Area of learning: Physical development Learning intention: To encourage children to handle tools, objects and malleable materials safely and with increasing control Children use their hands to investigate and manipulate their environment, so settings should provide ample opportunities for them to experiment with materials and tools. The greater the variety of exciting physical experiences, the more likely children will develop good fine motor skills, which in turn will boost their self-confidence and provide them with the level of hand-eye co-ordination needed for writing later on.
Moulding
Holding and manipulating malleable materials strengthens the muscles in the palm and fingers and so gives children good control of their hands. For young children, moulding is unthreatening because they can play at their own pace and absorb as much or as little as they want of events around them. They can copy their peers or use their imagination to create interesting objects.
* Make available a variety of malleable materials and tools for children to select from. Malleable materials should include dough, clay and plasticine (avoid shaving foam, which could be harmful if inhaled). Provide boards for children to work on.
* Organise trays of suitable tools and objects. These could be kitchen tools, such as small cutlery, garlic crushers, graters and tea strainers in one tray, rolling pins in another, and cutters of various shapes and sizes in another. Scissors and art modelling tools and accessories are always useful, as are baking trays and play tea sets.
* Role play is a major aspect of modelling activities.Children should be urged to use imagination and to practise skills that relate to personal experiences.
* Vary the activity by presenting it in different locations, perhaps outdoors on a table. Adults should support their involvement and conversation, so that children can work independently and learn to communicate their ideas by picking up the rich language that surrounds them.
Cutting
Plan activities that encourage children to gain confidence in using scissors and small knives. As many children have limited access to using these tools at home, they may not have developed the necessary hand-eye co-ordination for it.
* Provide enough pairs of scissors, some left-handed, some right-handed and all reasonably sharp and strong (close adult supervision is of course necessary). Most plastic scissors are so flimsy that children may become frustrated and give up.
* Set up a cutting table where children can perfect their skills at their own pace.
* Provide a range of materials including writing, scrap and tissue paper, magazines, catalogues, sugar paper, envelopes, stamps, wool, leaves, fabric and cardboard. Also provide sticky tape, masking tape, glue sticks and so on.
* Cutting and sticking can be offered jointly. However, some children may wish to practise cutting on its own, so provide used envelopes on which they can practise writing their names and slip in pieces of materials they have cut, so they can keep records of their progress.
* Encourage children to make their own decisions and copy the cutting skills of more confident peers. Cutting accurately requires one hand to work in co-ordination with the other. Children will want to learn how to do it, and like riding a bike, it boosts self-confidence and prompts them to achieve in other areas.
Using machines
Encouraging children to become familiar with technology teaches them how it is used in the modern world and enables them to develop precise fine motor skills. Operating telephones and cash registers in role play stimulates imagination and language but also develops good hand-eye co-ordination. Children learn to be precise with their fingers when they unpack a tape, slip it into a tape deck and switch it on.
* Using remote control toys and vehicles is excellent because children have to co-ordinate both their hand movements on the control panel and the physical movements of the toys, skills directly relevant to using a computer mouse.
Sewing
Helping children use new technology is important, but so is teaching them traditional manual skills. Sewing and weaving are creative activities that require patience, concentration and good hand-eye co-ordination. Like modelling, they can be therapeutic and restful. You could provide:
* cardboard that children can cut and hole-punch themselves and laces that they can thread through their shapes.
* thick needles and embroidery thread with binka, or felt, so they can make up their own stitches or follow guidance.
* pieces of fabric that can be slashed so that other fabric, wool, string or thread can be woven through to create a tapestry of colours and materials.
* socks and gloves on which children can sew fabric scraps and old buttons to create hand and finger puppets.
Series guide
* This series aims to demonstrate the type of activity practitioners should provide to help children of different experiences progress towards a given goal, ie stepping stone 4.
* The stepping stones are not age related, though it is likely that activities suggested in stepping stone 1 will be best suited to three-year-olds, with later activities suitable for progressively older children. However, practitioners must bear in mind that children come to early years settings with different experiences, interests and abilities and will progress in different ways towards a given goal.
