Developing Fine Motor Skills in the

Preschool Years

Fine Motor Skills

The area of fine motor skills is crucial to a child’s success throughout school. Fine motor skills refer to one’s ability to grasp and utilize an object with their hands. This is important in almost all activities of life such as dressing, bathing, writing, & cutting. Consequently fine motor skills are of utmost importance in the

classroom and throughout life.

Fine Motor Skills vs. Gross Motor Skills

When most people think of their child’s growth & development they can remember

the ages at which their child first rolled, crawled, or walked. How many can recall

the age at which they picked up small items between their thumb & index finger, or transferred objects from one hand to

another?

Gross motor skills are large movements that an individual performs with most of

their body. For an infant they include rolling, crawling, & walking. For older children & adults, gross motor skills include balance, walking, running,

jumping, etc.

Fine Motor Skills are the manner in which we use our fingers, hands, & arms.

• Reaching• Grasping• manipulating objects• using different tools like crayons & scissors.

But because tasks such as printing, coloring & cutting are not emphasized until a child is of preschool age, fine motor skill development is frequently overlooked when the child is an infant or toddler.

The development of Fine Motor Skills1-2 Years

• sitting balance & trunk control will improve • hand & arm move together equally • hand preference may begin at the age of 2• fingers start moving independently• use of whole arm movements to color • Grip is a closed fist with their thumb pointing

up .• coloring should progress from circular scribble

to either horizontal or vertical scribble.

2 to 3 years

• Less movement in the shoulder and more in the elbow is observed during hand

• Hand dominance will continue to emerge but not yet be established. Children continue to alternate lead &

assist roles between right & left hands.• When drawing, your child will hold the crayon or pencil with their fingers pointing towards the paper.

Such as grasp is called a pronated pencil grasp• Shape imitation and copying begins, the latter after

the first..

How about scissors? At 2 years, the child will use both hands to open & close scissors. By 3

years they should be able to snip paper with the scissors in one hand & eventually cut a piece of paper into 2 pieces. Cutting along

lines would not be expected at this age.

3 to 4 years• strong preference for a lead/dominant hand begins, but

switching continues.

• When drawing, the lead hand will be holding the crayon while the assist hand is stabilizing the paper.

• Your child will progress from being able to copy lines & circles to imitating crosses (+) & tracing over triangles & diamonds.

• The child will attempt to color within the lines but with limited success. By 4 years of age, your child should be holding the crayon with three fingers

• The crayon will be pinched between their thumb & index finger & resting on their middle finger. This is called a tripod pencil grasp

• During cutting, your child should be able to move the scissors in a forward direction & cut along a straight line. When cutting simple curves like an S shaped line, the assist hand should begin to turn the paper to assist with cutting around a curve.

4 to 5 years• Hand use is characterized by refined wrist & finger

movement & decreased elbow & shoulder movement.

• Hand preference should be apparent & consistent.

• During coloring, the child will become capable of staying within the lines as well as copying crosses, diagonal lines & squares using a tripod pencil grasp.

5 to 6 Years • Both hands should work together. The roles of

the right & left hands should be easily identified as dominant & non-dominant, or lead & assist.

• During pencil use, a tripod grasp should be established and the child should be able to copy crosses, triangles & diamonds.

• Small precise finger movement should be observed during coloring. When using scissors, the child should be able to hold them in a mature fashion.

The Role of Readiness in Early Literacy and Handwriting

INFORMALPre-handwriting Skills• Attention• Behavior• Language• Imitation• Stop/Start• Fine Motor

FORMALHandwriting• How to hold a pencil correctly• Form capitals, lowercase letters and numbers. • Write simple words and sentences.• Develop top to bottom, left to right orientation for reading and writing.

Printing Skills for Speed and Legibility

Memory

Orientation

Placement

Size

Start

Sequence

Control

Spacing

Memory• Capital and lowercase letter recognition

Create your own template to dictate the Capital and Lowercase letters periodically, if they can’t remember the letters. They need to continue practicing recognition.

• Matching Pairs: Create a Mat with capital letters and cut out cards with lowercase cards. Ask children to Match

• Play Letter Bingo

Printing Skills for Speed and Legibility

Memory

Orientation

Placement

Size

Start

Sequence

Control

Spacing

Orientation

Printing Skills for Speed and Legibility

Memory

Orientation

Placement

Size

Start

Sequence

Control

Spacing

Placement

• “Bump the lines”

• Capital, tall, small and descending letters

Printing Skills for Speed and Legibility

Memory

Orientation

Placement

Size

Start

Sequence

Control

Spacing

Size

• Increased control : control of size• Correct paper and writing spaces• 1. White paper• 2. Sentence Strip• 3. One line on paper• 4. Double Lines

Printing Skills for Speed and Legibility

Memory

Orientation

Placement

Size

Start

Sequence

Control

Spacing

Start and Sequence

Where do you start your letters?

• AT THE TOP!

Printing Skills for Speed and Legibility

Memory

Orientation

Placement

Size

Start

Sequence

Control

Spacing

Control• Good Posture• Eye Hand Coordination• Correct pencil grip• Precision Rotation• Small Muscles of the Hand (muscle strength)• The Arches of the Hands• Separation of the Sides of the Hands• Wrist Stability (wrist strength) • Shoulder Stability

• Good Posture

PENCIL GRASP• The manner in which a child holds a pencil• Usually between the ages of 4 & 5, most child

have developed a mature & efficient pencil grasp.

• An efficient pencil grasp is one that allows the greatest amount of finger movement and is the least fatiguing for the muscles of the hands.

Have you taught grip yet?

• Research shows that 50% of children need instruction to learn a correct pencil grip.

• Handedness: be sure the child is learning to use his/her dominant hand.

• Little crayons / little pencils• Demonstrate grip• Standard and Alternate Grip

Teach the correct pencil grip in three easy steps:

1. Pick Up2. Aim and Scribble3. Color/Trace and Draw

Grip Activity

PENCIL GRASP ACTIVITIESDelicate Touch

(the ability to use different amounts of pressure) • Paint with an eye-dropper .

• Release and count drops of water from an eye dropper one at a time

• Pick up fragile objects with tweezers, tongs or fingers, without breaking or denting them.

• Drawing or tracing on tissue paper • Line up Dominos on their end or sides

Precision Rotation(the ability to spin objects with your fingers)

• Activities that require rotating an object in one’s finger tips

• Spinning tops and playing Jacks .

• Hold a flat object such as a book or plate on extended fingers, and ask the child to rotate the object on their fingertips.

• Threading nuts on/off of bolts (progress from large to small)

• Hold two balls in one hand and attempt to rotate one ball around the other.

Separation of the Sides of the Hands (the ability to hold something in your hand while using your

fingers)

• Activities that require one side of the hand for stability & the other side for movement

• Squeeze the trigger on a spray bottle with the pointer & index finger, while the thumb and other fingers stabilize the bottle.

• Roll small balls of Playdoh between the thumb and index finger

• Give the child a number of small items such as coins, beads, or bingo chips to hold in one hand. Then ask them to sort and place the items into a container one at a time using only their thumb and index finger.

The Arches of the Hands (general hand development)

• Roll objects such as a small ball or silly putty within the palm

• Roll a pair of dice within cupped hands

• Activities that require weight bearing through open hands such as wheel barrel walking and imitating animals by crawling on all four

• Line up a row of several pennies and turn them over as quickly as possible using finger movements

• Open & close zip-lock bags using fingertips, ensuring that web spaces do not collapse.

• Ask the child to cup their hands with their palms up, and gradually add grains of rice (or coffee, sand, water, etc.) to the maximum amount the child can hold.

•

Small Muscles of the Hand (muscle strength)

• Play tug-of-war with small diameter objects such as elastic bands, coffee stir sticks, or plastic lacing.

• String beads ensuring that the child using finger movements to place the string through the bead rather placing the bead over the string.

• Insert pegs into a peg-board

• Wring out clothes or sponges

• Playing with clay, putty or Playdoh

• Games & toys that involve grasping or squeezing things

Wrist Stability (wrist strength)

• Drawing/writing on a chalk board or another surface that is above eye level

•

• Position games and toys on a vertical surface

• Paint, draw, color, etc. on a vertical surface or mounted on a clipboard.

• Use a rolling pin to flatten Playdoh, cracker crumbs, cookie dough, etc. and make sure that the hands are open rather than closed around the handles

Printing Skills for Speed and Legibility

Memory

Orientation

Placement

Size

Start

Sequence

Control

Spacing

Spacing

• Leave a Space of Nothing!

• Spaguetti and Meatballs

Appropriate practices in fine motor can be measurable:

Puntaje Pre- IntervenciónMemoria __12 _ %Orientación __75 _ %Posición __0 _ %Tamaño __25 _ %Comienzo __25__ %Secuencia __25__ %Control __25__ % Puntaje Post- IntervenciónMemoria __76 _ %Orientación __92 _ %Posición __40 _ %Tamaño __30__ %Comienzo __75__ %Secuencia __65__ %Control __50__ %•

Puntaje Pre- IntervenciónMemoria _3___ %Orientación _n/a__ %Posición _100__ %Tamaño _100__%Comienzo _ 0___ %Secuencia _ 0___ %Control _0___ % Puntaje Post- IntervenciónMemoria __80__ %Orientación __94_ %Posición __43_ %Tamaño __38__ %Comienzo __76__ %Secuencia __ 66__ %Control __38__ % •

Mat Man

Good Instruction Outcome

• We hope you found this information useful and easy to take to your busy classrooms!