SPARC Active Movement - Part 4: Developing fine motor skills

Why are fine motor skills important?
Fine motor skills are important because children need them for activities like writing, playing instruments and playing sport later in their lives.

Once a child can hold a pencil or cricket bat without having to think of "how" to hold it, they can then concentrate on what they are going to write, or how they are going to hit the ball with the bat. This is called automaticity, which is the ability to do something without thinking about it.

It's important to note that being active isn't just about doing full-on physical things and playing sport. It's anything and everything involved in moving your body and having body awareness. For example, in younger children it's about knowing where their fingers are and what they can do.

SPARC aims to develop the skills in our children to be active and healthy from a holistic perspective – so it's about food and lifestyle too.

What things can I do to help my children develop fine motor skills?
Children can develop fine motor skills by doing everyday activities like cooking. The kitchen is a great place to develop some of the skills we need to develop intellectually for learning, emotionally and socially as well as surprisingly - physically.

Movements that use fingers and hands such as chopping, grating and kneading all help children to develop fine motor skills.

Cooking is also a great opportunity for parents and caregivers to engage in activity with their children. Cooking helps to boost a child’s self-esteem as they feel they are being helpful and can assist with making meals for the family.

So how do you get your children in the kitchen then?
You have to encourage them. They’ll be much more interested if you make it fun and not a chore.

Children tend to develop control over their body from the centre to more distant parts of their body like feet and hands, which means they develop skills like throwing before handwriting. So keep in mind your child’s skill level – fine motor skills take time to develop.

It's all about participation, fun and learning rather than doing it perfectly. So what if your carrots are not the same size – they’ll still taste the same!

Is what children eat important as well then?
Absolutely – developing good eating behaviour helps children to stay healthy and grow.

The more active a child is the more energy they need from food and those things need to be balanced with good nutrition too.

Children need to eat a large variety of food from the four main food groups. They should drink lots of water – milk’s a good choice too. Children need plenty of mini-meals and healthy snacks for those little stomachs to keep those energy levels up.

We all know that obesity is becoming more of a problem for New Zealanders so learning about food and the relationship with physical activity is very important.

Check out www.moh.govt.nz, www.nhf.org.nz, and www.plunket.org.nz for more information and guides to healthy eating.

What other activities can you do with younger children?
For young children touching, feeling and manipulating different things like plastercine, clay and playdough will help to develop fine motor skills.

Gardening, weeding, pulling vegetables up and even playing in the dirt can all be great learning experiences for developing fine motor skills as well.

Art and craft activities such as finger painting, papier mache and collage will also help. Water play is also a good activity.

These sorts of activities allow children to touch and manipulate all sorts of different textured material. You can work on language skills at the same time by prompting your child to describe how different things feel, for example slimey, cold or gritty.

With the school holidays coming up, have you got some more ideas for activities I can do with my children?
There is a wide range of information and ideas for getting children active at www.sparc.org.nz so you're bound to get some great ideas for entertaining the kids over the holidays.