I was just wondering what you have all done with your children to increase fine motor skills and dexterity in an 18 month old. She does much better than most children her age, she writes using her index and thumb like an adult and eats the same way as well, she doesn’t hold the crayon or silverware in a fist. She can also put puzzles together well, but I’m not sure what else I can do. Does anyone have any ideas?
Maybe try stickers. I first tried them when mine were about 24 months so I’m not sure how it would work with an 18 month old, but worth a shot. I have found great prices on stickers at the craft store (michael’s) in the kid’s section rather than the scrapbooking section. Good luck.
[b]
hi,
i hope the following will be helpful for you
HOW TO DEVELOP FINE MOTOR SKIL[/b]LS
Tearing papers- thin and then big ones
Putting green and yellow dall beans into the bottle
Threading with items= pull thread
Playing with dough to make various designs- strengthen hand muscles
Playing wth peg into the board
Playing with puzzles
Pouring water into another container
Play with sands, mud
Holding tripod pencils and pen- to do tracing of lines
trampoline
sandpit
cars and floor mat with roads (old box flattened out, draw and paint roads etc)
balanceboards
puzzles
things that come apart and go back together
bolts and screws (only under careful supervision)
shopping trolley
trains and tracks
pc games
little leaps (leap frog interactive dvd game)
books (as many different varieties and genres as I can get my hands on)
empty boxes (any size)
jar with a toy in it
carry pocket (large hand made pocket on a string that hangs over shoulder go out and collect bit and pieces you can do this outside or inside)
swings set
ride on car (they push themselves with their feet)
peddle bike
figurines (Schleich truly are worth the extra money and we find get played with more but in the end the 20 for $2 from the reject shop get their fair share of use too)
magnets
stickers (oh boy do we love stickers)
paint
playdough (so many different uses)
a couple of cups of cornflour (we usually dump it on the trampoline and let him drive cars through it etc and generally make a big mess then we just jump until it all comes out).
lego
blocks
musical instruments (any thing and everything that we can give him to experiment musically on - his personal favourite is his harmonica followed by drums and guitar but he loves them all)
Colouring and drawing (sometimes prefers blank paper sometimes likes to colour)
bits and pieces of junk
Animals (we don’t have pets but we have cows on the property next to us and dogs, ducks, chooks and birds and wildlife everywhere and he has a good respect and relationship with all these - it is wonderful companionship)
improving gross motors:
STRONGER LEG MUSCLES
Walk stairs
Jumping
Wearing opposite shoes
Massage legs
Easy Preschool Fine Motor Activities
Improve Small Muscle Coordination in Preschoolers
Paint the World - anissat
Fine motor skills are crucial for later academic success. These simple and inexpensive activities allow preschoolers to practice important fine motor skills each day.
Retail stores sell many toys and games to improve fine motor coordination in preschool aged children. Purchasing expensive toys is not necessary to provide a preschooler opportunities to build fine motor skills. Use of common household items is a convenient inexpensive way to provide preschoolers with fine motor activities. Use sorting, writing, painting, cooking and lacing activities to teach fine motor coordination.
Sorting Activities
Use hands and fingers to sort small items. Many opportunities to sort occur in daily home life. Demonstrate how to sort forks, knives, and spoons during mealtime clean-up. Allow the preschooler to sort the silverware into the dishwasher basket. While picking up toys, teach him to sort small toys into containers by color, use or type. During the time adults spend on paperwork, provide pencils, crayons and markers that are easy for a preschooler to sort. Allow him to make piles by color or type. Utilizing the fingers, especially using a pincher grasp builds the muscles necessary for writing.
Writing
Gather a variety of writing utensils including pens, pencils, chalk, markers and crayons. Find interesting items on which to write. Some examples of this could include black paper, sand paper, a chalkboard and even aluminum foil. Allow the preschooler to scribble, draw or write as her abilities allow. As her fine motor and literacy skills grow, she will progress from scribbling to writing recognizable characters.
Cooking
Time spent cooking offers many opportunities to work on fine motor skills. Measuring dry ingredients with measuring spoons exercises the small muscles of the hands and fingers. Mixing dough using hands or spoons is another way to work the hand and fingers. Even decorating cookies using chocolate chips or small candies is a good fine motor activity.
Painting
Preschoolers love painting of any type. Don’t limit the activity of painting to the use of a paintbrush and traditional paints. Use finger painting as a fun alternative. For younger preschoolers, use pudding to “paint” on a cookie sheet or plastic tray. Use sidewalk paints to decorate the driveway. Preschoolers enjoy the variety and their fine motor skills will benefit from any of these activities.
Lacing
Use a cord, shoelace or yarn and some cardboard to make a simple lacing activity. Cut out shapes, such as circles, triangles and squares from a cereal box, then use a hole punch and make a pattern with the holes. A preschooler can then lace or “sew” with the shoelace. As fine motor skills improve, use smaller holes and finer yarns to make the activity more challenging.
Preschoolers need fine motor skills to be independent in daily life and grow in academic areas. Simple activities such as sorting, painting, writing, lacing, and cooking supply easy ways for a preschooler to practice these fine motor skills.
Enhancing Motor Skills through Play
Play Improves Physical Development in Preschoolers
Children learn physical motor skills best through their everyday, natural experiences. Fine and gross motor learning opportunities can be built directly into play.
Learning through play is a process by which children learn through their experiences as well as planned play experiences. Learning that is based on play introduces and teaches new skills using a relaxed, comfortable, and fun approach, says Gale Kelleher, director of Rainbow Nursery School in New York.
Meghan McGinley Crowe, Executive Director of Literacy for Little Sprouts, Inc., explains that introducing new learning processes through playful activities in which children are intrinsically interested are important. They keep children’s attention and allow them to easily commit learning to long term memory.
Play-based, multi-sensory informal learning is actually more personal and more effective for learning, says Jan Z. Olsen, OTR (creator of “Get Set for Schoolâ€, a Pre-K curriculum based on playful learning techniques).
Enhancing Physical Development through Play
According to the Encyclopedia of Children’s Health [Gale, 2005], gross motor skills are the abilities required in order to control the large muscles of the body.
In preschool, children learn physical gross motor concepts and skills like balance, laterality (which means that the child is aware of the left and right sides of the body), spatial orientation (which means that the child is aware of the position of his or her body in space as well as in relation to other people and objects), and the coordination of major muscles.
“Gross motor play, including outside time, is full of pretend play and physical activity. This type of play is often easiest for an adult to enter without disrupting the flow of the activityâ€, says Crowe.
Fine motor skills involve the abilities required to control the small movements of the hands, wrists, fingers, feet, toes, lips, and tongue. In preschool children learn fine motor concepts and skills that allow them to grasp and manipulate small objects, write, eat, and dress themselves.
Through directed and undirected play, children are naturally able to practice and learn both gross and fine motor skills and coordination.
Activities that Enhance Gross Motor Development
• Skipping
• Jumping
• Hopping
• Climbing
• Ball throwing
• Dancing
• Swinging on swings
• Sliding on slides
• Sandbox play
Activities that Enhance Fine Motor Development
• Cutting
• Coloring
• Drawing
• Playing with play dough
• Playing with finger puppets
• Stringing and lacing activities like stringing beads, macaroni or cheerios
• Putting puzzles together
When children are able to exercise fine and large motor skills through play, they will soon learn to master proficiency in controlling movements of the small and large muscles of the body. By providing an environment for natural play-based activities, preschool teachers are able to enhance a child’s opportunity for physical development. For more preschool activities, see Online Preschool Lesson Plans.
Read more at Suite101: Enhancing Motor Skills through Play: Play Improves Physical Development in Preschoolers http://daycare.suite101.com/article.cfm/enhancing_motor_skills_through_play#ixzz0voKVb8zD
Broom Hockey Daycare Activity
Physical Gross Motor Lesson Plan for Preschool
Hockey and Soccer Daycare Activity - Ove Tøpfer
Hockey and soccer activity for toddlers and preschoolers with instructions, procedures, materials list, learning objectives and sample verbal cues.
Activities for preschool children should include those that develop physical gross motor skills. Broom hockey and soccer are two activities that will promote major muscle coordination and it’s just plain fun for preschool aged kids.
What are Physical Gross Motor Skills?
According to the Encyclopedia of Children’s Health, gross motor skills are the abilities required in order to control the large muscles of the body.
Some important physical gross motor concepts and skills that preschool age children learn to master are balance, spatial orientation (which means that the child is aware of the position of his or her body in space as well as in relation to other people and objects), laterality (which means that the child is aware of the left and right sides of the body), and the coordination of major muscles.
Children learn gross motor skills through practice. Activities which involve hopping, jumping, and climbing as well as games which involve catching and kicking balls are great examples of activities that promote the development of gross motor skills.
Preschool teachers and daycare providers can encourage gross motor skill development through effective lesson plans and play. A fine example of an activity that promotes the development of gross motor skills is broom hockey and soccer.
This lesson plan includes not only the preparation instructions, procedure, and materials list for this activity, but also the age appropriate learning objectives and a sample of the simple supporting verbal cues necessary to encourage participation and support learning.
List of Materials
Two child sized goals
Child sized brooms (one for each child participating)
Large, medium, and small sized balls for kicking and sweeping.
Preparation
Set up two child sized goals. Find child sized brooms and several different sized balls. Set the goals at opposite ends of the playground or play area
Procedures
Invite the children over to the area. Explain to them that you are going to play hockey. Model to the children how to sweep the ball into the goal. Show the children that they can also kick the ball into the net.
Learning Objectives
Objective 1:
To provide the opportunity for projectile management through sweeping the ball into the goal.
• Verbal Cue A: Can you sweep the ball into the net?
• Verbal Cue B: Let’s sweep the ball into the goal.
Objective 2:
To provide the opportunity for projectile management through kicking the ball into the goal.
• Verbal Cue A: Can you try to kick the ball into the net?
• Verbal Cue B: Let’s kick the ball into the goal.
Objective 3:
To develop spatial relationships (body and space perception) using the prepositions inside and outside, forward and backward, and straight ahead in verbal cues.
• Verbal Cue A: Can you kick the ball forward inside the net?
• Verbal Cue B: Sweep the ball straight ahead into the goal.
Please keep in mind that this is not a competitive activity, so do not keep score, create foul lines, or enforce rules that promote competition.
For more preschool activities, see Online Preschool Lesson Plans.
Read more at Suite101: Broom Hockey Daycare Activity: Physical Gross Motor Lesson Plan for Preschool http://day-care-activities.suite101.com/article.cfm/broom_hockey_daycare_activity#ixzz0voKfw06Z
Read the Room
ages 3-6
Supplies
Blank 3x5 cards, long pointers, room with everyday items (e.g. living room, kitchen, bedroom, even outside!)
Activity Detail
I used to use this activity in my Kindergarten and Preschool classes, and the kids loved it! Turn a room in your house into a readable classroom by labeling things in it on blank 3x5 cards. Clearly print words like: couch, clock, rug, television, door, etc. and tape words to each item. It is best to use all lower case letters. Using something as a pointer (a yardstick or dowel with something on the end so it isn’t dangerous), the kids can “read” the cards you have taped around the room. It reinforces the concept of letters making words, and words representing an object. Kids love to do this over and over. You can move on to another room in the house after a couple of weeks. I also used unsharpened pencils with the fun large erasers on the end to “read” favorite stories. The children can touch the words on the page as they read them. In no time, memorization becomes actual reading
Activity Detail
When teaching my son how to say red, yellow or green in Spanish, we practice in the car with the signal lights. Each light we pass I say if the light is Rojo (Red), Amarillo (Yellow) or Green (Verde). Then after enough repetition I ask him which color the light is showing. This works for any language
Magazine Flashcards
ages 4-6
Supplies
Magazines, construction paper, glue, scissors
Activity Detail
Cut out pictures from old magazines that illustrate simple 3 letter words, such as “dog” or “hat.” Have your child help you glue these pictures onto construction paper. Write the word that describes the picture underneath of the picture and have your child read the word to you using the picture as a clue. Use again and again to help your child begin to identify words and use pictures as clues for reading.
Peekaboo Boxes
ages 1-4
Supplies
Several boxes, such as shoe boxes or store gift boxes; pictures of family members, pets, friends, or common items such as toys or animals; tape or glue.
Activity Detail
This is a fun activity that builds a toddler’s fine motor skills, memory skills, and vocabulary. Tape pictures of family members, pets, friends, or easily recognizable objects, such as animals, household items, or toys, inside the lids of several boxes (one picture per box). Then, with your child, open the boxes and discuss the pictures inside. Older children will enjoy having their memory tested by being asked which box has a picture of daddy, the dog, etc. You can also surprise your child by putting new pictures inside the boxes.
At age… Most can… May also…
2 Years • Walk with smooth heel-toe motion
• Run fairly well (but may fall often, lacking control over stops and turns)
• Jump in place with both feet together
• Climb furniture, play structures, or low walls
• Kick a large ball
• Climb out of crib • Go up and down stairs (going up is easier than going down)
• Ride a low-slung tricycle
• Balance on one foot
3 Years • Run smoothly and stop suddenly
• Pedal a bicycle
• Jump from a low step
• Go up and down stairs (alternating feet, using a rail going down)
• Throw a ball overhand with one hand
• Catch with both arms fully extended
• Pump a swing with their legs • Catch soft objects using hands more than arms
• Jump from higher steps
• Hop in place
4 Years • Run fast
• Jump well
• Hop forward on one foot
• Balance on one foot for five or more seconds
• Catch a ball thrown from 5 feet, and bend their arms to catch
• Climb up higher equipment • Jump rope
• Skip
Wow that was comprehensive! I was just going to suggest looking at some Montessori websites or blogs as they do a lot to enhance fine motor skills.
The simplest way is to have more sand and water play: