A crucial aspect of a child’s general growth and development is the enhancement of their control over their fine motor skills. Children that have developed these skills may use items with more dexterity than other kids and can write, draw, and do other tasks that require dexterity. The coordination of relatively tiny muscles, such as those seen in the hands and fingers, is required for these skills. In this piece, we’ll discuss the various muscle groups required for fine motor skills, discuss the benefits of polishing them, and offer some real-world examples and tips for improving kids’ fine motor skills.
The following muscle groups are used while doing activities that need fine motor control:
The ability to coordinate the many muscles located in one’s hands, fingers, and wrists is essential for developing one’s fine motor skills. Most skeletal muscle involved in this process are the following subgroups:
The muscles that regulate the movement of each individual finger are known as intrinsic hand muscles, and they are found inside the hand. The interosseous muscles and the lumbrical muscles are two examples of these kinds of muscles.
Children who demonstrate great fine motor skills are more likely to achieve the following positive outcomes, among others:
Improvement of Academic Performance: Young people with well-developed fine motor skills can operate small objects with comfort, write legibly, and draw accurately. These abilities are necessary for children to succeed in scholastic pursuits including writing, drawing, and mathematics.
Improvements in Hand-Eye Coordination: Hand-eye coordination must improve to do activities like catching a ball, threading a needle, or playing musical instruments. Fine motor skills development entails this. Knitting and crocheting are two more crafts that call for the hone of fine motor abilities.
Since they can independently button clothes, tie shoelaces, and use utensils, children with well-developed fine motor abilities are more self-assured and autonomous. Children who can tie their own shoelaces and button their own clothes are further instances. These duties include using different utensils, tying shoelaces, and buttoning clothes.
Fine motor activities demand complex hand motions, which increase brain activity. This activity fosters the development of neural connections and supports the improvement of cognitive abilities.
Skills Necessary Before Writing The learning of pre-writing abilities, such as the proper pencil grip, the formation of letters, and the acquisition of fluency in handwriting, depend heavily on the development of fine motor skills. These talents could be developed when a child’s fine motor skills grow.
Techniques to Help You Develop Your Fine Motor Control Skills:
The following is a list of helpful tactics and exercises that may be utilised to help youngsters develop their fine motor skills:
- Playdough and clay: Forming and sculpting playdough or clay can help to strengthen the hands’ muscles and improve finger dexterity. Working with playdough or clay will help you do this. By providing them with constructive criticism, you may encourage your kid to use their hands to create a range of unique forms or objects. They will be more inventive because of this.
- Activities like puzzles and building blocks are excellent for promoting hand-eye coordination since they call for precise hand movements. This is so that the fine motor skills required for hand-eye coordination, which are developed through these kinds of activities. Starting with larger components and working your way down to smaller, more exact designs as your abilities advance is an option.
- Beading and Threading: You may give your child lacing cards or beads to work with while you show them how to thread beads onto strings. One may improve their fine motor control and hand-eye coordination with the help of this exercise.
- Cut-and-Paste Games and Other Tracing-Related Games You should provide your child access to child-safe scissors and encourage them to practice cutting straight lines with the tools. If you practise using a pencil to make patterns or forms, drawing with one could help you develop better hand control and pencil grip.
- Introduce tools that require the use of a pincer grasp and strengthen the finger muscles, such as tweezers, tongs, or pegboards. The fine motor system benefits greatly from these instruments.
Renu Rajain
References:
American Occupational Therapy Association. (2021). Fine Motor Skills. Retrieved from https://www.aota.org/About-Occupational-Therapy/Patients-Clients/ChildrenAndYouth/fine-motor-skills.aspx
Parham, L. D., Cohn, E. S., Spitzer
