Simple ways you can help develop fine motor skills in your child.

[AD] As a parent (especially a new one) there's often a worry surrounding your child's development and whether they're hitting their age appropriate milestones or not. Whilst we all know children do things exactly when they're good and ready (they're stubborn like that!) There are things that we as parents can do to help aid their development. Today we'll be looking at ways you can help develop fine motor skills in your child, as well as the importance of doing so.

Fine motor skills for child development.

What are fine motor skills?

Fine motor skills involve your child's brain and nervous system working alongside the smaller muscles in their body. This development of hand eye coordination focusses on areas such as their hands, fingers, lips and tongue.

Why is it important to develop fine motor skills?

Developing your child's fine motor skills from an early age is incredibly important, as it will continue to aid them growing up. Developing fine motor skills early on will help your child go on to do things such as writing, eating, even zipping up their coat.

Young children need to opportunity to develop fine motor skills alongside other developmental skills so they can become confident in themselves and the world around them.

Toys to help develop fine motor skills

Play is a great way to develop a great number of skills within your child. It can be creative, it can be physical, it can be social. Playtime should never be underestimated, especially when it comes to the development of your tiny persons brain.

In collaboration with very.co.uk here is a list of 10 toys to help strengthen your child's fine motor skills:

Lacing beads

Although wooden beads may not seem like the most exciting toy in the world, their powers for fine motor development are second to none! Lacing beads is a classic fine motor activity for toddlers. Manipulating the string in and out of the beads takes a lot of skill for your small human. It strengthens hand eye coordination, dexterity and the pincer grip. As they get older this exact technique will be used tying their shoelaces.

Latch boards

Latch boards or sensory boards are great for toddlers to get hands on with. Their curiosity rarely fails them and thankfully their inquisitiveness can really help develop fine motor skills. Usually numerous latches are available giving your child a number of different problems to solve, all of which will advance their muscular development.

Play dough

As a parent I have a love hate relationship with play dough. I hate the mess and how the colours get mixed leaving you with five pots of brown. But I love how beneficial it is for children's development. Whilst your child is having fun prodding, squishing and rolling the play dough they're subconsciously building the little muscles in their hands.

Lego

Lego is a brilliant tool for working on your child's fine motor skills. By choosing an age appropriate lego set you'll be helping develop fine motor skills whilst also opening a whole range of creative opportunities for your child. Pushing and pulling apart the lego helps your child develop grasp along with intrinsic hand strength. An added bonus is that lego also improves bilateral coordination as your child will be using both hands to mould the pieces.

Building blocks

The precise art of tower making using building blocks teaches children to hone in on their hand eye coordination skills. What's a simple task for us takes a lot of concentration for our small people. Selecting specific blocks and passing them from one hand to the other is a fantastic milestone for your little one to reach.

Abacus

Fine motor skills can be developed whilst playing with an abacus. Granted your young child wont understand the function of an abacus, they'll still get plenty of skill development from it.

Colouring

Admittedly your young child isn't going to be painting the Mona Lisa (imagine if they could) but colouring or mark making from an early age will massively help develop fine motor skills. Whether it's chunkier chalks for younger children or more precise pencils for those that are a bit older, their hand eye coordination and pincer grasp is sure to be tested whilst getting arty.

Cash registers

Cash registers are great for introducing role play to your toddler, but the physicality of handling coins will improve their dexterity and fine motor skills. As the coins are quite small, your child's pincer grip will really need to be perfected. This is a great one to really test your toddler.

Stacking cups

Similar to building blocks, stacking cups can really help improve your child's dexterity and fine motor skills. The accurate and definitive skill of selecting the correct cup to stack next is a real milestone. A proud parent moment!

Books

I'm a huge advocate for reading to your child from an early age. Books can have a massive impact on your child's development. Instead of reading to your child however, why not pass them the book. Smaller board style books are brilliant for developing your child's fine motor skills. Each turn of the page invites them to really define their pincer grip, improving their dexterity and strengthening those little muscles.

Which toys do you think best develop fine motor skills? Is there anything on this list your child couldn't be without?