Developing Preschooler's Fine and Gross Motor Skills
Preschool age children have picked up many skills by the time they are three years old. These skills can be categorized in two ways: fine and gross motor skills. Preschool teachers are tasked with helping their students further develop and refine these skills. The pre-set curriculum from The Learning Box contains great ideas to help!
Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills involve smaller muscles and smaller movements such as holding a crayon, turning the pages of a book, and playing with toys. In order to learn and develop fine motor skills, teachers can implement activities which use smaller muscle groups while having fun! Preschoolers can make necklaces from pasta, use scissors to cut, play with dough to make shapes coinciding with a lesson or squeeze a ball. These are just a sample of ideas to help preschool age children learn to use their hands in an effective way to strengthen the necessary muscles needed to perform the fine motor skills they need. By strengthening the smaller muscles in the hands and arms, preschoolers can build upon their fine motor skills.
Gross Motor Skills
Activities using large muscle groups and large movements are considered gross motor skills. Examples of building these skills include: running across the room to play with a friend, sitting on the floor for story time, or jumping up and down when excited are examples of gross motor skills.
Since children at this age have a lot of energy to expend, teachers may want to consider starting each day with an activity to build gross motor skills and as a tool to help preschoolers "get their wiggles out" so they can focus on mentally demanding lessons. A fun game of charades, hopscotch, or Simon Says, a morning dance party, or the setting up a balance beam to have everyone take turns walking across are all opportunities. Preschoolers have fun utilizing large muscle groups to complete these activities, and they will be building their gross motor skills as well.
Be sure to take advantage of any and all teachable moments that you can.
