Developing fine motor skills should be a constant effort, and the earlier you start, the better. These skills serve as the foundation for mastering other useful abilities: from tying shoelaces to sewing on buttons or writing neatly. Neurologists emphasize that training fine motor skills is important not only in childhood but also in adulthood.
So, when you come across interesting activities for your child, join in! This kind of activity helps maintain memory, focus, attention, hand-eye coordination, and more. Considering how vital this skill is, today we’ll look for an answer to the key question: how to improve fine motor skills?
Why Are Fine Motor Skills Important?
The impact of fine motor skills can be divided into two main aspects:
- Brain development;
- Finger muscle training.
Fine motor skills are closely linked to the nervous system. Research shows that they affect attention, memory, and the ability to concentrate on various tasks. Additionally, exercises aimed at improving fine motor skills positively impact speech development, as the same brain centers responsible for speech are activated during finger muscle activities.
In simple terms, activities like threading beads or tying shoelaces are just as important for a child to start speaking or improving their speech as talking to them, reading aloud, singing, or doing specific speech therapy exercises. The importance of fine motor skills for speech development continues into adulthood, which is why rehabilitation programs for people recovering from injuries that affect speech often include mandatory fine motor skill exercises.
Training finger muscles helps children become confident, skilled, and dexterous in performing specific tasks. For example, it helps them learn to hold a paintbrush for drawing or a spoon for eating independently. In other words, fine motor skill development is key to mastering essential life skills and self-care abilities. To learn more about how these skills influence everyday life, check out our previous article: What Are Fine Motor Skills?
How to Improve Fine Motor Skills? Practical Tips
Fine motor skills are closely tied to sensory development. Different tactile activities—such as playing with pasta, grains, water, sand, clay, or playdough—affect both sensory development and finger muscle training. By combining specific fine motor activities with sensory play, you can see significant progress.
Encourage Play with a Sensory Table
The Sensory Table offers tactile exploration and helps children develop hand-eye coordination and muscle control. Add tools like scoops, tongs, or small toys for an added challenge.
- Fill sensory table containers with kinetic sand and provide some molds for shaping. It’s a great way to enjoy pleasant tactile sensations while improving fine motor skills.
- Add building blocks to the containers and let your child create their own structures: a house, a garage for toy cars, a maze, etc.
- Use containers to store puzzles, making it convenient to find the right pieces and practice assembling different pictures. This also improves hand-eye coordination, attentiveness, and spatial thinking.
- Fill a container with a bit of water and offer a few small bath toys for play.
Use a Kitchen Tower for Daily Activities
Kitchen towers allow kids to safely participate in cooking or cleaning tasks. Activities like kneading dough, stirring, or peeling small fruits develop precision and finger strength.
- Encourage your child to eat independently at their own table—the Kitchen Tower transforms into a comfortable chair and table set.
- If your toddler wants to “help” in the kitchen, support their enthusiasm! A tower enables them to reach the sink or countertop. They can wash their own plate with a sponge, peel a banana, pour flour into a bowl, etc.
- In the bathroom, the tower helps children reach the sink to brush their teeth or wash their hands on their own. While it’s a regular daily routine, it also serves as an excellent activity for fine motor training.
Incorporate Art Using Easels
Drawing, painting, and writing on easels foster creativity and refine grip and control. Easels like the Toddler Art Easel or Kids Tabletop Easel from WoodandHearts are ideal tools.
- Encourage your child to draw their mood using chalk, markers, paints, or pencils—any medium will do.
- Attach a coloring sheet to the easel, chosen based on your child’s interests and abilities. Younger children may prefer large designs, while older ones can improve their skills by tackling more detailed elements.
- Play “school.” Use the easel as the teacher’s board (with your toddler as the teacher), while parents or even stuffed animals act as attentive students. Your child can draw assignments for their “students” on the board.
- Experiment with colors. Secure a sheet of cardboard on the easel, grab paints, crayons, or markers, and try mixing colors to create new shades.
Even More Activities to Develop Fine Motor Skills
Choose age-appropriate activities. If you notice that your child has mastered the previous tasks, it’s worth gradually increasing the complexity. For example, if they can already wash a plate, they can start helping set the table or if they excel at coloring large pictures, offer ones with smaller details. And so on: has your toddler mastered a 30-piece puzzle? Try a puzzle with smaller pieces or one with 40 or 50 pieces.
Here are a few more options for how to improve fine motor skills:
- Threading beads or pasta can enhance hand-eye coordination and finger strength.
- Building with Blocks: Develops control and precision.
- Craft projects are beneficial. Activities like cutting shapes or folding paper refine grip and motor control.
- Clothespin games are easy to create at home; these improve focus, finger grasp, and hand muscle strength.
- Lacing games are ones that you can make your own using cardboard and string, and decorating them yourself. These activities will later help your child with dressing skills, such as tying shoelaces.
- Busy boards also are great toys for improving motor skills and practical abilities, like unlocking locks or zipping zippers.
The key to success lies in integrating such tasks into daily routines. When they become regular and consistent, the positive results will be more noticeable. Turn these activities into a game to motivate your child, and make them practical by weaving them into everyday life. This way, improving fine motor skills is both fun and beneficial, especially with the right activities and tools.