The Power of Parenting

Thursday, 12 November 2020

Fine Motor Development: 25 to 30 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
  • Scribbles, holding the crayon in whole hand
  • Imitates drawing vertical and horizontal lines
  • Builds a tower of 5 or more blocks
  • Strings beads, picking them up with thumb and forefinger
  • Removes lids from jars, rotating wrist
Emerging Skills
  • Begins to use thumb and fingertips when holding crayon
  • Imitates drawing a cross, copies a circle
  • Folds paper
  • Uses small scissors to snip paper
  • Removes clothing already unbuttoned; pulls up zipper

Comfort
If you do this:

 

  • Praise your toddler’s drawing efforts and describe the markings you see
  • Provide your toddler with chances to practice dressing skills, helping with buttons and zippers
  • Make playdough with your toddler and create different shapes together
  • Know your are interested in his creations and feel encouraged to draw more
  • Develop confidence in his ability to dress himself
  • Enjoy the soothing feeling as he squeezes, pinches, rolls, pats and shapes the dough
Play
If you do this:

 

  • Make necklaces together using beads, cut up straws, bits of paper with holes punched in them
  • Supply your toddler with costumes for pretend play including hats, shoes, coats, pants
  • Provide many art materials including markers, crayons, paint and chalk
  • Strengthen her ability to pick things up using thumb and forefingers (pincer grasp)
  • Practice dressing skills as she engages in an imaginative activity
  • Become more able to control these materials as she scribbles and copies lines and shapes
Teach
If you do this:

 

  • Provide your child with tongs and various items to sort onto different plates
  • Provide puzzles of different sizes and colours, and different numbers of pieces
  • Invite your toddler to help with simple cooking jobs like ripping lettuce or stirring with a spoon
  • Practice the grasp he will be using to cut with scissors
  • Learn to use his grasping skills, problem-solve and complete tasks he started
  • See how his growing skills can be used to help other people