Many times we wonder how our kids know something we haven’t taught them yet. They are little prodigies perhaps born with all possible skills built in but developing only the ones they need depending on the environment and society surrounding them. A child living in poorer areas will develop hunting skills while in a well-off environment the child doesn’t need such a skill, so they can concentrate on some other skills for example laying the table or helping in the kitchen.
Children are full of surprises. Their brains work faster than ours because they are not shaped and prejudiced. Openmindedness is the characteristic that leads to success. Some things should be learned from children and we should
remind ourselves of the important characteristics we have lost during growing up.
Motor Development
Motor development is one of the first development areas to evolve in children’s first year of life. It’s already been written about it in this blog.
Motor skills are usually categorized into two groups:
Gross motor skills involve movements and coordination of big body parts like the head, arms and legs. Examples of gross motor skills are crawling, walking, running and jumping.
Fine motor skills (dexterity) include the movement of small parts, muscles and joints like wrists, hands, fingers, feet and toes. Picking up objects with fingers, writing, zipping, stacking blocks and blinking require small subtle motions thus representing fine motor skills.
Some skills take place subsequently and some happen simultaneously. They depend on many factors like genetics, social environment, insufficient stimulation and other elements.
Why is Dexterity Important?
Fine motor skills are in charge of so many life-important skills like eating with a spoon and fork. This ability is of immense importance that doesn’t even need to be explained further. Likewise, brushing teeth, dressing up, buttoning and unbuttoning, tying shoe laces, spreading jam on a slice of bread and writing down a message for mum and sticking it on the fridge involve small manoeuvres of big significance.
Fine motor skills develop gradually with age and practice. The first fine motor skills are called reflexes because they are involuntary. With growth, children realize that they can control those reflexes so they are substituted with voluntary movements, that is fine motor skills. They are further practised to perfection until about the age of twelve.
How to Practice Fine Motor Skills?
One of the first fine motor abilities is hand-eye coordination which starts to evolve at two and five months. It is followed by grasping movements and hand-mouth coordination. Precision will take longer to be perfected.
During the next months, all these skills are upgraded and many new ones added. Pincer grip with two fingers employed improves just like pointing their index finger into the object they want.
With age, children become more skilful in carrying objects, transferring them from one hand to another and stacking blocks. This product is very supportive for manual dexterity practice:
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Fine motor skills are closely connected with cognitive development and growing intelligence. Grasping, hand-eye and hand-mouth coordination make kids aware of the shapes, materials and textures thus creating their view of the world around them.
Possible Problems and How to Intercept Them
Unfortunately, there might be problems in child development but if they are noticed on time and intercepted they can be avoided and kids spared of unnecessary hardships. Thus, the accent is put on toys. If you observe your child during their play you can discover a lot about their development or possible difficulties.
In many cases, toys can be helpful not only to detect possible issues but also to eliminate them. “Repetitio est mater studiorum” or in English “Repetition is the mother of study” is the key element in those cases. However, you have to engage too. Children need their parents especially when an obstacle comes up.
Dexterity Is Developing Now
Fine motor skills are taking place now and you need to take action, to provide your little worker with the necessary tools in order to develop properly. Buy them the toys that are suitable for their age and interest. Take care of the material and the quality you choose.
If you follow my blogs, you know that my strong suggestion is a natural material, the best among them – wood. To choose the best of the best, read my blog here.
Why wood? Wood is renewable, sustainable, eco-friendly, biodegradable and makes zero-waste products. As a natural element, it is also friendly to our innocent babies especially if left natural and treated as little as possible.
Anyway, you are free to choose what you think is best for your babies, just take good care of them. Observe them closely and react when necessary. As the phrase attributed to Erasmus says: Prevention is better than cure. So open your eyes and be there for them.
