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Why Are Fine Motor Skills Important?

Why are fine motor skills so important? Because the hands and fingers play a huge role in completing everyday “occupations” such as playing, eating, dressing, managing self-care tasks, and participating at school!

Occupational therapists are trained to assist children in developing fine motor skills, but there are easy and fun ways you can also work on developing these skills at home!

Here are 5 ways you can help to develop fine motor skills at home!

  1. Limit the use of tablets, smart phones and video games.

Just because they use the hands doesn’t mean they develop the hands. Some educational Apps may certainly seem like they are helping them to use their fingers but this does not necessarily mean that it is helping to develop fine motor skills. There is so much more that goes into fine motor development than just the ability to use the fingers.

  1. Playing!

When kids engage in whole-body activities like playing tag, jumping on a trampoline, swinging at the park, or swimming in a pool, they are able to develop the large muscles in the body (legs, trunk, neck, shoulders) that serve as a stable “base” for the smaller muscles (wrists, hands, fingers). And when kids participate in active play involving the upper body such as climbing up rock walls, hanging on monkey bars, and crawling through tunnels, it also strengthens the muscles in their arms, hands, and fingers, which is essential for fine motor development. This type of whole-body play and “heavy work” is also great for supporting healthy development of the proprioceptive sensory system, which contributes to our sense of body awareness and motor coordination.

  1. Encourage games and activities that involve crawling or bearing weight through their hands.

Weight-bearing through the hands actually helps with developing fine motor skills! Bearing weight in the hands stimulates and strengthens many of the muscles of the hands, something we refer to as the palmar arches of the hand. These arches are responsible for helping kids develop in-hand manipulation skills and dissociating each side of their hand. These hand skills are important for everyday childhood activities such as coloring, cutting, writing, manipulating fasteners, and twisting open containers such as a glue stick or toothpaste.

  1. Include opportunities for fine motor use throughout your daily routine

During bath time include squeezable water toys and sponges or pouring water from a pitcher. In the kitchen, allow children to peel their own fruit, or stir ingredients together. During laundry, children can pull wet items from the washer and place them into the dryer! If you enjoy gardening get the kids involved with digging holes for your planting!

  1. Use items you already have around your house!

This goes along with the tip above. You don’t have to get fancy or buy anything new from the store. Using items you already have around the house are just as beneficial. Some examples are threading beads onto string, pulling pipe cleaners through a colander, squeezing chip clips onto a box, squirting water from a squirt bottle, rolling and pulling apart play doh.. etc! Get creative!

Credit: MamaOT.com

If you believe your child is in need of physical, occupational, or speech therapy, give our office a call at 586-323-2957 to set up your FREE screening!

Written by: Stephanie Earl, COTA

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