Here is an Example of how Fine motor skills are developed, baby uncorking and screwing the bottle top. When children imitate and learn to do day to day activities. It is not always necessary to only rely on specific tools or toys. Your child will try to do things on his own in his environment and all these actions are in a way developing his motor skills. Though we play with large puzzles and blocks (he is more into breaking than stacking though) and rings on a stick kind of activities, but the things that he does which are normal activities for us adults are all helping him develop said motor skills. He can do simple activities like uncorking bottles, opening and closing drawers ( though that is the one gives me the most amount of pain😭😭😭), pouring water from his bottle, handing us things, drinking from a glass, eating with a spoon, ( less eating more spilling), picking up his toys, opening various boxes, holding a pen, pushing the buttons of the remote( another pain 😭, I have found a way out for that one though, I give him a dummy remote while I am watching something 😈😈😈) All these activities are helping him develop his motor skills, letting him grasp the technique of using his hands and eyes in a coordinated way, learning to use his fingers and thumbs in coordination. So let them explore around the house, let them follow you while you go about your day, and let them try out new things, certainly keeping an eye on them all the while, and in no time you will be amazed to see how much your baby has already learnt, how easily he is grasping things, the baby who used to sleep with his arms stretched over his head on both sides like a statue can now pour water in his glass and drink on his own.
Here are a few activities you can do with your baby with basic house hold objects which will help them their motor skills.
7-12 months
* When babies start crawling they learn to balance themselves on their arms. Let them get on their hands and knees and explore.
* Help them learn the pinch and grasp with the fingers by giving them small toys or blocks, let them hold it with their finger
* Offer small finger foods once you start solids like carrots, potatoes etc which baby can pick up and take up to his mouth. This is a fine learning for hand, eye coordination too and also a development of his motor skills
* Give them to play with push button toys which make noise and light up, they will love to push the buttons to see it light up
* Read picture books to them while pointing out to pictures while doing so, baby will learn to point at the pictures soon enough
* Give them pots and pans and a spoon or ladle with which to bang on it, yeah, it will make a lot of noise, but it will teach him how to hit and bang at the pot to make sound
* Sing rhymes with wide hand actions to them, our fav was twinkle twinkle little star and baby A learned to imitate the action right from he was around 8 months old. He himself would do some of it with us
* Give them crayons and let them just scribble on a paper
* Do finger painting with some home made colours; you can use veggies like spinach, beets, or turmeric etc
* Let them put their hands in the colours and just dab it all around, most of it will go on their bodies though 🙄, no worries that calls for a hot tub bath 😊
* And in the tub give him squeezy toys and tumbler to help learn how to pour water
* You can give him paper to rip, it will help develop his skills and coordination. Jus use some scrap paper but be careful as baby will put the said paper in mouth after tearing
* Show him how to clap, do hi-fives, bye bye and give a flying kiss. Constant repetition is the key here. In some time your baby will learn to perform these actions himself
12-18 months
* Let them eat with a small spoon, of course there will be more spills and less eating but this involves a lot of hand and eye and fine motor skills, holding a spoon upright and correctly manoeuvring the spoon into his mouth will teach him all of that
* Give them some crayons and let them draw dots and lines , show them how and let them try
* Stack boxes, blocks, tumbler, anything can work here. Stacking is an important skill enhancement, you can use empty boxes around the house like tissue boxes too
* Let him drink from a tumbler, though again a lot of spillage but yes this is also a fine development activity
* Point and read books with him
* Point at various things around at house and name them, like the fridge, the tv. Slowly start asking your toddler to point and show you these things. Pointing is another skill
* Give him a sponge while bathing and let him squeeze water from it
* Give him nesting bowls to play with. My favourite are measuring cups and spoons
* Give him bottles to uncork and screw on
* Give boxes with simple lids for him to open, simple activities like opening the box of cookies can be great fun for a toddler
* Give him a treasure box, filled with things he uses daily, or things from around the house, like his spoon, bottles, brushes, sponge, keys, blocks, soft toys, balls etc, try to include various textures in the box then let him pick them out while you name them
* Show him how to drop small items into a large open box, like balls and blocks
* Let him wash hands on his own while you hold him on the sink
* Let him dry his hands on towel
* Let him try to put on his socks and shoes
These simple activities around the house are the perfect way for your baby to learn fine motor skills. Let them explore around the house and be independent while enhancing their skills in handling these small activities.