Skills involving use of small muscles that control fingers and thumbs are called fine motor skills. Buttoning, Writing, zippering are a few tasks that involve Fine motor skills. We at Kids Kingdom Learning Centre help develop fine motor skills through exposure and experience to a variety of materials, toys and food.
Why is fine motor skill development important? Little hands need to develop strength and dexterity. We, as parents or caregivers, can help this by encouraging children to explore, interact, and play with a variety of items.
Here are some activities that we do in our learning centre that help develop fine motor skills:
Tummy Time
We at our nursery help our babies to shift from side to side, push up, shift from side to side and swipe at objects in front of them both on their tummy and when on their back.
Finger Feeding
We at Kids Kingdom Learning Centre in JLT encourage finger feed as much as possible. Picking up food with their fingers will help them develop a pincer grasp (thumb and first finger together), which is a necessary precursor to holding a crayon.
Play with Small Items
Our nursery also encourages the toddlers to stack blocks, use one piece puzzles and play with pop beads.
Play with Play Dough
Our toddlers develop hand strength by playing with play dough. Think resistance!
Finger Painting
We like to get messy at our JLT and IMPZ branch .We do painting finger painting with Shaving Cream, paint, pudding.
Puzzles
Puzzles help children learn about moving objects through turning, flipping and placing pieces.
Two-Handed Tasks
Activities that encourage your child to coordinate with both hands together is a great tool for development. An example; cutting a rolled out play dough into a long snake.
At our learning centre we look for opportunities throughout the day where our children can manipulate small items, push and pull with their hands and fingers and practice small movements. Being aware of these opportunities is the first steps in helping your child develop fine motor skills.
Kids Kingdom Learning Centre JLT is a KHDA approved centre, 10 minutes from Dubai Marina. Please feel free to contact us for more information. http://www.kidskingdom.ae