Fine Motor Skills Activities...

Why do some activities help and others don't?

Not all fine motor skills activities that are supposed to improve your child's skills actually do so. Why else is your child reduced to tears and frustration when he tries them?

Many websites and educational toys will tell you that their activities will improve your child’s fine-motor skills. But perhaps you have found that your child still struggles, and gives up in frustration – and his skills remain poor. Is that the case with you and your child?

Then this article may help you to understand what is happening, and will help you to choose fine motor skills activities that will really help your child.

So, why do so many so-called “fine motor” activities
not help your child?

I have found that you can classify fine motor activities into two groups:

• Those that USE Fine Motor skills. In other words, you need fine motor skills in order to DO them.
• Those that DEVELOP Fine Motor skills. That means they work on the underlying Essential Bases that make fine motor skills possible.

Let’s look a bit more at the different groups.

What kind of activities merely USE fine motor skills?

• you are able to do these fine motor skills activities
• you actually enjoy them as you get a great end product
• and you are able to complete them if they are not too complicated for the amount of time you have on hand

• you may get tired easily and give up;
• or your clumsy fingers may keep missing and you give up
• or your parent/teacher may get frustrated at your messy work, and you give up.

For example, look at the distorted grip that this child uses to hold the paint brush! I have also seen children wedging a construction toy between the knees to screw it on, or using their mouth to hold the wire for threading beads.

SO, which activities DEVELOP fine motor skills?

Any fine motor skills activities that work on one of the Essential Bases, will eventually have a positive impact on your child’s FM skills.

The four Essential Bases are

• Postural Control (core muscles and shoulder muscles)
• Tactile Perception (touch perception)
• Bilateral Coordination
• Hand Function (hand and finger muscles)

So, whenever you want to do a so-called fine motor skills activity with your child, ask yourself:

Which Essential Base is this activity working on?

If it is an activity for the sake of activity, demanding skills that your child does not have, then you will both be frustrated.

But if the activity is developing an Essential Base, then your child has a better chance of succeeding and enjoying the task.

The best thing about all the fine motor skills activities on my site is that most of them do not even use pencil-and-paper, and your child may not even realize that you are working on his fine motor skills. Most of the activities also use inexpensive materials that you may already have in your house, so you have no excuse for not getting started!

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