Fine motor skills, pencil grip
Children learn about the world by touching everything. By feeling objects, they get meaning. Babies do this in combination with exploring by mouth. By having the opportunity to feel many shapes and different materials, the brain develops and the world around the child gets meaning.
A baby first uses the whole hand and then the fingers. Thereafter, the use of an object in the hand like a fork or a pencil is developed.
Using a pair of tweezers is a specific movement of the thumb and the index finger. Muscles must be trained on all the individual fingers in order to be successful.
First, children practice these movements with both hands. Only when a preferred hand has been discovered by the child, should you offer a child to a pencil or pen to hold.
The pen grip is a complex skill of the hands. Cutting is also a complex fine motor skill. The independence of children depends on the development of fine motor skills. Think of zipping, button fastening and tying shoelaces.
Which problems may appear at school when fine motor skills not yet fully developed:
-poor pen grip
-writing large letters
-cannot draw between lines
-poor use of scissors
-clumsy
-unreadable handwriting
-put objects in the mouth
-poor independence
What can you do?
Children do playful and fun-oriented movements. Children develop muscle tone in the fingers and get control over their fine motor skills. Movement develops from gross to fine motor. More fine motor skills the more independence are attained.
More information
Babies develop their movements, as a reflex. These primary reflexes are necessary for ..
Movement and
sensory development
Through movements, such as rolling, crawling, sitting, standing and walking a child learns to
Development
visibility
When a baby is born, he cannot see far, nor can he see colour. This develops slowly.
Vestibular
system
We have a balance in our body that ensures that we can stand upright. This is our balance ..
Body awereness
From baby to toddler there is not an I-picture. Everything is interconnected; child, parent ..
Fine motor skills,
pencil grip
Children learn about the world by touching everything. By feeling objects, they get meaning.
Eye- hand/
foot coordination
When an object such as a ball moves you should assess with your eyes where the object ..
Laterality,
midline cross
Laterality,
midline cross
Toddlers use both hands and feet equally. Becoming aware that you have a left and ..
Sense of direction
Young children think using the right side of the brain. This slowly changes to the logical
Visual and
auditory skills
What you see is processed in the brain. You learn to see differences and similarities in images ..
Collaborate
feature
When a child is developing well and has learned all the skills and anchored them ..