Educationally and pedagogically written and reviewed by Academic Writer Maryna Polishchuk, MA and Academic Writer & Researcher Dr. Maryam Iftikhar, Ph.D.
What are Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills are competencies that use the small muscles of the extremities (e.g., fingers, hands, toes, feet) to move objects. The extent of fine motor skills learned increases with age. It means that as children grow, they acquire more fine motor skills that help them to independently perform tasks. Fine motor skills require hand-eye coordination, control and strength of the muscles, dexterity, and speed. It includes skills like manipulation of small items, writing, and drawing. In school-age children, it refers to the interaction of their perceptual, visuomotor, cognitive, and spatiotemporal abilities, coupled with their strength and control.
Developing Fine Motor Skills
Development of fine motor skills at an early age is important in many ways. Having fine motor skills is essential for many everyday tasks, including clothing, feeding, and self-care. The cultivation of fine motor skills is significant for children’s growth because it allows them to engage in worthwhile activities such as play, education, and social contact. In fact, studies show strong links between fine motor skills, learning, and communication abilities. Children with strong fine motor abilities have been observed to show early reading and language development, higher academic achievement, and mathematical proficiency. Thus, it is necessary for children to participate more actively in the development of their fine motor skills. To achieve this, educators must use a variety of strategies. They must allow the children to have the chance to practice on their own.
Fine motor skills might be related to developmental disabilities and neurodiversity. Impairment can also result in reduced self-esteem, high anxiety levels, and distress in academic performance. Symptoms of fine motor impairment focus on problems in coordination involving the hand, finger, and face. In early childhood, fine motor impairment is indicated by a delay in learning to walk or sit up. Other behavioral symptoms involve difficulty holding a pencil, writing, cutting with scissors, drawing lines, zipping a zipper, or folding clothes. Hence, it is necessary to assess children’s fine motor skills as early as two years to prevent or remedy the possible effects of fine motor impairment.
Examples of Fine Motor Skills
Since fine motor skills involve the use of the small muscles of the extremities, they involve abilities that require fine, delicate movements, such as the following:
- Writing. Children spend the majority of their time manipulating writing instruments like paper and pencil. These activities are known to be most significant for academic success.
- Drawing. Drawing activities enhance children’s strength in grasping and controlling coloring tools, dexterity when coloring, and neatness in coloring images.
- Object manipulation. This skill involves grasping objects with both thumb and finger, writing with care, eating with a fork, putting together puzzle pieces, brushing their teeth, and other basic skills.
Fine Motor Skills: Unique Perspective
The development of fine motor skills is crucial for the success of children in their studies and daily living, such as feeding, organizing, and cleaning themselves. It influences their cognitive, psychomotor, and socioemotional development in many ways. It helps reduce children’s anxiety and boost their self-esteem. They are proven to enhance learning, communication, and academic mastery such as in mathematics and reading. It is for this reason that educators must employ various teaching strategies that will allow students to develop their fine motor abilities. One way is to guide and give them some freedom to apply and practice their fine motor skills on their own. Such fine motor skills involve writing, drawing, and manipulating objects, such as putting puzzle pieces together, holding and using their cutlery while eating, folding their clothes, brushing their teeth, and many other tasks practised daily.
Accordingly, it is necessary for children as early as age two to be comprehensively assessed and screened for any possible fine motor impairment considering that any difficulty associated with their fine motor abilities has severe and negative consequences for their daily functioning and academic performance. These consequences include reduced fine motor control, increased anxiety, low self-esteem, and decreased academic performance. These fine motor impairments are attributable to congenital malformations, stroke, injury, and other diseases such as neurological, joint, or muscle disorders. In addition, since developmental milestones on fine motor skills vary with age, any developmental delay in a specific age group must be considered for assessment. Assessments must include evaluations of their hand-eye coordination, muscle strength and control, manual dexterity, and speed of movement. Such comprehensive assessments and screenings are significant for the prevention, management, and treatment of any developing or existing fine motor impairment.
Therefore, educators have the responsibility to record and be keen on the possible developmental delays or difficulties faced by their students during classroom activities and tasks. Thus, educators must constantly record students’ fine motor skills through their classroom performance, behavior, and interactions.
References
Akin, S. (2019). Fine motor skills, writing skills and physical education based assistive intervention program in children at Grade 1. Asian Journal of Education and Training, 5(4), 518–525. https://doi.org/10.20448/journal.522.2019.54.518.525
Gaul, D., & Issartel, J. (2016). Fine motor skill proficiency in typically developing children: On or off the maturation track? Human Movement Science, 46, 78–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2015.12.011
Marhaeni, B., Septriana, I., & Suci, S. (2022). Fine motor stimulation of children through coloring activities in early childhood. TEMATIK: Jurnal Pemikiran dan Penelitian Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini, 8(51). DOI:10.26858/tematik.v8i1.27550
Syafril, S., Susanti, R., Elfiah, R., Pahrudin, A., Erlina, N., & Mohd Ishak, N. (2018). Four ways of fine motor skills development in early childhood. DOI:10.31227/osf.io/pxfkq