| Fine Motor Skills is the ability to control small precise | | | | with your cooking… |
| movements with the fingers, wrists and hands. These | | | | The best age to teach good handwriting skills to your |
| skills are important for day to day activities in life. They | | | | children is between 3 and 10. Practicing handwriting can |
| also play a very important role in the school activities. | | | | often be hard and boring for the child. Take it slow and |
| A child’s handwriting skills depend on the child’s | | | | do it the right way. Get them to practice the fine motor |
| fine motor skills. There are lots of activities you can do | | | | skills first and then move to the alphabets. Also make |
| to improve your child’s fine motor skills. | | | | sure that the pencil grip is correct. |
| It’s not a good idea to get a child to practice | | | | Good posture is important and plays a key role in |
| handwriting until we expose the child to writing some | | | | handwriting skills. Bad posture creates stress on young |
| straight lines and curves etc. | | | | spines. Here are some tips to get that perfect posture |
| There are many activities you can expose your | | | | for your child: |
| children to - A lot of activities are fun and also help in | | | | Make sure your child has her own table and chair for |
| developing fine motor skills…..There are basically three | | | | writing purposes (height has to be adjusted as per the |
| kinds of activities which will help to develop your | | | | child’s height). |
| child’s fine motor skills: | | | | Feet have to be flat on the floor or on a foot rest. |
| Grasping - example: using pencils, crayons, brushes etc | | | | The child’s back has to be supported by chair. The |
| Manipulating - example: scissors, kneading, picking etc | | | | child’s bottom has to be pushed into the back |
| Hand-eye co-ordination - example: writing, cutting, | | | | pocket of his/her chair. |
| threading etc | | | | Head has to balanced on top of shoulders - should not |
| Here are a few activities that can improve your | | | | tilt sideways or lean forwards. |
| child’s fine motor skills: | | | | Its not good to have too much strain on their shoulders |
| Playing with play-dough | | | | (bending too much sideways to write) |
| Using scissors to cut lots and lots of paper. Make sure | | | | One general tip when they are walking is - |
| the kids don’t use the adult scissors but use the | | | | A lowered chin means your neck muscles are carrying |
| safety scissors. | | | | the weight and the strain will flow right down the neck |
| Picking beads or other tiny objects using tweezers. | | | | and down the back. So now slouching…. |
| Finger painting | | | | Here are some tips for right posture when your child is |
| Stack objects - cards, coins, blocks etc | | | | working on the computer: |
| Connect the dot puzzles | | | | The computer monitor has to be at the child’s eye |
| Drawing and scribbling | | | | level. Otherwise they will strain their necks. Above eye |
| Beading activities | | | | level is not good at all. |
| Doing puzzles | | | | The keyboard and mouse have to be slightly lower |
| Any activity which isolates finger activity - example | | | | than a writing desk so that the shoulders can be |
| playing a piano or typing | | | | relaxed. |
| Kneading dough, mixing cake batter - get them to help | | | | |