Essential Resources: Equip to support fine and gross motor skills

Posting objects through holes, squeezing playdough, threading beads and manipulating different fastenings are all skills that children master as part of their fine motor development on their journey towards writing. Malleable materials like dough are particularly good for developing fine motor co-ordination because as children squeeze it, push it, pull it, pinch it and press it, they are strengthening the small muscles in their hands and fingers and developing their hand-eye co-ordination. Handling small-world figures, hammering nails into a log or spreading glue are all examples of resources that support the development of fine motor control.

Millie Colwey, who has worked with the Department for Education through the Bristol Early Years Teaching Hub to advise on physical development, says that although threading beads, using scissorsand drawing are automatically associated with fine motor control, it is ‘vital’ that settings provide ongoing opportunities to strengthen the whole body and integrate sensory systems.

‘It is crucial to understand that fine motor skills develop as a part of whole-body physicality,’ explains Colwey, who owns Millie's Garden Early Years Hub in Bristol and is featured in the DfE's Help for Providers YouTube video on physical development.

‘They are dependent on gross motor development, core strength and stability, and cannot develop in isolation.’

When planning environments and activities that support fine motor skills, Colwey advises settings to consider the child's ‘whole body’, with plenty of opportunities for vigorous movement play – hanging from monkey bars, lifting heavy loose parts in the garden, running up and down slopes and working with materials like clay.

BUILDING STRENGTH

Babies’ and young children's manipulative development can be boosted by providing a wide selection of sensory-rich resources that they will be motivated to handle. Treasure baskets filled with interesting objects such as wooden toys, rattles, shiny objects and things they can twist and turn will engage children's senses and provide opportunities to strengthen their muscles and bones as they repeatedly pick up and release objects from their grip.

As the bones in their wrists and hands begin to harden, most two-year-olds will have the manipulative skills needed to make marks on paper, put together a simple jigsaw and turn book pages.

Honor Davidson, head of marketing at Commotion, which owns the TickiT brand, says they make resources that encourage children to use a range of movements to help strengthen the hands, such as ‘twisting, threading and turning’.

‘When making characters with TickiT Rainbow Wooden Community People, where colourful body sections with different skin tones are screwed onto the main “body”, children are exercising their finger, thumb, hand and arm muscles while being creative and telling stories. Without knowing it, they are building up stamina for longer periods of mark-making or writing,’ she says.

FINE TUNING

Ensuring that three- to five-year-olds have plenty of opportunities to refine their fine motor skills by working with malleable materials and small objects to develop hand-eye co-ordination should be a key part of continuous provision. Activities such as threading beads onto strings, placing pegs onto boards, planting seeds and picking up sequins and putting them in order for a collage will help strengthen the pincer grip – the movement where the thumb and the index finger come together to grip small objects.

Practising pre-handwriting patterns is vital for building muscle memory and preparing children for more formal letter-writing. Mark-making can be incorporated into every area of provision, indoors and out, on a large scale with paints and chalks and a small scale with traditional writing materials.

CORE COLLECTION

Here is a selection of resources for developing children's fine motor control:

• Provide opportunities for children to practise ‘posting’ and stacking objects. Try the Wooden Posting Activity Tower, £82.99, the Wooden Stacking Pebbles 20pk, £16.99, or the Wooden Manipulative Stacking Pyramids, £17.50, from TTS. Environmentally and ethically sourced Marmalade Stacking Hoops, £50, from Play to Z, include hoops made from recycled sari silk or chamois leather by adults with disabilities (pictured right, middle). Or try Rainbow Wooden Community People, £19.99, or the Sensory Reflective Gold Buttons, £29.99, by TickiT. Muddy Faces’ Wood Stackers, River Stones, £35.10, are made from sustainable wood, and its Sorting Tree, £19.50, is great for hand-eye co-ordination. Outdoors, provide funnels, guttering and tubes for children to pour water through or post things.
• Fill low-rimmed willow baskets full of household ‘treasure’ that is safe, clean and suitable to go in babies’ mouths. Visit hardware and charity shops or ask parents to donate loose parts. Or buy individual items from Play to Z's treasure trove, such as Tea Infuser, £3; Honey Dipper, £2.40; or Mini Bucket, £1.80. Early Excellence stocks a wide range of baskets, like the Set of Round Seagrass Baskets, £16.95, or try Cosy's Naturally Collaborative Treasure Basket (pictured right, top), £59.99, filled with Cosy's Complete Natural Treasure Collection, £239.
• Manipulating different malleable and sensory materials will develop children's finger strength and hand-eye co-ordination. Use playdough, sand, water, mud and cornflour, or try TTS's Colour Changing Gelli Baff Goo, 600g, £20.39. Make playdough using flour, salt, crème of tartar and food colouring and use it with Cosy's Natural Playdough Set, £21.59.
• For threading, try Muddy Faces’ chunky Threading Blocks, £4.99 for 10, or Early Years Resources’ Wooden Weaving Frames 3pk, £19.99. Weave in sprigs of thyme or leaves into Yellow Door's Natural Weaving Frames, £25 (pictured left, bottom), or buy its Let's Boost…Fine Motor Skills Kit, £249. TTS's Wooden 3D Threading and Lacing Trees 3pk, £59.99, can be used with ribbons, laces or natural materials, or try its Dressing Frames, £49.99, for different fastenings.
• Prepare for writing with Alice Sharp Take Home Bags Fine Motor Offer, £289.98, from TTS, which include tweezers, paintbrushes and squeezy droppers. Or try Cosy's Natural Fine Motor Set, £42.99, which contains bowls, tweezers and natural counters. Buy a pack of 6 Bamboo Tweezers, £4.49, from Muddy Faces and pick up seeds and conkers. Use the scoops and tongs in Early Years Resources’ Sparkle and Shine Tuff Tray Play Set, £139.99, to collect treasures.
  
  

CASE STUDY: Edinburgh City Council Nurseries

Froebelian-inspired Edinburgh nurseries Balgreen Nursery School and Calderglen Early Learning and Childcare have been involved in a research project looking at the benefits of clay for helping children develop their gross and fine motor skills in the run-up to literacy skills (see Further information).

With a Practice Development Grant from the Froebel Trust, the settings worked with a clay specialist to ‘rediscover the benefits of clay’ and incorporate them into continuous provision.

Vicki Paterson, head of centre at Balgreen, and Cheryl Lee, head of centre at Calderglen, said, ‘Clay was previously an underused resource, seen more for its therapeutic value. We wanted to challenge the idea that literacy activities did not need to be confined to telling stories and providing mark-making materials.

‘We observed the gross motor movements involved in working with large blocks of clay that help develop muscles in the shoulder and upper arm, as well as smaller balls on clay that develop hand, wrist and finger movements. Practitioners noted the development of emergent writing skills as we worked with slabs of clay and fine motor skills when pinching and rolling small amounts. We observed children who did not readily explore writing materials develop the same fine motor skills in clay, often sharing descriptions of their clay representations as other children would their drawings with pens and pencils.

‘Staff became more aware of the many uses of clay: for sensory exploration, to create functional and decorative objects and to express ideas. Quality resources are used in the workshop area to allow for accessible, open-ended play. Tools tend to be wooden and include tools to move, roll, manipulate and sculpt. We also have a variety of open-ended resources such as shells, corks, stones and leaves, which children can use to extend their play and learning.

‘Outdoors provides a natural opportunity to explore changes in properties of clay when it is affected by the weather.’