Activities to Help Strengthen Your Child’s Fine Motor Skills
The fine motor skills shown in children at an early age are the reason we’re able to type, handle objects and hold things with ease. It’s one of the core ways children will be able to develop into their later years and progress in life.
Strengthening those skills can be done in a number of ways that can be done both at home or during nursery or school time. Try these fun activities with your children with the advice from this https://www.tranby.org.uk.
Using play-dough, slime or putty
Any or all of these kinds of materials are really popular with kids. It allows them to make funky shapes, build things or make fun creations all from their fingertips. Slime can also come in kits, so you can make slime together at home. Similarly with play-dough: they often come in buildable kits with moulds and ideas to get you started.
Letting your child play with their hands and fingers will get them used to the different textures, shapes and feelings they get when handling this material. They’re also getting the chance to use a range of tools to make shapes and designs with.
Painting
There are loads of different ways to let a child learn through painting. They can use their hands to lay the paint out onto a big piece of paper, make hand prints or begin to use a paintbrush.
Holding a paintbrush will show them how to handle differently shaped objects and moving them across their canvas. A good way of practising this is by asking your child to write the alphabet by painting. There are also other great ways to get your child to learn by flicking the paint brush to make little splats, painting small dots together to make a shape or using different kinds of paints such as watercolours.
Water Play
In almost all ways your child will be using their hands to navigate in the water. From their first time in the paddling pool to swimming their first strokes, they’ll be using their hands to focus on their technique and swimming ability.
Toys and inflatables also add to the fun. Water guns and bubble machines give your child a chance at holding toys at different angles – they’ll be using a small wheel or a trigger to make bubbles appear and aiming at their parents or siblings to shoot water at them.
