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Fine Motor Skills

Elizabeth King

In my last couple of blog posts, I described gross motor skills and milestones for 18 month to 2.5 year olds. I’m transitioning now to fine motor skills for this same age range. Fine motor skills can sometimes be overlooked due to the amount of focus, patience, and persistence required from both the child and the caretaker. I am a huge proponent of progress over perfection when learning. Fine motor skills are no exception and these skills directly correlate to fine motor skills as an adult. 

Here are some simple and daily things that adults do with fine motor skills that you may or may not even realize:

  • Getting dressed in anything besides leggings. Think about zippers for people who still wear pants or shorts, zippers on jackets or vests, and buttons on pants or shirts. Also realize that putting on socks and shoes are a fine motor skill, tying laces anyone?

  • Self-care and grooming such as cutting your finger nails and the dreaded switch of the nail cutter from your dominant hand to your wobbly hand. Brushing your teeth by twisting or popping off the toothpaste lid and squeezing toothpaste onto the toothbrush. Using tweezers for eyebrows, nose hair, and even that random ear hair? 

  • Putting on jewelry like earrings and necklaces. If you are a man reading this, then you’ve probably been asked to help put on a really tricky or dainty necklace. Did you make an incredibly focused face while trying to hold the clasp and the chain, then open the clasp and hold it open, hook the chain on it before that little clasp escaped your grip?! I hope you succeeded and didn’t get too frustrated by those darn little things! 

  • Manipulating food containers as part of meal prep such as opening and closing ziploc bags and twisting or popping lids on and off. 

  • Eating with utensils by holding a fork or spoon, then adding food to the utensil, then balancing the food on the utensil in that short distance between hand and mouth, and then actually shoveling it into your mouth!

  • Pouring liquids from one container to another such as pouring your coffee creamer into your coffee cup or pouring a glass of wine. That is surprisingly a fine motor skill. 

  • Writing with a pencil, pen, or stylus for people who still make actual lists or notes, journal, draw, or color. 

I could go on with the examples here but I think the point is, fine motor skills are in our daily lives. There are so many benefits and connections we make from fine motor skills. First, we are building small, focused muscles in the hands, feet, and even eyes! The eyes use different muscles to focus on meticulous tasks vs gross motor activities. Second, we are connecting those small muscles through the nervous system to the brain for improved motor control. Practicing small, intentional movements can build coordination, balance, persistence, patience, impulse-control, and confidence. Fine motor skills are an absolute MUST for child development in both boys and girls. 

I want to take a moment to share a conversational theme I’ve had about boys and fine motor skills. Here are some quotes from people I know talking about boys abilities to learn fine motor skills (1)“Boys have no interest in fine motor skills, you should just have your son run around instead,” (2) “Boys have a shorter attention span than girls so how can you teach them anything that requires a lot of focus?” and (3) “Boys typically start school later than girls because they can’t do certain fine motor skills.”

Now, this may be true for boys at certain points and based on multiple research studies, girls typically perform better at fine motor skills than boys. In my experience, with my son, who just turned 2-years-old, these statements just don’t apply to him. He LOVES and is interested in fine motor skills AND he also runs around a lot. He can have a shorter attention span at times and during those times, I don’t push the fine motor skill activity - it’s a balance. There have been times when he spent an entire hour rolling playdoh, cutting it with the playdoh knife, and placing the small pieces in a variety of cups - an entire hour. As far as school readiness, I am not at that point to fully understand my son’s readiness but I believe he will be successful because we are doing activities with him now. 

Call me biased, call me a tunnel-visioned mama, call me whatever you would like. I believe that if you, as the parent or caretaker, give your boy or girl a variety of activities, purposefully play with your child, and show a genuine interest in those activities, then your child will learn and grow. As you continue reading, I’ll share with you some of the purposeful play activities my husband and I have worked on with our son. Feel free to use this as a menu and select the activities that fit your child:

  • Hand (Manual) Dexterity 

  • Bundling Dexterity with Life Skills

  • Play and Activities

Hand (Manual) Dexterity:

Let’s think about all the ways we use our hands and fingers. As I am typing right now, I am using both of my hands, my wrists, and all of my fingers. My fingers work independently of each other as they reach for each keystroke, the space bar, the shift key, the enter key, and the mouse. My wrists are supporting my fingers to allow them to lightly rest on the keys, to move up and down and side to side as I type. Although my fingers and wrists are working independently, they are also working in harmony. The only way to achieve this is through recognition that each one of my fingers can move on its own, in a variety of directions, and with a variety of force. I also have to recognize that my fingers can move separately from my wrists. All of this is from body awareness, coordination, strength, and repetition. 

So how do we do this with our kids? We model it. We slow down our daily activities to show them how their body is connected and how it can work independently. Here are a couple of examples:

  • Wiggling Fingers - Pretty straightforward, yes? Wiggling those fingers all at the same time can appear to be easy but it takes focus and coordination. What if you slow down the wiggle and isolate one finger at a time? More difficult. Try bundling this with books that have bugs or crawling things in there to wiggle your fingers across the pages. Quick tip - placing your child’s fingers on a physical object can help them feel the movement more than just doing the movement in the air. 

  • Snapping Fingers - This fine motor skill can even be difficult for adults. For me, I am left-handed and snap my fingers with my left ring finger and my left thumb. I can’t snap my fingers on my left hand with any other finger combination - it just doesn’t happen. My son snaps his fingers with his thumb and pointer finger. It doesn’t really make an audible sound but he has the movement down, now we just need to add the force with it to make the sound - progress over perfection. 

  • Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down - I love this movement so much. The first time I showed my son thumbs up, as part of saying good job, he stared at my hand and then stared at his hand. His face got all scrunched up and he actively tried to stick his thumb up. It didn’t work but man he tried! For those of you who like to include sign language as part of your communication tool, this is a great one for communicating in a variety of circumstances. Thumbs up for good food, for having fun, for positive reinforcement, and for asking if your child is okay. Thumbs down is hilarious because they start to learn about their choice of identifying something as good or bad or yucky. Be careful with the thumbs down, they can hurt your heart with this one haha! 

  • Counting with Fingers - Gosh, this one is hard! Doing a number countdown from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 really isn’t that complicated. Having your child mimic finger movements to match the countdown - difficult! How many ways can you show the number 3 on your hand? 

    • Thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger

    • Pointer finger, middle finger, and ring finger

    • Middle finger, ring finger, and pinky while making a circle with your pointer finger and thumb

I personally show the number 3 through option 2 above. That is too difficult for my son. He likes option 1. Go with what your child can do, go slowly, and be intentional. Don’t rush through showing these movements because they won’t be able to comprehend it. 

  • Shaking Hands - Okay, this may seem like making a boy into a man WAY too early. Seriously, you’re teaching your son to shake hands at 2-years-old? Yes, and… I actually started this when he was 18 months old… First, this gave my son options for how he wanted to say hello or goodbye to someone. He could high five, give a hand shake, a wave, a hug, or verbally say hello or goodbye. Second, a hand shake encourages hand-eye-coordination, improves grip strength, and shows a cultural norm. Third, this is literally the cutest thing ever seeing my little human shake another human’s hand. 

Bundling Dexterity with Life Skills:

Consider some of these examples when you think about your day to day activities or routine with your child. Many of these things you are already doing. You may just need to recognize a transition of who is “doing” the activity - you or your child? Maybe think about asking your child for help instead of doing it all yourself.

  • Twisting Lids on and off Containers and Jars - When teaching this, realize there are a ton of lids to choose from including twist tops, snap-ons, and general push on lids. Think of lids from a milk jug, a pyrex dish, a water bottle, and a tupperware container. All of those lids are great. You may want to consider the size of the lids or caps too. An applesauce container has a bigger cap than a food pouch cap. Mix in large, medium, and small caps and lids to give them some variety (this is also really great for matching and sorting too). Start with just general placement - you take the lead on taking caps on and off, then give the lid or cap to your baby to hold, to manipulate in their hand, and just have them place it on and off the container. Start here and build up their object placement. I have really enjoyed watching my son’s “focus face” when doing this - it is hilarious and precious at the same time. Do this with laundry and show them how to twist off the lid, ask them to hold it while your pour the laundry detergent, then ask them to place the lid back on so they can get comfortable with placement first. Build in the twist motions as placement improves! 

  • Cooking and Baking - We are a family who rarely eats out or orders delivery. We cook and bake - it’s just our lifestyle. I am obsessed with including my son in cooking and baking. For starters, he is learning how to prepare food which is critical in this modern era. He gets to participate in this activity every single day. We have a toddler tower for him where he can stand right next to us, can smell the food smells, and can contribute toward our family meals. This means he helps pour pasta into a bowl, he pulls grapes off the vine and puts them in a bowl, and he scoops flour from the bag and dumps it into the Kitchenaid stand mixer. He makes a complete mess and it is beautiful. He always has a smile on his face, he shows pride in cooking, he is engaged through the entire process, and he learns SO much.

  • Washing Dishes - If he helps us cook and bake, he definitely helps us clean up. He ASKS to do the dishes. He pushes his toddler tower to the sink and crawls in there - eager to do the dishes. Jason has his own scrub brush that he helps clean cups, pots, pans, and utensils. He understands now that there are clean and dirty dishes, he coordinates scrubbing with rinsing, and he is learning how to share the water with me (something he is particularly fond of saying “MINE WA WA”). 

  • Zippers! - Those beautiful, amazing, and frustrating things! It can be a freeing moment when your child starts zipping up their coat or lunch box! This fine motor skill is a conscious transition parents need to make for their child. I got in the habit of just zipping things up. Everything is so much faster when I would zip up Jason’s coat, his sweater, his vest, and even his lunch box. But then it dawned on me… he could do that himself. I showed him how by “starting” the zipper and zipping it a quarter of the way up. Then I would just say - pull up your zipper - and he would stare at it and then try to pull it up. Same thing with pushing down the zipper, I just said - push down your zipper - and he would actually do it. It is bizarre what kids will do when asking and what they put up a huge fight about! Another easy way I worked with him on zippers was when we packed his snack or lunch into his lunch box. I would put all of his containers on the counter and ask him to pack his lunch box. He would put everything in there and then I would say - zip it closed. He would take the zipper between his thumb and pointer finger trying to zip it closed. Sometimes he could do it and other times he couldn’t. But he still tried and that has grown into him packing his entire lunch box and zipping it closed without me asking. He just does it. 

  • Drinking from an Open Cup - I’m not sure why this one was a unique shift for me to make, probably because all my son drank out of cups with nipples or straws for over a year… giving him an open cup seemed foreign. I also felt the need to protect the liquid from spilling out - why, I still have no idea. It’s not like I was saving the floor from a spill that couldn’t ever be cleaned up… When we first started this, our lactation specialist recommended putting applesauce in a small cup instead of water or milk. She said that this is a slower moving liquid and gave our son an easier start at drinking from an open cup. It totally worked. He is a pro at drinking from an open cup. Try it out, it is a great mom hack.

  • Squeezing Toothpaste onto his Toothbrush - Does your child struggle with brushing teeth? I get it, the mouth is a very personal space and being forced to have an object in there isn’t ideal. My son hated brushing his teeth until we got him to participate in it by using 2 toothbrushes. He gets a choice between which toothbrush he uses (the alligator or the elephant) and we get the other one. He gets to open the toothpaste and he gets to squeeze the toothpaste onto both his toothbrush and our toothbrush. Then he brushes his teeth and he tolerates us helping to brush his teeth. The small act of squeezing the toothpaste gives his fingers strength and coordination. He also, now, recognizes when he has the right amount of toothpaste - sometimes he squeezes too little and other times he squeezes too much.

  • Hair Scrunchies - Yes, you read that correctly. Yes, hair scrunchies can be used for both boys and girls. Hair scrunchies have great elastic, are interesting to little kids, and have many uses! How about placing hair scrunchies on containers like water bottles? Placing them over their fingers and onto their wrist like a bracelet, or my son’s favorite is pulling them all the way up his biceps like mini sweatbands. What about the coordination it takes to work the scrunchy onto your child’s foot? Scrunchies are a great way to prepare kids for putting their socks on! Think about… test it out. 

Activities and Play:

Here are some additional ideas that you can bake into your routine or you can carve out dedicated time for these activities. All of these activities support fine motor skills, engage both the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and encourage creativity with your child. 

  • Painting and/or coloring - learning how to hold them, taking the caps on and off

  • Tracing objects on paper – a hand, a cup, a block, etc…

  • Turning pages in books - not just board books but regular books with thin pages (be prepared for some rips… that’s fine and not a big deal)

  • Peeling and placing stickers

  • Squeezing / wringing out wet sponges - sensory play, object transfer, and grip strength

  • Playdoh - gosh… so many benefits here!

  • Using toddler scissors, knifes, rolling pins, pizza cutters, etc…

Okay wow, did you get some ideas for fine motor skills? I hope you found a new idea or two that you can pick from the menu and try out with your child or children. All of the ideas I listed on the menu were based on trial and error. I had many more ideas that didn’t work or click with my son so we discarded them for now. I observed him, I understood his interest and ability, and I experimented with ideas. I know you can do the same. 

To summarize fine motor skills, these are an absolute MUST for kids and have profound impact on their development. You can add fine motor skills into any part of your day or routine. This will take an intentional effort on your part to slow down, to give them opportunities to try, and to purposefully engage with your child. Slowing down now will help you speed up later when they have the skills, coordination, and confidence to use them on their own! On a personal note, writing about fine motor skills has been so fun because I get to reflect on all my child has learned and even think about new activities I can plan for him to further his skills. I hope you enjoyed this too. My next blog post on child development will be released on April 14th, see you soon!

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