Fine Motor Skills In Early Childhood Development

Fine motor skills development in early childhood can help your children excel in their earliest academic experiences. Success breeds success. Success also breeds leaders. With fine motor competence and skill, your children will have the self-confidence to engage in play with peers. If they have additional skills, they may also become peer mentors. Kids ‘teaching’ kids! That is powerful. It’s a win-win for both sides. Research shows that kids learn best when working collaboratively with classmates, especially if put in the role of ‘teacher.’ Being the ‘teacher’ reinforces their own knowledge and skills. Acquiring competence in any area has the additional benefit of being noticed by the real teacher… the classroom teacher. When teachers discover a child with unique skills, they are often given more opportunities to grow, learn, and teach. Let’s start with Age and Fine Motor Skills Milestones

What are reasonable age-level expectations?

(1-3 Years Old)

1. Ability to draw a line
2. Ability to eat with minimal mess
3. Able to use a spoon with minimum spilling
4. Can scribble with pencils/crayons

(3-6 Years Old)

1. Can draw circle/square
2. Can catch a bounced ball
3. Can use scissors
4. Can get dressed without assistance
5. Can write
6. Able to write uppercase and lowercase letters and words
7. Can draw stick figures

How Can Your Child Develop Fine Motor Skills at Home? It’s important to let your child develop their fine motor skills in a safe, learning-conducive environment. This means supplying them with paper, crayons, safety scissors, and everything else they need to develop fine motor skills.

Never forget the “fun” element. Your child wants to have fun while they learn. They NEED to have fun while learning. They also need playtime and NEED to have fun while playing.  Playing IS learning.  

Work CitedMoskowitz, Beverly H. “Importance Of Fine Motor Skills In Early Childhood Development.” Real OT Solutions, 13 September 2022, https://realotsolutions.com/blogs/news/importance-fine-motor-skills-early-childhood-development. Accessed 13 October 2023.