Putting little fingertips to work!

Putting little fingertips to work!

Early childhood is a very important stage.

At birth, children are totally dependent on adults for the fulfillment of their needs. Slowly, they develop the ability to raise their chin, grab hold of an object, remain seated for a certain period of time, and begin to scribble on paper. Before we know it, children acquire skills and autonomy.

To reach this point, the adults who surround little ones must offer enriching and stimulating activities that call upon every aspect of their development. Childhood development can be divided into categories: gross motor skills (sitting, walking, running, jumping, etc.), fine motor skills (holding a pencil, writing, cutting, etc.), cognitive skills (intelligence, learning, etc.), language (words, sentences, comprehension, etc.), and social skills (interaction with peers and adults).

In this article, I have chosen to focus on activities that help children develop their fine motor skills.

0 to 6 months:

• Offer the child a rattle or another attractive object. He/she will bring it to his/her mouth to explore it.
• Arrange a variety of brightly coloured objects in front of the child. Between 4 and 5 months of age, the child will begin to stretch his/her arm to try to grab the items.
• Lie the child on his/her back and hang objects above him/her. He will observe them and awkwardly try to grab them.

6 to 12 months:

• As soon as the child is able to sit, arrange toys around him/her.
• Display pictures containing bright colors near your changing table to make diaper changes interesting for the child. The child will show an interest in the pictures and try to touch them.
• Stick pictures on the child's high chair tray.
• Deposit a toy containing a short rope (be careful not to offer a toy that has a long rope attached to it) in front of the child. Show the child how he/she can pull on the rope to grab hold of it.

12 to 24 months:

• A one year old child can use crayons. Provide chunky crayons and large pieces of paper.
• Collect small square boxes and have fun piling them one on top of the other with the child to build a tower.
• Provide shower curtain rings and heavy rope. Help the child slide the rings on the rope.
• Collect several different containers with lids that need to be screwed on, such as plastic peanut of butter or mayonnaise jars. Encourage the child to explore the containers and discover which lid goes with which container.
• Give the child the opportunity to deposit coins or bingo markers in a piggy bank.

2 to 3 years old:

• Draw with the child. Draw a vertical line and invite the child to do the same. Once he/she succeeds, continue with a horizontal line, a circle, etc.
• Print pictures of the child's family members, pets, friends, etc. Purchase a small photo album and add the pictures to it. At two years old, a child is able to turn the pages of a book, one at a time.
• At two years of age, the child can begin to use scissors. Offer a strip of paper with a width of one inch. Encourage the child to cut the strip of paper into tiny pieces.
• Cut tiny squares out of tissue paper. Ask the child to crumple them up and stick them on a piece of paper. You can print a simple coloring page or shape and encourage the child to fill it with crumpled pieces of tissue paper.
• Invite the child to drop coins in a piggy bank and count them together.
• Play with modeling dough. Show the child how to make little balls of dough, pies, snakes, etc.

3 to 4 years old:

• On a piece of paper, draw a flower, a kite, and a balloon. Invite the child to draw the flower's stem, the kite's tail, and the string attached to the balloon.
• Draw a path on a piece of paper and encourage the child to draw a line inside it (between your two lines).
• Draw a wider path on a large piece of paper and have the child roll a toy car between the two lines.
• At breakfast or snack time, help the child make necklaces with Cheerios cereal. Eat them up when you are done!
• Give the child the opportunity to button and unbutton a shirt that is laid flat on a table.
• In sand, help the child draw horizontal and vertical lines, squares, circles, etc.

4 to 5 years old:

• Introduce a variety of shapes. Begin with a square, a circle, and a heart. Use heavy lines to draw them on a piece of paper and ask the child to cut them out.
• Draw a path on a piece of paper and have the child use a hole-punch to punch holes between the lines.
• Stick a piece of paper on a wall and draw on it with the child to offer him/her a different drawing position.
• With the child, draw several simple shapes (square, circle, triangle). Begin by drawing large shapes and gradually draw smaller versions of each one.

These activities are just the beginning. With a little imagination and time, you can create a wide range of activities with practically no material.

Have fun!

Maude Dubé

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