creativity and leaving no trace. You can find it on Amazon for 45.29 euros.
Games to stimulate fine motor skills
Puzzles, blocks or building activities, these games require a certain concentration on the part of your child to catch and replace the objects. Another alternative may be to create your own toys with plasticine, so you will get super original creations! Here is our selection:
Stackable pegs set
An activity to develop valuable skills such as color recognition, motor skills, coordination or even shape monitoring in children.
Material contained in the box:
- 30 easy-to-handle plastic pegs
- a green foam board without sharp edges
- a card with instructions for use
- a backpack for transporting and storing parts
- a digital book "Tuddler's recipe for healthy and happy children"
Price: Available on Amazon from € 17.47
Reviews: 5/5
A bee hive and its 7 bees with tongs to place them inside
With the forceps, the child can gently (more or less) catch a pretty bee to store it in the cell that corresponds to it. A beautiful toy that contributes ideally to this pedagogy, by teaching your baby colors, fine motor skills, attention and by developing his sense of observation from 3 years.
Material contained in the box:
- A hive
- 7 bees
- Pliers
Price: Available on Amazon from € 23.69
Reviews: 4/5
Wooden cactus and colorful pieces to stack
A cactus with quills of all colors to discover colors, grip, hand-eye coordination, balance in order to nest and create a taller, larger or more colorful cactus.
A colorful game perfect for awakening the eyes, the senses and to improve its thoroughness, skill and discover proportions.
Material contained in the box:
- A wooden cactus
- Colorful peaks
Price: Available on Amazon from € 20.79
Reviews: 4.5 / 5