The Power of Parenting

Thursday, 04 June 2020

Fine Motor Development: 13 to 18 Months

Fine Motor Development means mastering precise and accurate small muscle movements of the fingers and hands in order to reach, grasp and manipulate small objects.

Typical Skills
  • Releases object to other person on request or gesture
  • Picks up and eats finger foods, e.g., raisin, cheerio, cracker, etc.
  • Turns container upside down to get an item out
  • Puts pegs into a pegboard
  • Turns pages of a book
  • Stacks three or more blocks
  • Scribbles with a big crayon
Emerging Skills
  • Feeds self with spoon and fork
  • Throws ball forward
  • Begins to unlatch, unscrew, open and take apart
  • Squeezes, pokes, and pats playdough
  • Copies simple lines drawn on paper

Comfort
If you do this:

 

  • Give your child the opportunity to feed himself finger foods at meal times
  • Spend time reading picture books with your child
  • Practice independent, self-help skills and be proud of newly emerging abilities
  • Use small muscles in his fingers to turn the pages and set the pace of your time together
Play
If you do this:

 

  • Offer your child plastic bowls she can either stack or put one inside the other
  • Provide big crayons and lots of paper
  • Test out how things fit together
  • Experiment with scribbling and the patterns and colours that emerge
Teach
If you do this:

 

  • Provide pots and lids to encourage finding matching sets
  • Help your child to solve a simple jigsaw puzzle with one or two large pieces
  • Enjoy making noise with the pots and lids while beginning to appreciate different sizes of objects
  • Explore how things fit together using his new fine motor abilities