Lift your arm.
Walk up to the nearest chair.
After that, stand up and sit down.
Did you notice how easy it was for you to follow these instructions without any hurdle at all? The actions you just performed are called “Motor Skills”. Motor Skills can be defined as the movement the human body undergoes that includes precise movement of the muscles. Regularly carrying out these bodily movements improves the performance of the human body. It improves to the point that people perform these tasks without paying too much attention.
But this is a luxury not provided to every human being on the planet. There are many individuals who face difficulties in performing these tasks. This phenomenon is called “Motor Difficulties”. Motor difficulties happen when a human body lacks the ability to move in the way originally intended. Later, this can have a significant effect on classroom performance and motivation in school.
Before we dive into examples of motor skills or discuss ways of motor skill development through exercises, it is important to know that there are two types of Motor Skills.
- Gross Motor Skills
- Fine Motor Skills
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
Simply put, gross motor skills would include exercising the larger muscles in the arms, legs, feet, or the whole body. Examples of gross motor skills include crawling or walking, jumping and running, etc. Non-use of the gross motor skills for a certain time period won’t affect their performance level.
FINE MOTOR SKILLS
On the other hand, fine motor skills include exercising the smaller muscle group in wrists, fingers, hands, toes and feet enabling to carry out tasks like writing, blinking, playing the piano, and much more. Non-use of the fine motor skills for a period of time affects the performance level of these skills. Other factors that affect fine motor skills include injuries, illness, problems with the spinal cord, muscles, brain and joints, among many others.
Examples of Motor Skills
Everyday activities consist of bodily functions that we learn through motor skills development and depending on their type, we improve them every day. Here are some examples of fine motor skills and gross motor skills.
-
Writing
Most common example of fine motor skill, this includes holding the pencil or pen, writing the alphabets and alphanumeric letters, deciding the size and orientation of the text.
-
Personal Care
Gross motor skills include brushing your teeth in the morning, showering, shaving, brushing your hair, putting on makeup, using the washroom.
-
Using utensils and tableware
An example of motor skill is where we use our hands to hold the table wear or arms to move the utensils around and put the leftovers in containers.
-
Playing videogames and musical instruments
Using hand-eye coordination skills where you press the keys or thumb the joystick to play the music or the games. Playing kinesthetic games.
-
Clothing and needlework
Buttoning and working zips come under the examples of motor skills. Moreover, sewing clothes, threading a needle, making stitches are examples too.
Motor Skills Development
A baby’s brain is not mature enough to undertake motor skills when he is born. It takes some time for the brain to learn the skills. Moreover, development starts from the head and spreads towards the body. Thus, the first things a baby learns to control are face, eyes, mouth and tongue. The neck is the next step following by the shoulders and then the back.
So it is safe to deduce that in any part of the baby’s body, gross motor skills develop before fine motor skills and this is why babies learn to bring their arms together before they learn to hold a toy or pass it.
Read more: Motor Difficulties: A Beginner’s Guide
What if my child isn’t exhibiting progress in Motor Skills Development?
Numerous children of all ages in every classroom across the globe experience difficulty in writing. They forget their position on a page, have difficulties with math problems, and have trouble paying attention. Additionally, many children also lack the development and training of the muscles needed for fine and gross motor skills for a successful classroom experience.
Integrating motor activities into the classroom and home environment can help a lot in improving reading, writing, attention, and memory. However, we present you with a 21st century solution: WonderGames.
Presenting WonderGames
WonderGames are motion-based, augmented reality, multisensory games that you can download right on your home laptop and play with your children. Psychologists and game developers collaborate to make WonderGames a reality for you. Developers create the games under the guidance of a medical consultation board that focuses on different faculties of the human body. These movement based games provide motor skills exercise along with a focus on the cognitive skills and serve as educational games for students with disabilities.
