How to Develop Your Child’s Motor Skills in 5 Easy Steps
November 01, 2022
A blog by Tara Furness, FS2 Class Teacher at Dubai Heights Academy
Motor skills are crucial for your child’s growth. Within the first five years of your child’s life you will see a significant amount of development and growth. Strengthening their physical abilities will not only make them stronger, but it will also make them more independent – something that we continue to encourage and promote throughout our Foundation Stage at DHA.
It is extremely beneficial for parents to help develop these motor skills early on in their children’s lives in order to boost both confidence and endurance in their later years.
Motor skills are generally divided into two categories:
- Fine motor skills (smaller, simpler movements such as picking up a pencil to write)
- Gross motor skills (larger movements for actions such as running, jumping, sitting with good posture)
Here are some easy ways to promote motor skills with your child at home.
- Playdough
Playdough is an amazing way to encourage motor skills and it’s also lots of fun! Try teaching them actions such squeezing, stretching, pinching, rolling, etc. This can help your child to strengthen the muscles in their fingers and hands. - Threading
This can include threading jewels onto string to create jewelery, threading pasta onto straws or threading beads onto pipe cleaners to create different patterns. The fine motor skills that are developed from the activity are essential for being able to draw, write, do up buttons, open lunch boxes and many more! - Drawing
Not only is drawing great for your child’s fine motor skills, but it also stimulates hand-eye coordination. The more comfortable your child is with a pencil, whiteboard marker, chalk etc., the more eager they will be to begin mark-making and writing. - Movement
Motivate your child to move – whether it’s jumping on a trampoline, dancing, hopscotch… Trust us, it will develop your child’s confidence as well as their gross motor skills! Let them climb that climbing frame, allow them to get covered in mud at the park, inspire them with obstacle courses in the living room. It’s all fun and games! - Washing up
Just joking… kind of! Let your child experiment with sponges and water. They can have two bowls, one full of water and the other empty. Let them have a go at dipping the sponge in the water and squeezing the water out into the empty bowl. The squeezing action is great for the muscles in their hands. They’ll be helping you with the washing up in no time!
