{"id":7205,"date":"2015-02-10T07:23:34","date_gmt":"2015-02-10T12:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=7205"},"modified":"2019-07-10T21:22:16","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T01:22:16","slug":"fine-motor-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/10\/fine-motor-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Defining Fine Motor Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone knows about the important gross motor skills<\/a>: rolling, sitting, crawling, walking, running, jumping. \u00a0But gross motor’s cousin, fine motor skills, are not as talked about and are a bit more ambiguous.<\/p>\n

So what exactly are the “fine motor skills”?<\/h2>\n

\"SONYGross motor skills are those that involve large movements and which use the biggest, strongest muscles of the body. \u00a0In contrast, fine motor skills are the precise and controlled\u00a0movements that use the smaller muscles, usually those in the hands.<\/p>\n

Fine motor skills include all of the tasks of the hands like gripping, holding and grasping as well as coordinated movements that required hand-eye-coordination and precise control of small movements.<\/p>\n

Why are fine motor skills important?<\/h2>\n

While our gross motor milestones are easy to see and brag about “baby took her first steps today,” fine motor skills are life skills that take longer to develop and are not usually as momentous, developing slowly over time rather than just happening one day. \u00a0Fine motor skills are used for eating, writing, typing, completing puzzles and even reading and are the essential skills used by\u00a0musicians, artists, \u00a0surgeons, woodworkers, architects, chefs, stenographers and so many more!<\/p>\n

What can I do to encourage fine motor skills in my children?<\/h2>\n

I’ll go more in depth into what motor skill milestones are for each age in a later post and offer more suggestions for each age group, but here are some tips for encouraging fine motor development in young children:<\/p>\n

Newborns (up to 6 months):<\/h4>\n