Childhood is a lot more than just saying the words “mama” or “dada”; it’s an entire process where a child becomes aware of both themselves and their surroundings. As a result, they get to experience many developmental phases, ranging from first steps, to eventually riding a bicycle.

A major part of all this are fine motor skills – i.e. skills that need the use of small muscles controlling the hand and all five fingers. On surface level, such movements are really basic; all your toddler is really capable of doing is holding things in tiny fists. However, there is a lot more to it than just that.

Let’s discuss:

 

Learning Crucial Physical Tasks

 

Fine motor skills help children understand how to interpret and manipulate their surroundings on their own. As a result, they learn how to perform basic – but vital – movements like gripping, holding, and moving objects. This inevitably helps them build on more important skills like holding a pencil, buttoning or unbuttoning their coats, opening and closing a book, etc.

 

Gaining Command Over Self

 

As children learn how to interact with their surroundings, they gain a better understanding of their own bodies – how they can curl their fingers, how they can bend to pick a ball up from the floor, and how they can hold things in their own hands. On surface level, this doesn’t look significant, but in reality, your brain is establishing strong connections between their brain and their muscles and joints system. The stronger this connection is, the more in control of their own bodies will they be.

 

Gaining A Sense Of Accomplishment

 

For the most part, toddlers have to rely on their parents to fulfil the most basic of tasks, like eating, drinking, sleeping, and even bathing. Children are aware of this limit too – so when children learn how to do things on their own, they gain a sense of accomplishment.

Fine motor skills help promote this kind of confidence by giving them the power to do tasks themselves. Simultaneously, they learn how to develop their own skills, like writing, drawing, painting, or playing a sport. Such positive habits and hobbies help children be more confident in themselves and their abilities.

 

Improving Hand-Eye Coordination

 

Hand-eye coordination is perhaps the most fundamental rule everyone should have a strong command over; without being able to coordinate your sight with your physical movements, you cannot function in a dynamic world.

For toddlers, this is even more important, otherwise they will never learn how to navigate through their lives. Fine motor skills offers this edge by creating a strong neural connection between their brain, sensory organs and muscular system. As this link becomes stronger, children become better at coordinating their bodies with what they see, and perform tasks more accurately.

 

It’s no surprise when we realise just how important fine motor skills are for the overall development of a toddler. This is why curricula taught in nurseries in Emirates Hills are modelled specifically to cater to every need. Oakfield Early Learning Centre does this exceptionally well by organising various engaging activities where children get to complete tasks like painting, mixing, drawing, writing – and even dancing! – so that children’s fine motor skills can improve.

 

There are endless ways of helping your child improve their motor skills – as long as your child is having fun, you’ll always see positive results coming your way.