Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills are the small movements that occur in the hands, wrists, and fingers. These small movements work in conjunction with the eyes. Fine motor skills involve the following:

Dexterity
Eye-hand coordination
In-hand manipulation
Grasp and prehensile patterns
Bilateral coordination

Delays with fine motor skills

Fine motor skill delays can occur for a variety of reasons, but is not always related to a specific diagnosis. Children with fine motor delays often have difficulty with fasteners (buttons, snaps, zippers, shoe tying), feeding (using utensils, drinking from an open face cup), coloring and drawing (difficulty maintaining grasp or using an appropriate grasp), cutting with scissors, and manipulating objects within their environment.

Fine motor delays are typically a result of deficits in the following areas:

Core weakness or instability
Shoulder weakness/instability (scapular winging, shoulder elevation)
Generalized weakness (arms, hands, fingers)
Joint hyper-mobility
Tone differences (low tone, high tone, and/or fluctuating tone)
Vision deficits

Occupational Therapy

Treatment

Core Exercises:

While lying on his/her back, have your child kick their legs up in the air
Wall kicks - have your child lie on their back with their head up against the wall, have them bring their legs up to the wall and touch it
Sit-ups with knees bent, have your child pull-to-sit
Planks
Push-ups - either on the knees or their toes
Sit on an unsupported surface without back support (bench, small ball, chair)
Play in tall kneel
Crawling - on all fours, reaching for objects, throwing objects

Shoulder strengthening and stability:

Planks
Push ups
Crawling
Working on a vertical surface
Leaning on elbows while lying on belly

Activities to encourage handedness

Screwing and unscrewing lids off of jars/containers
Playing with Legos
Use kids tools such as a hammer or screwdriver
Use tongs or tweezers to pick up small objects
Use lacing cards and/or string beads
Present items at midline so you don't inadvertently promote use of a certain hand

Activities to promote finger/hand strength/dexterity

Use tweezers or tongs to pick up small objects
Pinch clothespins onto a rim of a can or string
Peel off stickers
Tear small pieces of paper
Shuffle a deck of cards and sort them
Play-doh activities - rolling, squishing, poking, pulling
Turn pages in a book
Fold paper
Remove lids from various containers
Use broken crayons for coloring or drawing
Sharpen pencils
Hook paperclips to paper
Use a spray bottle to water plants or in the bathtub

Games to enhance fine motor skills

Connect Four
Trouble
Operation
Lite Brite
Pick-up sticks
Hi Ho Cherri-O
Pop up Pirate
Legos
Trios
Tinker Toys