Helping children with their fine motor development
Sometimes children need some assistance when developing their fine motor skills. This requires one to find strategies in order to assist children with their development.
Manipulative materials Toys that require a child to manipulate it with their fingers and hands can be categorised as a manipulative. Manipulatives involve coordinating the eye to what the hands are needed to do. They stimulate fine motor development because they require controlled use of hand and finger muscles. Some manipulative toys, such as puzzles, are self-correcting, fitting together in only one specific way. These types of toys allow children to work until they achieve success since they only fit together one way, and they know that when they are done that they have accomplished something great.
Modified writing materials Other ways to assist children with their fine motor development is to use modified tools to assist them. For young children, using crayons is often difficult at first due to their small size, so it is important to provide children with a tool that they are able to manipulate. There have been crayons created that are a 3-D tetrahedral shape, so that the children are able to grab the crayon in any position. The use of these crayons allows for a child to create a more precise picture because of the control they have, and this also helps the child to pursue such personal expression, since they are not being frustrated by not being able to use the tools.
Children, when they are learning to print, also experience some frustrations. A way to assist a child who is having difficulties with this is to provide them with a Primer pencil (which is thicker around), or to modify a pencil by adding to its circumference (either by a formed grip or by adding tape). For a child who is having difficulties with their fine motor skills, offering tools such as larger pencils and modified pencils will help the child develop a better grasp of this tool, and eventually moving to smaller, regular size pencils. This will help with their self-esteem, providing them with a sense of accomplishment in writing tasks.
Positioning Another way to assist a child who is having difficulties developing their fine motor skills is to provide the child with proper positioning of their hands and body in order to accomplish tasks.
Positioning is very important for engagement in fine motor tasks. A child's seat should allow him to sit comfortably with his feet placed firmly on the floor. His hips, knees, and ankles should be at 90 degree angles, with his torso slightly forward. His desk height should be approximately 2 inches above his elbows when his arms are at rest at his side. If the child's chair is too tall, leaving his feet dangling, create a make shift footrest out of old telephone books bound together with masking or another strong tape to provide added stability. Keep in mind that trunk stability is necessary for good mobility of the arms, hands, and fingers.