Benefits of fine motor skills for toddlers

Fine motor skills are those that involve a refined use of the small muscles which control the hand, fingers and thumb. With the development of these skills, a child is able to complete important tasks such as writing, feeding oneself, buttoning and zippering.

These abilities gradually develop through experience and exposure to a variety of toys, materials and even foods.Little hands need to develop dexterity and strength. We at Little Pearls Early Learning Centre help in this process by encouraging children to play, explore and interact with a variety of items. Toys, clothing fasteners, safe scissors and play dough are all tactile examples of practices that facilitate fine motor development. 


Even doing age appropriate tasks in the kitchen are great ways to help build fine motor skills. These types of “play” activities and manipulation skills will actually help prepare a child to hold and use a crayon. The ability to do so is the first step in learning to color, draw and ultimately write.

At Little Pearls Early Learning Centre, teachers encourage toddlers to stack blocks, string beads, use one piece puzzles and play with pop beads. At Little Pearls lot of play dough activities are planned in the curriculum.One of the very best ways to build hand strength is to play with play dough, play foam or a similar non toxic and malleable substance. Puzzle time is one of the most important in Little Pearls daily routine with children. 

Puzzles come in a whole range of themes and topics such as alphabet letters, shapes, vegetables, numbers, pets, transport and colours.  It increases their visual spacial awareness and develops a deeper understanding of these themes and topics.  All children learn differently and puzzles may be their medium for grasping an understanding of certain themes such as alphabet letters.Completing a puzzle, even the most simplest of puzzles sets a single goal to achieve.

Toddlers and children must think and develop strategies on how to approach in achieving this goal.  This process involves problem solving, reasoning skills and developing solutions which they can later be transferred into their personal/adult life. Puzzles are a fun way for children to develop and refine their fine motor skills.  When engaged in playing with puzzles, children are required to pick up, pinch and grasp pieces (some with small knobs, pegs or chunky pieces) and move them around, manipulating them into slots, sorting them and fitting them into the correct places.

At Little Pearls children love to play with play dough. The possibilities for playdough play are limitless – kids love to create all sorts of things with playdough – some days they create monsters and aliens, on other occasions they have made cupcakes, pizzas, gardens, houses. Any activity where children are hands-on involved creates a fantastic opportunity for developing social skills.

Playing with play dough in small groups and or with adults presents lots of possibilities for talk and discussion, playing collaboratively, problem solving and planning with others.  Encourage your children to describe what they are doing while they play.

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