This coming Christmas season, we all know that we’re excited to give kids the latest toys in the market; however, we’d like to interest you in getting them toys and activities that might help develop their fine motor skills.
Fine motor skills are those that involve a refined use of the small muscles which control the hand, fingers and wrist. A few examples of such include grasping, pinching, and throwing. Development of these skills is an important early childhood milestone because it helps the child lay the foundation to perform important life skills such as writing, cutting with scissors, feeding, and dressing oneself. These abilities gradually develop through experience and exposure to a variety of toys and activities that focus mainly on the use of hands.
Here are some age-appropriate activities to try with your child that will help refine their fine motor movement:
0-12 Months
1.) Tummy Time
It helps strengthen the infant’s upper body muscles to be able to push themselves up and move around. Montessori Spinning Drum
2.) Grasping
This skill, although simple as it sounds, actually represents the coordination of the brain and muscles of a growing baby. To strengthen your baby’s grasp, you can start exploring with small (but safe) items at home or toys like this Bright Starts Sheppy Ring Rattle.
3.) Finger Feeding
Yikes, it does sound messy, yes! But this will help develop your child’s pincer grip, which is a necessary precursor to holding a pencil.
Bambina Minimalist Feeding Bib make finger feeding less stressful at home.
1-2 Year Olds
1.) Play dough
Our personal favorite fine motor activity! Not only is it a sure hit for your kids, but it also provides them the best ways to improve their hand strength and dexterity.
Joan Miro Modeling Dough is one of our favorite play dough set on edamama!
2.) Big puzzles
Puzzles are beneficial not only for a child’s fine motor skills, but also their cognitive development, visual perception, and ability to focus and problem-solve such as the Mideer Eric Carle Alphabet Floor Puzzle.
3.) Finger Painting
Good news is, you don’t need actual paint to do this! You may use shaving cream or even chocolate. It can get messy, but that’s what the Rainbow Watercolor Bapron is for.
4.) Sensory Bin Activities
One tray, endless possibilities! Tactile play is a great way to allow your child to freely explore small objects inside the bin to strengthen and build their fine motor skills the fun way. The Mama&Mini Sensory Play Tray is a perfect example of tactile play activity items in edamama.
Pre-schoolers
1.) Building Blocks
Every child should own a trusty set of wooden blocks like the Tooky Toy Building Blocks (100 Pieces). It aids spatial awareness, problem solving, and language development — just to name a few.
2.) Buttoning shirts
Getting dressed is one of the central skills of early childhood. If your child is able to do this, then he is more likely to be more confident and self-reliant. Start small by practicing using these Young Mindz Dressing Frames (6-set).
3.) Threading and Lacing
These activities take a lot of coordination and concentration. Lil Bear Finds Lacing Toy and the Stephen Joseph Lacing Cards- Zoo are some products to help you teach your kids to thread and lace.
This coming Oct 6 onwards, check out these vouchers you’ll be able to use to get even more savings for your food and mealtime fun finds!
SANTA10 - 10% off min. spend P1,000 (capped at P400)
SANTABEAN - 30% Beanback min. spend P1,000 (capped at P500)
SANTAEDA - 10% off no min. spend (capped at P700)
It has been proven that fine motor skills can directly affect a child’s self-confidence, independence, ability to care for oneself, and also their academic performance. Issues with motor skills may not be noticeable until kids reach school age. Delays are normal, but if you’re starting to be concerned about your child’s ability to perform age appropriate tasks, it is best to ask for an assessment from a pediatric occupational therapist.
TAGS:toys
