The muscles in the hands and wrists are at play when we talk about fine motor skills.
Fine motor skills are the skills that eventually help our children write all by themselves. They are life-long skills that start at home, travel with them to the classroom and set them up for the future. Fine motor skills are not exclusive to school though. There are many things that parents can do to help encourage these skills to develop and strengthen.
The muscles in the hands and wrists are at play when we talk about fine motor skills. For this reason certain toys and activities can help to improve these skills. There are plenty of items around the house that help exercise these movements such as holding a toothbrush or placing a peg on a clothes horse. However, if you are in the market for some toys to help your child with their fine motor skills, we have got you covered.
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Melissa And Doug Skills Board
This is an excellent toy to help improve a child's fine motor skills. The challenge is to try and dress the bear. He has a variety of different clothing items that involve zipping, tying and buttoning up his clothes. This is a fun way to exercise the muscles in the hand and wrist. Melissa and Doug have a huge selection of toys that help with these skills. We also love this stack and sort board.
This toy is available to buy on Amazon.
String, Bead And Lacing Sets
Lacing is an excellent way to improve and encourage a child's fine motor skills. The hand motion that is necessary to place a piece of string inside a hole and out the other side involves a lot of work from little hands. This can help improve these muscles in general.
We love this string and bead set on Amazon because it is suitable from three years of age.
Playdough
Children absolutely love playdough and it is more educational than you might think. When a child works with playdough they are pushing, pressing, twisting and pinching it. All of these movements help improve fine motor skills.
This set on Amazon includes a variety of extra tools along with plenty of different colours and numbers to add another layer of learning.
This Magnetic Fishing Game
This is a favourite in our house. We love that it involves number and colour sorting while also working the muscles in the hands. It is the perfect combination. The set comes with two wooden fishing polls which helps encourage the pincer grip movement. The wooden board gives children the opportunity to individually place the wooden fish in to each hole. This toy enhances colour recognition and hand-eye coordination as well as being an excellent toy for fine motor skills.
It is available to buy on Amazon.
Pegboards
Pegboards are an excellent way to improve fine motor skills. The physical action of gripping each small peg and placing it on the board really work the muscles in the hands and wrists. They are also a brilliant way to encourage colour and maths learning.
We love this one on Amazon.