Motor Development and different types of motor skills

“Motor development” refers to the process by which a child’s bones, muscles, and sense of movement and touch grow and strengthen. For most children, motor development progresses in a regular sequence, but each child’s age at which each skill is taught varies. Children as young as nine months have been known to walk on their own, which is much earlier than the usual 12- to 14-month window. As for how long it takes for a child to learn various motor skills, such as the infant who sits up, almost skips crawling, and begins walking, there are many variations.

Motor Development:

The process by which a child’s bones, muscles, and sense of movement and touch develop and strengthen is referred to as “motor development.” The two primary components of a child’s motor development are fine motor abilities and gross motor skills.

Fine motor skills include motions of the hands, wrists, fingers, toes, and lips. Gross motor abilities include the muscles that allow infants to sit or crawl with their heads held high, as well as more complex actions like walking and running.

The development of motor skills is generally predictable. There is a progression from the inside to the outside of the body, starting with the head and working its way down. The development of a child’s motor skills is important because it affects the development of other parts of the child’s life. When a child is able to crawl or walk, it makes it much easier for them to learn about their physical environment (gross motor skills). Children’s emotional development begins when they learn to speak and eat and drink on their own (fine motor skills).

At any age, parents and other caregivers can aid in the growth of a child’s motor abilities. Included in these activities are:

• Assist your baby in grabbing a toy when he or she is on their stomach.
• Place a toy on the couch for your child to grab onto when they first learn to stand.
• It’s a wonderful idea to go for a walk with your child in a stroller that they can push.
• It is a good idea to take your child to playgrounds where he or she can climb, swing, and slide.

Fine motor skills

Mechanics of the hand

To describe fine motor abilities (also known as dexterity), dexterity is the ability to move one’s hands and fingers in tandem with one’s eyes. In trials led by the nerve system, people demonstrate their dexterity with their hands. People’s ability to use fine motor abilities becomes increasingly important as their brains mature. Little muscles in our hands and wrists are what we refer to as “fine motor skills.” These skills are essential in the workplace, at school, and in our personal lives.

It’s not uncommon for people to take these simple gestures for granted because they’re so prevalent. With regards to fine motor skills, there is a lot going on. The brain and muscles work together to coordinate efforts. Running and jumping, for example, rely on these talents to some extent.

These are examples of how fine motor skills are put to work:

• Writing with a pen or pencil

• Drawing and writing plainly

• any activity that involves entering data into a computer

• This technique involves the use of tools like scissors and rulers.

Even simple daily chores like putting on clothes and cleaning one’s teeth necessitate fine motor skills.

Motor Skills

Motor competence refers to a person’s ability to perform a given task using their body’s muscles in harmony. To name a few: You can take a stroll, jog, or even ride a bike. All three of these systems must work together to achieve this goal. Maximising the rate of success, precision, and the energy consumption is the goal of motor skill training. In performance, motor skill or activity is put into practice. When a motor skill is regularly practised, it results in Motor Learning, which increases performance. Motor learning occurs as a result of repeated practice or exposure to the same circumstance.

When your child has mastered his fine motor skills, he will become more self-sufficient. This is a list of some of the things your child will learn in the early years of school.

The capacity to use one’s hands denotes one’s fine motor skills, which should be the emphasis of growth this year. It’s crucial for children to be able to open doors, zip zippers, brush teeth, wash hands, and do other tiny but equally important things on their own as they grow in their gross motor skills. Similar to hand-eye coordination, the development of fine motor skills opens up new horizons for learning, discovery, and self-expression. 

It has been found that activities emphasising the development of fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination are considerably more effective than those that solely focus on mental tasks like memorising letters and numbers. These abilities are more important for future academic performance than, say, knowing how to count or how to write the alphabet. Children’s hands must be strong and well-coordinated so that they can hold a pencil for a lengthy amount of time when learning to write or draw, for example.

The following are examples of fine motor skills your child will develop in preschool:

• paste stuff onto a piece of paper, clap your hands and touch your fingers.
• A zipper can be opened and closed
• erect a ten-block structure.
• The majority of five-piece puzzles can be completed.
• Colour and sketch with pencils and crayons if you know how to use them.
• Make a circle or a cross on a piece of paper, and then use safety scissors to cut out the forms.

Types of motor skills:

Fine motor skills

The tiny muscles in the hands and fingers are used in fine motor skills so that a kid may grasp, hold, grip, and squeeze. Fine motor skills are required for tasks such as picking up food, writing with a pencil, or buttoning a garment. Children learn how to care for themselves and eventually write by developing fine motor abilities.

These talents are crucial. There appears to be a connection between the development of fine motor abilities and the development of language, literacy, and the brain.

These are just a few examples of fine motor abilities:

• Assembling a fist.
• Putting together and taking apart objects
• Rolling out play dough
• When putting on shoes,
• Brushing your teeth

Gross motor skills

Gross motor skills include activities like crawling, running, jumping, and throwing, all of which use vast muscles in the arms, legs, and torso. If you’re a parent, you may notice that your child has a hard time staying still while they develop their gross motor skills.

Conclusion

Every day, we rely on our ability to move to get through the day. These devices can do everything from lifting heavy objects to typing on a computer keyboard. The development of children’s motor skills and control continues throughout childhood. The motor development and strengthening of a child’s bones, muscles, and capacity to move and touch his or her surroundings is referred to as motor development. Motor skills, communication and linguistic, cognitive, and social and emotional are the four areas. Having adequate motor development is critical for a child’s general development as well as allowing them to learn more about their surroundings.