Early childhood is defined as the period from birth to eight years and this is a time of remarkable growth when the brain development of a child takes place at its peak. At this stage, the child should get an environment that can lead to the holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs in order to build a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing.  Each and every element of early childhood development is important for the growth of a child; one such element is Fine Motor Skills. One of the most important ways we can help our children is by setting up simple activities that help to develop these fine motor skills. This can be done even while playing with them at home or in a classroom setting. Before knowing more about such activities let’s understand what these fine motor skills are.

Fine Motor skills are the ability to make movements using the small muscles in our hands and wrists. It can include small movements such as:

• manipulate pencils and crayons well enough to colour and draw
• copy a circle or cross onto a piece of paper
• cut out simple shapes with safety scissors
• paste things onto paper
• clap hands
• touch fingers
• button and unbutton
• work a zipper

These are small movements and sometimes come naturally to most people that we do not understand their importance. However children need the practice to develop these skills and strengthen hand muscles but developing these skills doesn't have to be complicated, it should always be fun for the kids. 

Some fun-filled activities curated from different sources are listed below that can help in developing the fine motor skills of the children. These activities can be conducted both at home or school. Teachers and parents can engage with the kids to support them and supervise the activities. 

1. Threading with beads or straw pieces: Through this activity, a child can be engaged in making a necklace or wrist band with a thread and some beads or straw pieces depending upon the availability of resources. This is a great activity to develop fine motor skills in the kids as it requires concentration, thinking skills, encourages the use of the thumb and forefinger and naturally strengthens the hand muscles that are crucial for holding things.

This can include drawing, colouring-in, painting, pasting and creating collages etc. Try different types of creative activities, like finger painting, painting with brushes and sponges, drawing different shapes or colouring them, pasting different pictures etc. For such activities, different materials can be used to enhance the creativity skill of the child like crayons, chalk, painting colours etc. This will also help in strengthening a child's hand-eye coordination and gaining control in holding things like brushes, pencils etc.

Activities done with playdough and clay have immense potential for learning depending upon how you plan to use them with your child. These activities help in strengthening small muscles in hands, wrists, and fingers, it teaches fine motor skills, creativity and hand-eye coordination as well. It can be used in so many different ways by adding other combinations of materials to it like beads, straws etc.

4. Construction Play: A child engages and enjoys more when manipulating objects or toys to construct or create something. In such activities, a child explores the materials and objects around him which helps him/her learn how to create things with the given material. Children learn so much while constructing as they focus on the process of creation.


Some of the construction activities can be done by using the following materials:

• Building Blocks: The most common construction toys are blocks that are available to support the learning and growth of children. 

• Lego: It is another favourite among small children and is one of the traditional educational toys that are still popular.

• Box Construction: This is one of the best types of play for home or school and doesn’t involve buying expensive toys.

Students need to learn fine motor skills as it will help in building their confidence to do more advanced tasks or projects and also support their growth as an individual. The activities suggested above can be done with a great variety of materials, so don’t just limit yourself to these. Explore more activities that suit the interest and needs of your child !!

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