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Imaginative Play, Activities That Encourage Fine Motor Development
by Nicole Munoz
Fine motor skills involve the movement and dexterity of hands and fingers. These skills are the ones that allow your infant to grasp her toys and are used by your toddler when he manipulates and turns his toys between his hands. The primary use of fine motor skills in everyday life is for writing. Children must have already developed some strength in their fingers to properly hold a pencil and learn to write so it is important to offer a variety of activities that promote fine motor development.
The best fine motor activities are those that encourage your child to manipulate a toy with his hands and fingers and, like with all educational activities, should be something your child finds enjoyable. Modeling clay and play dough promote creativity and offer all kinds of opportunities to develop fine motor skills. Encourage your child to roll various sized balls out of the clay and let him use toothpicks or short, blunt dowels to etch designs and details into his play dough creations.
Building with blocks, like a 100 piece wooden block set, encourages young children to build their fine motor skills as well. Activities like puzzles, lacing cards, or bead stringing also allow children to use their small muscles to manipulate an object. Art activities are great ways to develop fine motor skills. Have your child tear small pieces of tissue paper, then crumple the paper into a small ball and glue it onto a picture. Paper-mache art builds fine motor skills too. Allow your child to tear newspaper into small strips, then dip into a flour based glue solution and smooth onto a balloon. Medicine dropper paintings are another terrific art activity to enhance small muscle development.
Play board games with your child that include dice and encourage her to roll the dice to strengthen her hand dexterity. Games that involve turning over cards, like Memory, or games with small pieces to move, like Checkers, are other fun ways to enhance fine motor development. You should also provide your child with finger puppets and help her to use them during your song time or story time.
Cutting with scissors is one of the best activities for a child to prepare her finger muscles for writing. Supply your child with a sturdy pair of safety scissors and give her a variety of different materials to cut. Plastic straws or cardstock are great for building strength, while already shredded paper scraps can build dexterity as well as hand and eye coordination. Have your child cut in a number of different ways, including short, quick cuts to create a fringed line on construction paper and steady, long cuts to follow along a drawn line.
After some fine motor skills have been mastered, usually around preschool age, you should provide your child with a number of prewriting activities. Drawing with chalk and painting are excellent fine motor development activities. Draw large letters on a piece of paper and let your child trace the lines with a marker. Dot to Dot games are also great for developing finger dexterity and hand and eye coordination.
About The Author: For more tips and information about Activities That Encourage Fine Motor Development, check out http://www.thekidstoystore.com.
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You may want to try these websites for additional information
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http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toys/toy_categories/imaginative_play/index.cfm?target_category_id1232
The information provided in this article is the express opinion of the author. Exchangenet is not responsible for the content!
Fine motor skills involve the movement and dexterity of hands and fingers. These skills are the ones that allow your infant to grasp her toys and are used by your toddler when he manipulates and turns his toys between his hands. The primary use of fine motor skills in everyday life is for writing. Children must have already developed some strength in their fingers to properly hold a pencil and learn to write so it is important to offer a variety of activities that promote fine motor development.
The best fine motor activities are those that encourage your child to manipulate a toy with his hands and fingers and, like with all educational activities, should be something your child finds enjoyable. Modeling clay and play dough promote creativity and offer all kinds of opportunities to develop fine motor skills. Encourage your child to roll various sized balls out of the clay and let him use toothpicks or short, blunt dowels to etch designs and details into his play dough creations.
Building with blocks, like a 100 piece wooden block set, encourages young children to build their fine motor skills as well. Activities like puzzles, lacing cards, or bead stringing also allow children to use their small muscles to manipulate an object. Art activities are great ways to develop fine motor skills. Have your child tear small pieces of tissue paper, then crumple the paper into a small ball and glue it onto a picture. Paper-mache art builds fine motor skills too. Allow your child to tear newspaper into small strips, then dip into a flour based glue solution and smooth onto a balloon. Medicine dropper paintings are another terrific art activity to enhance small muscle development.
Play board games with your child that include dice and encourage her to roll the dice to strengthen her hand dexterity. Games that involve turning over cards, like Memory, or games with small pieces to move, like Checkers, are other fun ways to enhance fine motor development. You should also provide your child with finger puppets and help her to use them during your song time or story time.
Cutting with scissors is one of the best activities for a child to prepare her finger muscles for writing. Supply your child with a sturdy pair of safety scissors and give her a variety of different materials to cut. Plastic straws or cardstock are great for building strength, while already shredded paper scraps can build dexterity as well as hand and eye coordination. Have your child cut in a number of different ways, including short, quick cuts to create a fringed line on construction paper and steady, long cuts to follow along a drawn line.
After some fine motor skills have been mastered, usually around preschool age, you should provide your child with a number of prewriting activities. Drawing with chalk and painting are excellent fine motor development activities. Draw large letters on a piece of paper and let your child trace the lines with a marker. Dot to Dot games are also great for developing finger dexterity and hand and eye coordination.
About The Author: For more tips and information about Activities That Encourage Fine Motor Development, check out http://www.thekidstoystore.com.
These articles on lifestyle and more
Reprint this article free of charge as long as you keep the author's resource box or bio intact and the links active. A copy of the ezine or URL of the page where the article was reprinted emailed to the author would be very much appreciated. imaginative play
Return to the selection of imaginative play
You may want to try these articles on imaginative play
Imaginative Play, Gifts Children Can Make by Nicole Munoz Approximately 645 Words
Imaginative Play, Nutritious Art Activities For Young Children by Nicole Munoz Approximately 585 Words
Imaginative Play, Fun Family Activities by Nicole Munoz Approximately 552 Words
Imaginative Play, Gifts Children Can Make by Nicole Munoz Approximately 645 Words
Imaginative Play, Nutritious Art Activities For Young Children by Nicole Munoz Approximately 589 Words
Imaginative Play, Rainy Day Fun For Your Preschooler by Nicole Munoz Approximately 549 Words
You may want to try these websites for additional information
http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toys/toy_categories/imaginative_play/index.cfm?target_category_id2592
http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toys/toy_categories/imaginative_play/index.cfm
http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toys/toy_categories/imaginative_play/index.cfm?target_category_id1232
The information provided in this article is the express opinion of the author. Exchangenet is not responsible for the content!
