#MotorDevelopment

[thedaycaredream23]

Nurturing Fine Motor Skills: Unveiling the Wonders of Child Development

Child development is a fascinating journey filled with milestones and growth. One critical aspect of development is the refinement of fine motor skills. In this blog, we will explore the significance of fine motor skills and provide insights on how to nurture and enhance them in children. From scribbling to buttoning shirts, the mastery of fine motor skills opens a world of possibilities for young learners.

Understanding Fine Motor Skills: Fine motor skills involve the coordination and control of small muscles, particularly in the hands and fingers. These skills are essential for performing everyday tasks such as writing, drawing, tying shoelaces, using utensils, and more. They require precision, dexterity, and hand-eye coordination. Developing these skills not only supports practical activities but also lays the foundation for cognitive and academic growth.

Stages of Fine Motor Development: Fine motor development progresses in stages, with each stage building upon the previous one. In the early years, infants explore their surroundings by grasping objects, eventually progressing to purposeful reaching and grabbing. Toddlers refine their skills by manipulating objects and attempting basic scribbling. Preschoolers further develop their fine motor abilities by mastering activities like cutting with scissors, using utensils, and engaging in intricate artwork.

Importance of Fine Motor Skills in Child Development: Fine motor skills play a vital role in various aspects of a child's development:

Cognitive Development: As children manipulate objects, they develop cognitive skills such as problem-solving, spatial awareness, and logical thinking

Language and Literacy: Fine motor skills are closely linked to early writing and reading abilities. The ability to hold a pencil, form letters, and turn pages requires dexterity and control.

Self-Care and Independence: By mastering fine motor skills, children gain independence in self-care tasks like dressing, feeding, and grooming, boosting their self-confidence and autonomy.

Handwriting: Strong fine motor skills are crucial for legible handwriting. Proper pencil grip, control of letter formation, and coordination between hand and eye contribute to effective writing.

Artistic Expression: Fine motor skills enable children to express their creativity through drawing, painting, sculpting, and other artistic activities. This fosters imagination, self-expression, and emotional development.

Nurturing Fine Motor Skills: Now that we understand the significance of fine motor skills, let's explore some practical ways to nurture and enhance them in children:

Manipulative Play: Provide age-appropriate toys and activities that involve sorting, stacking, threading beads, building blocks, and puzzles. These activities enhance hand-eye coordination and finger strength.

Sensory Play: Engage children in sensory activities like playing with playdough, finger painting, sand or water play. These experiences stimulate tactile senses and develop finger control.

Fine Motor Games: Incorporate games that require precise finger movements, such as picking up small objects with tweezers or transferring items with tongs. These activities refine hand movements and improve coordination.

Arts and Crafts: Encourage children to engage in art projects involving cutting, tearing paper, gluing, and coloring. These activities promote hand strength, control, and creativity.

Everyday Tasks: Involve children in age-appropriate daily tasks like pouring drinks, buttoning shirts, tying shoelaces, or opening containers. These activities build practical skills while refining fine motor abilities. To sum it up: Nurturing fine motor skills is a crucial aspect of child development. By understanding the stages of development and the importance of these skills, we can provide children with meaningful experiences and opportunities for growth. Through manipulative play, sensory activities, fine motor games, arts and crafts, and everyday tasks, we can help children enhance their fine motor abilities,

[newbeltane]

Did you know… infants are born with….

[kids-worldfun]

8 Benefits Of A Prekindergarten Program For Your Child. Early childhood education is vital for your child to prepare them for the school environment and boost their development. 

[raisingantonioluis-blog]

Making a splash 💦💦💦 Aside from the bonding, water play promotes sensory development. This gives my son a chance to safely experiment with different temperatures (hot, warm, cold) and texture (slippery, wet, coarse and dry).. . Water resistance provide exercises for his little limbs especially when cycling or paddling. I encourage my son to kick and feel the water to make a splash. It gives him the concept of cause and effect.. . Sitting and standing in the shallow water practices his stability and balance. This also prepares him to independently bear more weight later on.. . Aside from the spatial awareness (empty and full), it is a good opportunity to introduce to my son the concept of over, for floating toys, and under, by submerging or show him how objects sink.🐥. . Water boosts cognitive development and creativity. It is an interactive medium for exploratory and functional play. I allow my son to scoop some water and toys and transfer them in the bucket. Now he is better in feeding all by himself. @babysparksco #motordevelopment #sensoryplaytolearn https://www.instagram.com/p/B4J7xV2ATLb/?igshid=10jrpu8vhcxkx

[savsmilesubam-blog]

🌟If you are local to St. Louis, check out the playground at Oak Knoll park. It's not huge but it's enclosed, very accessible, has a good variety of play structures for climbing, swinging, pretend play, etc. My kids loved it, even my biggest kid (aka husband)😉 The park also has a paved trail (great for kids practicing bikes), a smaller natural trail, a small pond, sculptures, and lots of great big beautiful trees! During the summer this is a nice shaded park to visit close to the city! 🌳🌲 #getoutsideandplay #localpark #stllove #stlparks #oakknoll #parks #freshair #greenspace #playgroundfun #accessible #playtolearn #learntoplay #childhoodunplugged #motordevelopment #naturalclassroom https://www.instagram.com/p/BtgYCYuHi3t/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1t7794q9mdvkj

[moveq]

MoveQ Academy creates an environment children and adults love. This counts also for the Danish Ambassador family in the Netherlands. #playtime #creativity #imagination #learning #implicitlearning #growth #move #movement #healthylifestyle #happy #skills #motordevelopment #cognitivedevelopment

[jfeducation-blog]

What books am I reading this week? This book is one of many about basic motor development. It is primarily for physiotherapist s but I find it to my liking. It was published in1991 by Christina Bader-Johansson and is a real treasure. #fitness #motordevelopment #workout #muscle #exercise #strength #gains #riddle #shredded #transformation #book #balance #gymball #reading #workoutmotivation #bodygoals #workouts #bodytransformation #movementcoach #movementcoaching #movement #movementculture #movementculturesweden #world_full_of_athletes #permaculture

[mtrdvlpmntdribblingskill-blog]

4. Older Adulthood - 70 years old

This is Jack, a 70-year-old retired male.  He has developed some common conditions that can come with aging, these include; osteoarthritis which led to a double knee replacement, and scoliosis of the spine. These conditions have prevented him from being as active as he once was due to discomfort and pain.  He has never played basketball recreationally, but his career as an electrician kept him in adequate physical condition during his working years.  He displays many of the expected characteristics that come with later walking.  He demonstrates visible out-toeing, decreased velocity and stride length, and more postural sway than the younger participants.

      When dribbling, it is important to keep a low stance to lower your center of gravity and create a wide base of support.  This stance creates a smaller distance for the ball to travel between the floor and the hand, but it requires you to bend your knees and drop your hips.  As you can see with Jack, he bends at the waist, which is bad for his lower back (placing stress on his extensor muscles: iliocostalis, spinalis, and longissimus) and is also detrimental to his balance.  Age related hyperkyphosis is also evident in his posture, caused by weakness of these extensor muscles.  Jack is able to keep the ball in front of him but only when looking at the object, this is related to changes in his vision and vestibular systems as he ages.  It is important to note that after the age of 60, the amount of light reaching the eye is about half of that of a younger participant (such as Jamie) the lens yellows which produces glare, and depth perception decreases significantly.

Dribbling is a coincidence-anticipation task - he is anticipating the completion of a movement (elbow extension) to coincide with the arrival of the basketball.   In order to anticipate the arrival of the ball accurately, his perception of the speed of the projectile is important.  As you can see from the video, when Jack is dribbling he does not always contact the ball in its center, this is because older adults have lower accuracy when it comes to coincidence-anticipation tasks involving faster moving objects.  Jack is able to reach the ball in order to create another bounce, but his strength comes from an added shoulder movement.  In younger adults, successful dribbling is often achieved by elbow extension and wrist flexion alone.  The extra shoulder movement seen in Jack’s performance is due to the significant strength declines in the upper limbs that appear after the age of 65. 

References:

Haywood, K.M., & Getchell, N. (2014). Life Span Motor Development (6th Ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics

Liardi, V. (2016). Ch 4, 5, 7, 9, 12. (Powerpoint Slides).

wikiHow. (n.d. ). How to Dribble a Basketball. Retrieved from http://www.wikihow.com/Dribble-a-Basketball

[moveq]

Looking forward to spend a week with these great kids from Aakanden GF in two weeks time. The future of Danish football will continue improving general and sport specific MoveQ 3D FootballFit skills. Building the foundation for optimal technical and athletic development #moveq #aakandengf #gentofte #3dfunction #motordevelopment #cognitivedevelopment #movement #fun #learningforlife

[moveq]

Good morning Barsebäck G&CC, host of the Nordea Masters European Tour by Lagardére. MoveQ is here to inspire lots of kids and youngsters to move efficiently while having fun with our programs fun2move and cool2move #nordeamasters2017 #europeantour #lagardére #moveq #kidsgreen #fun2move #cool2move #motordevelopment #cognitivedevelopment #skillsforlife #implicitlearning #movementspecialists

[moveq]

The 12-14 years old boys from baseball Team Unicorn (RUB) with most players from Neptun in action. Baseball is serious business in the Netherlands. The Netherland became the 2016 European Championship Champions. With Paul Venner as responsible for the physical program at the Dutch Baseball Federation, they are serious about developing athletes from the very start. Moving great comes first! #motordevelopment #fun #functionaltraining #baseball #teamunicorn #neptun #dutchchampions #evertjan'thoen #sportperformancecentrerijnmond #moveq

[moveq]

Thirteen years old football boys from Excelcior playing the Junglebook story at the end of a fun but hard training session. #motordevelopment #cognitivedevelopment #movethebrain #fun #challengeyourself #climbing #football #excelsior #rotterdam #sportperformancecentrerijnmond #moveq #moveqacademyeurope

[moveq]

Resistance training with one of Feyenoord's future kids. He embraces all fun challenges. #moveq #moveqacademyeurope #3dfunction #performancespecialist #pt #leonardosnelleman #sportperformancecentrerijnmond #resistancetraining #motordevelopment #cogitivedevelopment #football #feyenoord #ultimateinstability #procedosplatform9

[moveq]

Resistance training with one of Feyenoord's future kids. He embraces all fun challenges. #moveq #moveqacademyeurope #3dfunction #performancespecialist #pt #leonardosnelleman #sportperformancecentrerijnmond #resistancetraining #motordevelopment #cogitivedevelopment #football #feyenoord #ultimateinstability #procedosplatform9

[moveq]

Sunday morning at Sport Performance Centre Rijnmond. These kids from different football clubs around a.o. Feyenoord, make our day. #sportperformancecentrerijnmond #errolesajas #moveqacademyeurope #leonardosnelleman #motordevelopment #talentdevelopment #rotterdam