7 Games to Develop Sensory and Motor Skills for Kids

 

Motor skills are usually types of skills that are developed on their own in children. However, because they are important in achieving day-to-day tasks, it is necessary to keep an eye out for your child’s motor skills development. If you’re worried they’re a bit behind or face trouble when it comes to holding a pencil, opening a jar, or listening to instructions, there are many games to develop sensory and motor skills for kids.

 

Here are a few easy, useful, and fun motor skills activities for kids:

 

Head, shoulders, knees, and toes

This game is a favorite amongst toddlers and can be a great way to develop gross motor skills for kids. As your toddlers move their arms and bend their knees to reach the different body parts, they use the large muscle groups. To make it even more fun, you can speed up the song and you’ll also be improving their hearing, coordination, as well as balance.

 

Make a collage

One of the best ways to practice fine motor skills is by using a pair of scissors. When making a collage, your child will be using a pair of scissors, picking up different pieces of paper between their thumb and finger, as well as using glue to stick the pieces together.

 

• Gather a collection of old magazines.
• Provide your child with safety scissors, a glue stick, and a piece of paper.
• Decide on a theme such as trees, flowers, music.
• Have your child cut out images of the magazine that fit their theme and stick them on to the card using the glue stick.
• Have them decorate their paper with a crayon.

 

This is a great fine motor skills activity and especially one that develops handwriting. As your child practices graphomotor skills, they will learn how to hold a pen, as well as learning via speech about colors and shapes.

 

Treasure hunting in playdough

Playdough is an amazing way to work on fine motor skills development for toddlers as it works on kneading, pushing, and rolling the dough. The movements itself strengthen fine motor skills and act as a stress-reliever.

 

To make this fine motor skills activity for toddlers exciting, you can hide small treasures for your child to find in a large bowl of playdough.

 

Rice race

One fun way to work on developing your child’s motor skills is by making a rice race.

 

• Divide uncooked rice into two plastic bowls and have an extra empty bowl in the middle.
• Race your child to transfer the rice to the empty bowl using a pair of plastic tweezers.
• You can also use cereal or pasta if the rice grain is too small.

 

This game works on developing fine motor skills and strengthens the grip and coordination of the thumb-finger movements.

 

 

Tracing and mazes

A fine motor skills activity for handwriting development can include tracing. Have your child trace shapes or follow maze paths from top to bottom, left to right, and even include curvy and zigzag line. This will help them develop the motor skills they need to improve handwriting, as well as gain orientation in terms of movements from top to bottom and left to right.

 

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