How to Help children in their Motor Skill Development

Motor skills are nothing but the ability to perform complex muscle-and-nerve actions to produce movement. Motor skills are basically of two different kinds- fine motor skills and gross motor skills. Fine motor skills engage small body muscles and include activities like writing and tying shoes.

On the other hand, gross motor skills engage large body muscles used for the purpose of movements like walking and kicking. Some babies develop these motor skills at a very early age, while some take a good period of time to grasp those. Toys and games are the best way to develop these skills among children. When children are engaged in outdoor games like football, basket ball, tennis, or even when children do swimming, their muscular parts develop in faster. Painting, needle works, solving puzzles and making building blocks develops the fine motor skills in children.

The ability to complete functional activities that require these skills is an indication of the child developing in line with their milestones.Moto skill development problems are seen in the case of children with physical disabilities. These children need special care and love to develop these skills. If the child has fine motor weaknesses it may hamper the process of education, parents and teachers, by being a partner in the child’s play activities can help these children.

These children get some great fine motor skill exercise by playing especially if the parents involve the children in rolling the dough with cookie cutters. When parents get involved in their child’s activities, the children get interested in working. Most children who master over their fine motor skills in time do not have a serious problem. However in cases where the child is considerably behind the peers in multiple aspects of fine motor development or regresses, losing the previously acquired skills, then the parents of that child should seek medical advice.

Moreover, parents can incorporate activities like to teaching them to dress up zipping and buttoning; making cards to practice writing or tracing skills; cutting and pasting to make a project other than just a writing on a plain piece of paper and the like. When children are encouraged to their work by their own, they feel free to do the work and by that means their motor skills can also be developed.

In the first year of life, babies begin to gain some power over their movements – they begin to be able to grip their heads stable, to reach out and grasp objects, to turn, sit and move slowly and to hold cups or bottles for feeding.

Then they started to do things like walking, running and climbing. While advancement in basic gross and fine motor skills is vital because the capability to carry out the movements has direct and practical advantage on a child's daily living and freedom, motor progress is also important because these abilities influence their social and cognitive development as well. The ability to run, jump, climb and catch a ball independently increases the opportunities for social interaction and language learning.