•Motor skills are used when the muscles of the body act and/or are coordinated.

•Gross motor skills- actions that use the large muscles of the body.•Fine motor skills- actions that use small muscles of the body.

Motor Skills

•Gross motor skills allow the use to fundamental movement skills that are movement patterns to involving different body parts like the legs, arms, trunk and head. This includes skills like running, hoping, and catching. These are foundation movements that are used in more specialised, challenging and complex actions needed for play, active games, sports, dance, gymnastics, and physical recreation activities.

Recognising gross motor skills

•Fundamental movement skills can be•divided into three categories:•Body management skills involve balance; for example:– -bending– -swinging– -climbing– -lifting– -reaching

•Locomotor skills involve moving the body in a direction; for example, by:– -hopping– -skipping– -jumping– -galloping– -sprinting– -running

•Object control skills involve the control of objects; for example:– -throwing– -kicking– -catching– -batting– -shovelling

•To allow children to practise and develop their gross motor skills, they must have access to equipment, games and toys that facilitate this.

•In a care service, this means supplying equipment such as:• -climbing frames• -ladders• -steps or stairs• -space to crawl, walk around furniture, walk independently, run, skip•and hop

•-skipping ropes• -balls• -push-along trolleys• -tricycles and/or bicycles• -monkey bars• -shovels• -trampolines

What are Gross Motor Skills?

Gross Motor Skills are large movements of the body, which relate to mobility

and active play.

In each of your tables discuss 2-3 activities that you can do that

facilitate gross motor skills and then come to the board and draw an illustration of your activity.

Make sure it is out of the “norm” and that your illustration tells us

a story.

Activities that promote the development of gross motor

skills:• Playground

equipment• Endurance activities• Swimming• Ball Toss• Kick Ball• Jump Rope, Skipping,

galloping, hopping• Playing outside

• Imitating animals• Wheelbarrow

walking• “Simon Says”• Log Rolling• Riding bicycles• General exercises• Walking a line, curb,

railroad ties

What are Fine Motor Skills?

Fine Motor SkillsFine motor skills are the manner

in which we use our fingers, hands and arms. They include

reaching, grasping, manipulating objects and using different tools like crayons and

scissors.

Why are Fine Motor Skills Important?

Fine Motor Skills enable people to do many things in daily life…

Activities that require fine motor skills:

• Zipping and Buttoning

• Picking a flower• Writing a note• Cutting with scissors• Turing pages of a

book• Communicating with

sign language

• Brushing Teeth• Opening a door• Shaking someone’s

hands• Using an elevator• Operation of a

remote control

•Fine motor skills refer to the smaller movements of•the body parts, such as the wrists, hands fingers,•feet and toes. Fine motor skills also include hand•eye coordination that is necessary in tasks where•you see something and coordinate your hand to•move to what you see. There are many activities•that use hand-eye coordination; for example:•reading•typing•throwing a ball

Recognising fine motor skills

•Activity: On a piece of paper: list 10 things as you can think of that require children to use hand-eye coordination.

•finger puppets•pasting or painting brushes•scissors•Play-dough•pencils, pens, •staplers•nails and hammers•toy cars and car mats

Equipment that facilitate Fine Motor Skills

•clothing with buttons, press studs, studs, ties, zips•knives, forks, spoons•computer keyboards•books•small sorting items for children older enough; for example, buttons, coins, bottle tops, pebbles•Wool for knitting, sewing, stitching, pom-pom making•Puzzles

•Hand grasp also develops in sequence and influences the ability of a child to control their activities. Dexterity is a word used to explain the manipulation of objects using your fine motor skills. Skills like hand grasp are influenced by the environment, so if the child is not provided with opportunities to use a grasp, this skill will not develop as quickly and their dexterity may be poor.

•A palmer grasp appears once the grasp reflex has disappeared, at around 4 months. The whole fist is first used in this grasp- the palm covers the object and the fingers then curl around the object intentionally. The child is able to let go of the object when they want to.

•A pincer grasp occurs next as the fingers become more controlled. The pincer grasp is useful for picking up small objects and uses the index finger (the first finger) and the thumb together in a pinching motion.

•A tripod grasp follows where a thick crayon or piece of food is held with the fingers in a tripod style with two fingers and the thumb.

•Finally, a pencil grasp develops. This enables the child to have greater control over their drawing or writing implement.

Homework Due Thursday

• Now that you have learned about all of the learning centers…

• Choose ONE child centered theme and then make a list of creative activities for Art, Math, Science, Dramatic Play, literacy, Gross Motor, and Fine Motor Skills. Make sure it is an activity that children can do and describe how to do it (like a recipe—part by part instructions).  

Example:

• Theme: Flowers

• Activity name: Butterflies

• Description: Using coffee filters children will color or dot with markers, then using an eye dropper children will drop water onto coffee filters to spread the colors out and allow it to dry. After it has been dried the children will squish it in the middle and then place a pipe cleaner and wrap around and make antennas with it