Physical Development – Motor Skill Development
Baby Development – Motor Skill Development
What is motor skill development?
In the first few years of your baby’s life they will be developing rapidly. Baby Development is a phrase I am sure you are very familiar with now. There are many different stages and types of baby development but here we will give a quick guide to physical development, often known of as motor skill development.
Motor development is part of physical development and refers to the growth in the ability of children to use their bodies and physical skills. Motor development can be divided into gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are things like holding their head up, sitting up unaided and crawling and fine motor skills are things like picking up smaller toys, turning the pages of a book or mark making.
Why do children need to develop their motor skills?
Motor development is important throughout a child’s early life, because physical development is tied to other development areas. For example, if a child is able to crawl or walk, he/she can more easily explore their physical environment, which affects cognitive development.
With practice, children learn to develop and use gross motor skills so they can move in their world with balance, coordination, ease, and confidence!
The ability to accomplish self-care and everyday tasks by using fine motor skills helps a child’s self-esteem and confidence grow. It’s important to work with children early on to help fine motor skills develop at a young age. Fine motor skills improve with practice, so the earlier the better!
For instance, babies first learn to hold their heads up, then sit with assistance, then sit unassisted, followed later by crawling, pulling up, cruising, and then walking. As motor skills develop, there are certain developmental milestones that young children should achieve.
How do I help my child develop their motor skills?
As they get older, your little one will be working their motor skills every day just by going about their daily routine and getting more involved in activities! However, for infants and toddlers, they may need extra stimulation to work their motor skills. Make sure you are encouraging physical movement and development of these skills on a daily basis.
- Try tummy time. You can start tummy time with your newborn from the day you come home from the hospital. …
- Place toys out of reach. …
- Support their seat. …
- Prop with pillows. …
- Offer push toys. …
- Kick and throw balls. …
How do toddlers develop gross motor skills?
- Trampolines. Using a trampoline is a great activity to improve balance. …
- Hopscotch. Hopping and jumping require strong gross motor skills, balance, and coordination. …
- Martial arts classes. …
- Playground play. …
- Balloon and bubble play. …
- Tricycles, scooters, and pedal cars. …
- Dancing. …
- Obstacle courses.
This is a great activity to try at home for babies from around 4 months old
Baby Surprise – stuff some squares of fabric into an old clean baby wipe container and let your baby pull them out one by one. If you can find fabrics with different textures and colours to stimulate baby’s sense of touch and vision that would be even better!
