Fine motor skills develop
tremendously during childhood period. Schools provide children with activities
and aquipments to promote them. What parents should know is, we can also help
children to develop these skill at home. Parents maybe doubt of their
capabilities to do that. But actually we do not need expensive equipments, complicated
instruction, or certain place. It can be simple, fun, and cost effective.
First, we should understand “what
is fine motor skills”?
Do you ever see your little children
struggle to grasp foods? Or hold pencil properly? Or take their toys? Or buttoning
their clothes? These task are the examples of fine motor skills.
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| Trying to Grasp Fruits |
While gross motor skills involve
whole body movement and muscles (such as walking, running, jumping, climbing,
throwing, and kicking) fine motor skills involves more particular area which
are muscles of the hands. Both contribute children’s abilities to perform
everyday skills needed, from basic self-care to academic activities. Gross
motor skills enable children to sit, stand firmly, move around, endure, and
navigate the enviroment. Whereas fine motor skills enact in activities that
required deftness of the hands such as writing, drawing, colouring, cutting, fastening
the buttons, sticthing, making braid, etc.
So how parents can help?
Children can develop fine motor
skills naturally, but parents can encourage them to engage in activities that
help to develop them. Amazingly, children find the ideas of these activities by
themselves spontaneously. But how if the children did not initiate? You do not
have to worry, because every children has their own ways to develop their
skills. Parents can do the activity in front of them as model so the children
can learn how to do it.
What parents see as ordinary or messy
actions, turn out are ways to practice fine motor skills. For example is when
children tear papers into pieces or squezze the papers. These action, even as how
ruined books or wasted papers as they may seem, can build the hand muscle’s
power. Imagine how many efforts they have to do to put powers and control their
hands in order to do that actions.
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| Muscle Power: Tear, Squeeze, then Put Them into Glass |
To avoid there will be ruined books,
make sure that your valuable books or papers are kept out from children’s
reach. Give them unused papers, newspapers, or books.
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| Spill Fruits into Her Glass |
Other activities that children
find fascinated them is
moving objects. Eventhough it fascinate children, but it
could be a very tough job also. They could struggle to grasp the objects they
what to move or put the objects into the new place. Moving objects can be
opportunity for children to develop their hand’s control and accuracy. We can
use objects or equipments that already we have in our house. Like put the
wasted papers to basket, transfering water with glass, spoon, or pipette. We can
also use schools utensil such as moving pencil into another box.
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| Transitioning Water |
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| Put It Back into The Glass |
We can also use food ingredients,
fruits, or vegetables as material and equipment. Such as moving fruits from one
plate to another, tearing vegetable leaves, or just simply pick foods from
their plate.
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| Put Pencils into The Box |
Another idea is insert coin or
paper into the moneybox. We can also modify to make holes in boxes, jars, or
containers so children can insert objects into them. For younger children, make
sure this activity under your supervision so there will be no incidents like
eat up the coins or papers. Especially for children that still in oral phase.
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| The Struggle is Real |
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| Insert Coins Into Moneybox |
The struggle is real to do this
action for younger children. As adult we have to make sure the activities are
achievable for children to do it. Put no pressure to the children and make the
process to be fun.
We also do not need certain time
or place to conduct the activities. Whenever and wherever children want to do
these activities, allow them. As long the safety can be assured and parents can
clean up the children post activities.
(Novita)
Reference
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