Motor Skills

Spring has Sprung! Celebrate by using your favorite spring colors to color Poppy!

Get ready for a Mathlink Cube Easter! Use Mathlink Cubes to measure the height of each object!

Hop into a Easter Tracing Activity! Grab a few markers or pencils and trace the Easter Egg!

This Easter word search will put everyone in the mood to hunt for those eggs! Can you find all the Easter words hidden in this word search? 

Tying your shoes is important. Not only does it keep your shoes from falling off your feet, but it also keeps you from stepping on and tripping over untied laces. And the sooner your kids can tie their shoes, the faster everyone will be out the door, right? 

Hang on, just a sec! It takes lots of coordination and fine motor control to make those loops and knots! In fact, most kids won’t completely master tying their shoes until they’re between six and eight years old, with girls generally grasping the skill sooner than boys do. Trying to teach shoe tying too soon can result in frustration and discouragement – not the most motivating feelings. So when, and how, can you start your little one down the long path of tied shoelaces? 

Experts recommend introducing the idea around age five when children gain better control of their fine motor skills. They’ll need to be able to move their fingers independently of each other, move both hands in different ways simultaneously (also called bilateral hand coordination), and have solid hand-eye coordination. Developing and practicing these skills is fun and straightforward – make sure your child has access to small toys, puzzles, manipulatives like counters, molding dough, crayons, pencils, markers, paints, and sensory bins and engages with them regularly. You can also encourage your little one to button, zip, and snap their clothing.

Your first step to shoe tying is a demonstration. Place a shoe on a table or the floor (not on a foot), making sure the laces are even and long enough to be tied easily, then slowly show your child how you tie the shoe Then:

1. With your kiddo in front of you, hold their hands. Pick up one lace with each hand, cross them into an X, tuck one lace underneath the X, and pull. This will make your first knot.

2. Still holding your child’s hands, loop one lace to make a bunny ear and pinch the bottom with your child’s fingers.

3. Use your child’s other hand to place the other lace across the base of the bunny ear, then pull it through the hole beneath the bunny ear to make a second bunny ear loop.

4. Pull both loops to tighten.

There’s a handy rhyme to help your little one remember these steps:

Over, under, around, and through,

Meet Mr. Bunny Rabbit pull and through.

If your little one has tried and is struggling, you might give the two-loop knot (aka Bunny Ears) method a try. With a shoe off in front of you and your child’s hands in yours:

1. Pick up one lace with each hand, cross them into an X, tuck one lace underneath the X, and pull. This will make the first knot.

2. With one lace in each hand, show your child how to slide their index finger up and create tension with their thumbs to form one loop in each hand, pinching each loop at the base with their fingers.

3. Cross the loops, then tuck one through the hole created beneath. 

4. Pull both loops to tighten.

There’s also a rhyme to help your little one remember the steps of the bunny ear method. Once you’ve got your initial knot, it goes:

Bunny ears, bunny ears playing by a tree. (sing as you form the two bunny ear loops)

Criss-crossed the tree, trying to catch me. (sing as you cross one loop over the other)

Bunny ears, bunny ears, jumped into the hole. (sing as you tuck one loop beneath the other)

Popped out the other side, beautiful and bold. (sing as you pull the second loop from beneath the first and pull to tighten)

If your child is still having a tough time, take a break and try again in a few weeks. Remember, everyone learns at their own pace!

Mountains of toys may sound like a dream, but too many toys can be problematic for your little player. In the same way that a cluttered office makes it hard for you to focus on your work, too many toys can be distracting and overwhelming for your child. Despite overflowing toy bins across the country, science says that less is better for playthings. Having access to fewer toys allows kids to spend more quality playtime with individual toys instead of jumping from toy to toy, leading to more focused playtime with each toy, improved concentration skills, and more creativity in the way kids play.

You may be asking yourself, how many are too many? Not including a favorite stuffy, experts say setting out three to five toys at a time is the right number for infants and toddlers. Research published in Psychology Today indicates that toddlers presented with fewer toys (four in the case of the study) experienced more engaged, creative, and varied playtime with those toys than a group presented with more toys.

This doesn’t mean you need to get rid of your tot’s toys, though! Instead, consider rotating your toy stash, swapping the current set of several toys for another set when your little one seems ready for a new stimulus. Toy rotation may sound like it requires a lot of tracking, but it’s simple. Start by going through your little one’s toys and tossing anything that’s broken or missing pieces. Set aside anything you’d like to donate, then see what’s left. Choose up to five items, varying by type – for example, one doll, one puzzle, a set of blocks, and a dump truck. Place these in your playroom and put the others away in a closet or another out-of-sight storage spot. When your kiddo appears bored with the current set of toys, put them away and choose another five. You can also swap individual toys if there’s something your child just doesn’t seem to want to play with.

In addition to promoting more focused playtime, which enables your child to better reap the intended benefits of each toy, rotating toys also makes clean up easier and clears your playroom of distracting clutter! Give toy rotation a try and watch as your little one engages with the toys on hand. And remember, your toddler can turn anything into a toy, so don’t hesitate to set out metal pots and wooden spoons to bang, plastic cups and bowls to stack, laundry baskets to hide beneath, sheets and chairs to turn into forts, and TP tubes to turn into bugles. The fewer toys your child has on hand, the more creative they’ll get with their playtime.

Being a good problem solver helps little ones make sense of their worlds and tackle more complex problems later. But problem-solving uses a lot of different skills, all at once, including understanding the problem, communicating it to others, thinking about possible solutions, and taking action to see what works. That’s a lot for your little one to tackle! Luckily, toddlers are naturally curious and experimental, and that helps. Other things you can do to help your little one build those critical thinking skills include:

• Puzzle Play – Determining which piece is missing, what shape, color, or size it might be, which of the remaining pieces fit those criteria, and trying each one multiple ways is a great way to practice identifying a problem and finding possible solutions, and testing them.

• Stacking and Nesting Boxes – Which box is the biggest? Which is the smallest? Which should go on the bottom and which on top? What happens if the boxes are stacked out of size order? By nature, these self-correcting toys are designed for trial and error.

• Hide & Seek – Pick three of your child’s toys, show them which ones you have, then hide them in simple spots in one room. Remember what they’re looking for, thinking of places those toys might fit, and searching for them in logical locations are great problem-solving strategies.

• Sorting & Matching – Classifying different items requires strategic thinking skills. So, grab a pile of multi-colored blocks, buttons, pom poms, toy dinosaurs, or toy vehicles and challenge your child to find two that match or sort the objects by shape, size, color, or type.

• Memory Games – Recall is a key problem-solving skill. Which picture is your child looking for? Which cards have they already turned over? Which locations are left, and which one probably hides the desired card?

• Q&A – Talk, talk, talk! Ask open-ended questions with multiple answers. How many lunch foods can your little one name, what are some things they can do at the park, find a few reasons a friend might be crying? Questions without singular answers help kids become more flexible thinkers.

Watch as your child identifies different problems, hypothesizes different solutions, and tests them out. Talk them through what you see them doing and praise their efforts to solve the problem. Give them plenty of time to test each of their ideas and support those that don’t solve the problem – a simple “that was a good try – what else might work?” goes a long way toward teaching resilience rather than giving in to frustration. Now let’s get out there and solve some problems!

Did you know? Infants and toddlers explore their worlds using their senses, particularly their mouths and hands. Touching and feeling new textures and objects builds your child’s brain by building new nerve connections. Sensory play is used for playtime activities that engage the senses and encourage your child to explore using their senses. The more sensory play experiences you can provide for your child, the better! Why?

1. Sensory Play Develops Complex Thinking Abilities

We mentioned that sensory experiences build brain connections. The more of these connections your child builds, the better their ability to engage in complex thinking, reasoning, logic, and problem solving later on.

2. Sensory Play Builds Confidence

With no one way to explore, sensory play experiences enable kids to do things their way. This lack of “right” or “wrong” and “correct” or “incorrect” outcomes is a great way to build a child’s self-esteem simply by letting them “do.”

3. Sensory Play Builds Fine Motor Skills

Exploring with their hands and fingers provides the practice little ones need to build fine motor strength and coordination. The more frequently they repeat an activity, such as pouring, pressing, scooping, sifting, pinching, squeezing, etc., the more developed those fine motor skills will become.

4. Sensory Play Builds Language Skills

Sensory play provides the perfect opportunity to talk to your child, reinforcing language patterns and introducing new vocabulary. Are they touching something smooth, scratchy, slippery, or rough? Ask your little one questions as they play – what does the object feel like?

5. Sensory Play is Calming

Engaging their senses is a wonderful way to distract and calm kids who are agitated or upset. You can engage multiple senses with a sensory bin full of things to touch and feel, play soft music, even spray a soothing scent in the air.

Wondering how to get started? Luckily, offering sensory-stimulating activities is fairly simple. Start with a large plastic bin or tray, then decide whether to use a base like sand, mud, or water and add small objects for your child to discover or create a bin full of objects to explore, like pom poms, buttons, corks, or beans (remember that children need to be supervised when exploring objects that fit in their mouths!). Consider a themed bin, say insects, for example. You might start with a base of dark-colored beans add plastic insect figurines, a scooper, a net, and a plastic jar. See if your little one can use the tools to scoop up a specific bug (can you find the green one?) and place it in the jar. Or go with a beach-themed bin full of sand, shells, shovels, and cups. You’ll be amazed how long your toddler can engage with these simple setups!

Yes! You Can Help Your Kids Learn to Write! Okay, maybe not tomorrow or even this year, but a little bit at a time, parents can lay the foundation and provide the practice kids need to learn to hold a pencil correctly, form letters and numbers, and ultimately begin to write. And you can get started sooner than you think! Below are three things to know as you help your little one learn to scribble, draw, and write:

1.       It All Starts with Fine Motor Control

Before kids can use a crayon, marker, or pencil, they need fine motor control to hold it and move it. You can help your child build fine motor muscles and coordination by providing lots of chances for kids to move their fingers and hands, including:

• Fingerpainting
• Exploring sensory bins
• Playing with dough or clay
• Picking up small manipulatives like buttons and blocks
• Shoveling sand into and out of a bucket
• Working with play tools like kids-safe tweezers, spoons, scissors, and Learning Resources Three Prong Tongs.

2.       Making Their Mark

As your child’s fine motor control develops, they’ll likely transition through the writing milestones below, but remember, kids, learn at their own pace!

• 12-24 Months – Intentional marks and scribbles on a paper
• 2-3 Years – Draw horizontal and vertical lines as well as circles
• 3-4 Years – Copy or trace letters, numbers, and shapes
• 4-5 Years – Display a preference for writing with one hand or the other and may be able to draw a stick figure, write their name, copy most letters, and draw a few shapes

3.       Get a Grip

As their fine motor skills improve, kids will move through a few different types of grasps before landing on the correct pencil grasp, including:

• The Fisted Grasp, where your child will hold a crayon in a closed fist and use their arm to move their hand, making marks on a paper. This usually continues from age 12-24 months.
• The Palmer Grasp, where kids curl all their fingers around a crayon or pencil, holding it beneath their fingertips, not in a closed fist. This usually continues from 24-36 months.
• The Tripod or Quadruped Grasp, holding a pencil using the index, middle finger and thumb or index, middle and fourth fingers, ad thumb, and moving the wrist to make marks. This usually continues from age three to age four.
• The Dynamic Tripod Grasp uses three fingers to move a pencil rather than their wrist or arm to move it. This usually happens around age five.

Your child will move through each writing and grasp milestones when they’re ready, but plenty of practice will make the transitions more manageable and smoother. Be sure to provide lots of fine motor exercises, arts and crafts supplies, and of course, paper and crayons, markers, and pencils.