Are these 4 obstacles stopping you from developing your child’s fine motor skills?
You want to develop your toddler or preschooler’s fine motor skills, but there are so many things that seem to come in the way of you accomplishing this goal. These 4 obstacles may be stopping you too, but you CAN overcome these obstacles, Mama!
You know your toddler or preschooler needs to develop their fine motor skills. But where do you even start? Or where do you find the time?
If you’re homeschooling them, that can feel daunting, especially if you weren’t a preschool teacher in another time. “My child’s whole early development depends on me and I’m totally not qualified!”
If they go to daycare or preschool, you’re crossing your fingers, hoping they’re learning all this stuff in school. “Are they learning enough? Should I be doing more?”
These are the thoughts I’ve had about my kiddos and their fine motor development. These are thoughts that stop moms from being an important part of developing their toddler or preschooler’s fine motor skills.
4 obstacles that stopped me developing my kids’ fine motor skills
1) Too much effort and time – this Mama tired
So once you get home from work, tired from the day and the commute home, with a list of things you need to get done before the kids’ bedtime. Where do you fit in another set of activities in the afternoon / evening!?
And weekends fly by especially if there are parties or play dates or meals with family.
Life is just so busy.
And before you can even start an activity, you have to create the thing they’re going to do. Find the paints and crayons. Print out the worksheet or make the cardboard model thingy.
You know what I’m talking about.
(If you have all your ducks (and boxes of stationery and craft supplies) in a row, I really admire you, you inspire me…but that ain’t my story.)
I found myself always saying things like:
“OK but not today I first have to prepare for that.”
“I know you want to color, I just need to find a picture you can color.”
“No, no painting today – it’s just too messy right now – I can’t even!”
It felt like so much effort and time to just get set up, never-ending the doing of the actual activity.
2) I don’t know what activities are age appropriate for my kiddos
I will say this.. this has changed a lot with each child. With our first, I had zero clue! I saw all these fun things to do and I was trial-and-erroring it to see what my little baby/toddler could actually even do. But by number 3, I had a better idea of what activities they can and can’t do.
Still, this held me back big time and it may be holding you back too. How can I make sure my child is actually getting the stimulation they need for developing those skills?
The sheer overwhelming volume of ideas out there.
There are just so many ideas out there. I spend all my time scrolling through Pinterest and pinning stunning pins to my “toddlers crafts” or “kids activities” boards. Ooh look at that, that’s amazing, oh my goodness so cute!, yeah I could make that for the kids. And then that’s exactly where those ideas stay.
Please tell me I’m not the only one doing this! There’s got to be a more simple way to get hold of some resources for our kiddos!
I send my child to school – they should be doing it there shouldn’t they?
This thought gave me an easy way out of adding anything extra for my kiddos at home. Now obviously, if you’re homeschooling, you ARE the ‘school’. So that dynamic is a little different.
But here’s the thing about preschool- even the most wonderful school that focuses on developing those early skills in a big way – the teacher has a whole class of kids she’s keeping track of, helping, observing, keeping in line.
It’s really difficult to give every child one-on-one time to check their skills are developing correctly.
So this thought of – well they do it class, so why should I do more at home?
I’ve discovered some reasons why you should work on your child’s fine motor skills at home.
- Playing with your child is SO important for connection, to help them de-stress, for teaching them social emotional skills, and so much more.
- Direct feedback can be given – you can encourage and correct at the time you see it which makes it easier for the child to process and it’s more effective.
- Encouragement when they succeed – You get to see their successes and boost their confidence when you praise their efforts.
- You have this instinct as a mom and being more involved and observing more of your child just seems to nurture that instinct.
4 ways to overcome the obstacles stopping you from building your toddler’s fine motor skills
Developing your child’s fine motor skills doesn’t have to take a lot of time or effort.
Fine motor development can happen in the everyday life tasks your child is doing anyway. So if you use those as opportunities to focus on that development, you’ll already be doing more than you were before.
But, even doing a fun, extra activity with them, or prepping it so they can do it on their own, does not have to be stressful or time consuming.
Start with taking just 30 min one morning or afternoon. Use half of that time to “prep” the activity – find the flour, print the activity sheet, get the pompoms or loop cereal. And use the other 10 – 15 min to play with your child.
Remember your child’s attention span is short – it increases slowly with their age. And also remember, we’re creating neural pathways. These need time and lots of repetition. So if you only do one type of activity each week and you get the opportunity to do it a few times, you’re doing your child a real favor in developing those neural connections.
Activities can be adjusted to the age and stage your child is in
The more you play with your child and get to know them, the more you’ll know what they can and cannot do. And yes, certain activities are more appropriate for older children because their hands and brains are more developed. But any activity can be made more complex, or more simple, to adjust for your child’s needs.
Knowing what kinds of age-appropriate fine motor activities your child can and should be able to do is so important so you can adjust the activities you choose to use to the right stage your little is in.
Choose a few ideas you can work and do one or two activities a week
There are SO many ideas. It would be easier if someone just told you what to do right?
But don’t get stuck in the weeds about that one either. Just pick one or two fun ideas and run with those. Choose options you know you can do and that are low prep. And choose ideas you can prep once and use over and over again. You shouldn’t have to reprint it every single time (unless it’s a coloring or painting activity sheet.)
We overcomplicate things so much sometimes and it doesn’t have to be that way. Remember that one Christmas or birthday when your child got that spiffy, expensive gift? The one they took one good look at then you found them playing with the box? Yeah. Kids don’t need extravagant.
Developing your child’s fine motor skills can be fun
Children learn best through play. And when they get to connect with us in play, it fosters attachment, helps them consolidate the things they’re learning and it can actually be therapeutic for them.
So carving out some time every day or week to play with your child is important. But it doesn’t have to be a two-hour long tea party. (Though that Doing fun activities that develop their fine motor skills is play too.
And yes, if your child is going to school or daycare they should be doing activities that have a fine motor focus. But when you sit down and do these with your child too, you will not only solidify the learning they’re doing in class, you’ll also be able to give them that one-on-one attention they need so much.
You CAN develop your child’s fine motor skills
Mama, you are absolutely the right person to boost your child’s development! If you’re feeling overwhelmed and unqualified I want to encourage you that, with the right support and tools, you absolutely CAN do this!
A solution to get you excited about building your child fine motor skills.
So these 4 things were the reason I started my Confident Little Hands Fine Motor Skills Subscription.
And I’d love to help you get excited and equipped to enjoy developing your child’s fine motor skills.
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