Late last year I read an article that continues to stick with me.

A surgery professor in London noticed a trend in his students over the last decade:  a decrease in their fine motor skills.

With the refinement and widespread use of technology, people are spending more time playing games on their phones, watching tv, scrolling through social media, and less time writing by hand, building things by hand, and basically doing anything by hand.

That’s not to say that technology is inherently bad. It’s brought a lot of value to our lives. It’s easier to connect with family and friends who live far from us and helps us make new friends. You can find the answer to nearly any question you’ve ever had. It’s sped up the process of many of life’s mundane tasks.

As most of us know, too much of a good thing can turn into a bad thing. And it’s no different for kids. The American Association of Pediatrics recommends no more than an hour of screen time a day for children two to five years old. When kids spend all their time staring at screens, they miss out on valuable experiences that develop necessary skills, including fine motor skills.

So what are fine motor skills? And why are they so important?

Fine motor skills are the small movements made by the wrists, hands, and fingers.

It’s the reflex that causes newborns to squeeze your finger when you place it in their tiny hands. As those babies grow up, their reflexes adapt.

Click here for fine motor activities you can do with your kids!

Keeping in mind that each child is different and age defined milestones are general guidelines*, here are just a few examples of fine motor movements:

• Infants and toddlers
  • Pick up small pieces of food
  • Grasp toys and pass them from one hand to another
  • Hold eating utensils (with or without actually using them)
  • Begin to hold and interact with smaller and smaller toys, including larger writing utensils
  • Toddlers will begin to peel and stick stickers

• Preschoolers and kindergarteners
  • Grasp writing utensils and make defined marks (Stay tuned for a post on mark-making, the precursor to writing)
  • Cut and tear paper with increasing accuracy
  • Open, close, and squeeze glue containers
  • Bead pipe cleaners, yarn, and shoelaces and thread lacing cards
  • Perform various self help tasks like zipping and buttoning coats and opening lunch boxes

The great thing about developing fine motor skills is that your little one’s everyday activities promote that development! Playing with puzzles, painting and coloring, turning pages in books, and eating all require fine motor movement. As adults, it can be easy to take over for those dawdling three and four year olds as they try to zip their coats or unbuckle their carseats.

“We’re running late! Let me do it for you.”

(But really, when are we not running late when kids are involved?)

Give your kiddos the chance to practice those tasks. It strengthens their tiny hand muscles which strengthens their fine motor skills. Plus, once they master it, you have one less thing to do when you’re rushing out the door or car!

Fine motor development may blossom in early childhood, but it isn’t just for kids. Typically, we stop focusing on explicitly supporting fine motor skills after early childhood. It’s essential that we support those skills throughout our lives. Cooking, woodworking, gardening, paper crafts, playing an instrument…all of these things will continue to strengthen our manual dexterity.

One day our babies will grow up to be children who will grow up to be teenagers who will grow up to be adults who might want to be surgeons.

Will they have the fine motor skills they need to succeed?

---

*Like most things in life, developmental milestones aren’t an exact science but a generalization of what age you’re likely to see those skills. If you are concerned about your child’s development, speak their pediatrician.