Early childhood education classes McKinney TX prepare students for a variety of academic and social activities, but they also help children master fine motor skills. Getting dressed, picking up a cup, eating and many of your child’s other everyday activities require fine motor skills or control of small muscles in the hands. Help your child practice these skills to develop more freedom to accomplish things without an adult’s assistance
Early Childhood Education Classes Mckinney Tx: Classroom Activities Encourage Fine Motor Skills
Milestones for a child’s motor skills development at ages 3-4 include cutting across a piece of paper with scissors, eating with a spoon and fork, drawing a circle and building a tower of 9 or 10 blocks. Your child should master putting on socks, shoes and pants by age 4.
Preschool classes promote fine motor skills through different activities, such as:
- Threading beads onto pipe cleaners
- Poking straws into holes
- Making pasta necklaces
- Pattern-making with Legos or shells
- Working with Play-Dough
- Making sticker and felt collages
Between the ages of 4 and 5, your child should master drawing a cross, coloring inside the lines, drawing recognizable forms (people, flowers, etc.), learning to print capital letters and using their dominant hand for fine motor skills. If your child has difficulty with any of these skills by age five, talk to the teacher or your doctor about a possible reason for this. In most cases, the child may just need a little extra time to master the skill.
Early Childhood Education Classes Mckinney Tx: The Dominant and Non-Dominate Hand
Most fine motor activities require the use of a dominant hand and a non-dominant hand. The use of a dominant hand (being right-handed or left-handed) occurs between the ages of three and seven. When children become aware of their dominant hand, the other hand is referred to as their non-dominant hand. Your child performs cutting, writing and other activities with the dominant hand, with the non-dominant hand acting as a stabilizer. A left-handed child cuts a paper with the left hand while holding it with his or her right hand.
