Many modern mothers and fathers have already become familiar with the concept of “fine motor skills.” Trying to positively influence the child’s development, parents persistently give their children sorters and finger mazes, and with older children they draw and sculpt all day long.

But how do you know if the actions taken are correct? Is the degree of exercise appropriate for the baby’s age and do the exercises bring the desired effect? To answer these and other questions, you should take a closer look at the topic.

General concept

Motor skills are a set of body movements performed under the control of the body’s psychological reactions. The motor processes that a person possesses give an idea of ​​the level of development of his coordination and intelligence.

Psychologists classify it into several types:

• Gross or gross motor skills are responsible for the movement of muscle groups. An example of such an activity is running or squatting.
• Fine motor skills - movements of the hands or fingers. Developed motor reactions of the hands help us lace up our shoes or lock the door. Fine motor skills include actions in which it is necessary to combine eye and hand movements, as in drawing, for example.
• Articulatory motor skills are the ability to coordinate the work of the speech apparatus, that is, to speak.

A little physiology

While studying issues of child psychology and pedagogy, scientists came to stunning conclusions. It turns out that about a third of the cerebral cortex is responsible for the development of hand motor skills. In addition, this third is located as close as possible to the speech center. A comparison of these facts gave grounds to consider the motor activity of the hands and fingers to be responsible for human speech.

In this regard, the development fine motor skills The hands of a young child is one of the fundamental tasks in teaching speech skills. Of course, along with improving articulatory activity. The results of many years of experience prove that the scientists’ conclusions were correct.

In addition to the above dependence, fine motor skills have a direct impact on the formation of logic, thinking skills, strengthening memory, training observation, imagination and coordination. Children who have better control over their hands show perseverance and tire more slowly.

Fine motor development calendar

At every age, a child is capable of performing certain actions. New opportunities appear as his nervous system matures. Each new achievement appears due to the fact that the previous skill was successfully mastered, so the level of motor skills formation must be monitored.

• 0-4 months - the child can coordinate eye movements, tries to reach objects with his hands. If you manage to pick up a toy, then the squeezing of the hand occurs, rather, due to reflexes that fade away up to six months. The baby does not yet have dominant preferences that allow him to perform actions with a more “comfortable” hand, and they will not appear soon - he is still both “right-handed” and “left-handed.”
• 4 months - a year - the child’s skills are actively improving, now he can transfer objects from hand to hand, perform simple actions such as turning pages. Now the baby can grab even a small bead with two fingers.
• 1-2 years - movements become more and more confident, now the child uses his index finger more actively. The first drawing skills appear - the baby draws dots and circles, and soon he will be able to draw a line on a sheet of paper with a pencil. Now he begins to prefer one hand over the other.
• 2-3 years - hand motor skills allow you to hold scissors and even cut paper with them. The drawing style changes along with the way the pencil is held, and the first conscious figures appear on the sheet of paper.
• 3-4 years old - the child already draws confidently and knows how to cut a sheet along the drawn line. He has already decided on his dominant hand, but in games he skillfully uses both. Your child will soon be able to hold a pen or pencil just like an adult, so by age 4 he will be ready to learn writing skills.
• 4-5 years. Fine hand motor skills in children of this age already resemble the movements of adults. Please note: when drawing or coloring, the child does not move the whole hand at once, but only the brush. The movements are more refined, so cutting out an object from paper or coloring without going beyond the contours is no longer so difficult.
• 5-6 years. At this age, a preschooler’s hands should be perfectly coordinated; the child already holds a pen with three fingers, draws small details like an adult, and knows how to use scissors. All the baby's skills indicate that he will not experience difficulties at school.

Low level of motor development - what does this mean?

Insufficiently formed hand motor skills impede not only the development of speech skills. Such a child may experience problems with memory and logic. If this is a preschooler, then he urgently needs help, because he will be absolutely unprepared for school. Such a student will have difficulty concentrating, will become tired quickly and will inevitably begin to fall behind.

When and how to start working with your baby?

From birth you can begin to pay attention to the development of the baby. Of course, a newborn will not be interested in a sorter or a toy with lacing. But you can start putting rattles in his hand, let him touch fabrics of different textures with his fingers, give the baby a hand massage.

The age at which active development of finger motor skills is important is 8 months. If up to this point no attention has been paid to this issue, now is the time to take some action.

Exercises

To organize real classes with her own baby, a mother does not need professional teaching skills. For exercises, the simplest objects that can always be found in any home are suitable. Main principle, on which the development of hand motor skills is built - “from large to small.” What does this mean?

• Start rolling plasticine balls with your child. Let the baby make something. If he can do this, he can gradually move on to smaller and more complex details.
• You can simply tear the paper. First into large pieces, then into small ones. The finer the details, the higher the level of development of motor skills in the child.
• Together with your child, you can string beads onto a thread, tie shoelaces, and fasten buttons.

Passive gymnastics (massage)

A competent massage therapist is an excellent assistant in developing a child’s coordination. An experienced specialist will also help with the baby’s hands. You can start classes already in the first 3-4 months of the child, and sessions can be conducted for 5 minutes up to several times a day.

It is better to entrust massage sessions to a professional, but if necessary, some exercises can be performed independently. So, you need to stroke the baby’s hands for a minute, then rub them lightly. Then perform vibrating taps with your fingers on your hands and palms. Another effective exercise during massage - flexion and extension of the fingers, followed by massaging each one.

Toys

Toys for hand motor skills are sold in large quantities in children's goods stores. They even come with instructions indicating the recommended age and a description of the game process. But you don't have to buy anything. You can play with any objects - almost any thing in the house (safe for the child) is suitable for developing motor skills.

A hand-made board for developing motor skills, or a busy board using the Montessori method, is an excellent gift for a child aged 1 to 3 years. Dad could make such a toy. To do this, you will need a sheet of plywood and the most dangerous items in the house: a socket with a plug, furniture fittings, switches, latches and other household parts. The point of the toy is for the child to learn such things in their safe form. After getting acquainted with the socket on the stand, the baby will not become interested in the real one, and by feeling these objects with his fingers, he will develop finger motor skills.

If your beloved child is already 3 years old, then you can offer a game of “Cinderella”. To do this, various cereals or legumes are poured into a bag, and the child is given the task of sorting through everything.

Why not play a guessing game? You can blindfold your baby and take turns placing household items in his hands - let him guess them.

In addition, the child will approve of mosaic games, finger theater, and joint appliqués. Helping your beloved child improve himself is not at all difficult, the main thing is to slightly use your own imagination.

Consultation for parents

Topic of the conversation: “Development of fine motor skills through the use of cereals”

Orekhova Vera Aleksandrovna, teacher at MBDOU “ Kindergarten general developmental type No. 125", Voronezh
Description: This material will be interesting and useful for teachers for consultations and work with parents.
Target:
Drawing parents' attention to the importance of developing fine motor skills in a child's life.
Issues for discussion:
1. The significance and importance of the development of fine motor skills in a child’s life;
2.How can you use cereal to develop fine motor skills;
3.Recommendations, tips and examples for using cereals in creative activity with kids.

Classical teacher V.A. Sukhomlinsky wrote that “The origins of children’s abilities and talents are at their fingertips; from them, figuratively speaking, come the finest streams that feed the source of creative thought. The more confidence and ingenuity in the movements of a child’s hand, the more subtle the interaction of the hand with the tool, the more complex the movements necessary for this interaction, the brighter the creative element of the child’s mind, the more skill in the child’s hand, the smarter the child.”
One of the important aspects of the development of a preschooler is the development of fine motor skills and coordination of finger movements.
The importance of developing fine motor skills of the fingers has received scientific basis.
Historical studies make it clear: the development of the functions of the hand and speech occurred simultaneously, because the first form of communication of primitive people was precisely gestures. We can say that the course of development of a child’s speech is similar: first, subtle movements of the fingers develop, then articulation of syllables appears, and all subsequent improvements in speech reactions are directly dependent on the degree of training in the movements of the fingers.

Today I want to tell you how you can use cereals to develop fine motor skills at home.
Groats - very useful and enjoyable material for teaching your child.
The first thing to do is introduce your child to cereals. To do this, you can take several small containers and pour some kind of cereal into each. Any grains you have in the house are suitable for this: beans, peas, buckwheat, millet, semolina.

Introduce your child to cereals, let your child touch beans, peas, buckwheat, and play with them. Let him take it out onto the table and put it back.
By playing with cereals, we make the child's fingers more sensitive and dexterous. After all, picking up a grain is very difficult for a child.

I offer several game exercises.
1. Pour buckwheat into a container, let the child put his hands in it and rub the grains with his fingers, pressing them one by one into his fists. Great finger massage. Offer to pour buckwheat from one palm to another.

2. You can hide a small toy, for example from a kinder, in the cereal and offer to find the “treasure”.

3. Mix, for example, two cereals in one bowl and give the child the task of separating them and placing them on their own plates.

4.Pour semolina into a small plate, you can use a small tray, and invite the child to draw something. Children really like this exercise; there is simply no limit to their imagination.

5.You can blindfold the child and ask him to determine the type of cereal by touch.

By playing these games, we develop fine motor skills, which means we develop speech, memory, and attention.
Finger gymnastics.
Playing with peas.
I was bored at home alone
I took out a handful of peas.
Before you start the game,
You need to say to your finger:
-Finger, finger, my good one,
You press the peas to the table,
Twist and ride
And pass it on to someone else.

Now, I want to offer some of the most simple examples using cereals for creative activities, as a result of which fine motor skills of the hands develop.

"Bullseye"
Cut a circle out of cardboard and glue an apple stencil. Smear the plasticine and remove the stencil. Now you can decorate with cereals.

You can simply invite the child to come up with a story himself and translate it using plasticine and cereal onto a sheet of paper.

"Jar"
Pour different cereals into a jar in layers and decorate the jar. A wonderful gift for mom or loved ones. Also, such a jar will be a wonderful decoration for any kitchen.

"Fungus"
Print out a picture of a mushroom. Let the child smear the plasticine and decorate with cereals.
It turns out to be a wonderful fungus, and children really like this kind of work.

"Duck"
The work is done in a similar way to a mushroom.

"Heart"

For the little ones.

You can make these eggs for Easter.

I have offered several options, this is only a small part of how you can usefully occupy your child.
Believe me, children really enjoy playing with cereals and love making crafts using cereals.
Dear parents, the level of speech development is directly dependent on the degree of formation of subtle hand movements, which contribute to the development of attention, thinking, memory, visual and auditory perception, and speech.
Hence, work on the development of fine motor skills should be carried out regularly . Only then can it be achieved greatest effect .

Fine motor development problems

Problems with the development of fine motor skills have been studied for quite some time. Many scientists have shown in their research the role of the motor-kinesthetic analyzer in the development of speech and thinking, and have also proven that the first and main innate form of activity is motor. I.P. Pavlov believed that speech is muscle sensations that go from the speech organs to the cerebral cortex. Many scientists, including modern ones, believe that all the abilities of children are at their fingertips. It is important to develop fine motor skills for speech development child. Currently, quite a lot of exercises have been developed that help develop finger motor skills; we will look at them a little later.

The well-known book by M. M. Koltsova “A Child Learns to Speak” (M.M. & M.S., 2004), it emphasizes the importance of developing fine motor skills of the hands for the development of a child’s speech. A series of observations and studies led the author to the conclusion that there are age-related characteristics. For example, the development of finger movements corresponds to age, and the development of speech is also within normal limits, but if the development of the fingers lags behind, the development of speech also lags behind. In his book M.M. Koltsova talks about studies such as the connection between hand function and speech. They turned out to be connected, and training the fingers is a powerful physiological stimulus for the development of children’s speech. (M.M. & M.S., 2004)

Let's look at a newborn baby, because everyone knows that he has a set of automatisms, this is the act of sucking and regulation of muscle tone. Visual and auditory perception are still practically undeveloped. This comes on gradually. For example, when a child begins to see, he begins to independently look for objects and look at them. During this period of life, vision is the main way to study the world. As the child develops, he gains the ability to take objects, move them, etc. This becomes the baby’s main activity at that moment.

Age-related features of the development of fine motor skills of children’s hands

Development occurs gradually. As mentioned above, this happens sequentially, starting from the neonatal period. We settled on the fact that a child, starting to take and hold an object, transfers the object, for example, some kind of toy, from hand to hand. Begins to recognize objects at a distance. When grasping an object, the thumb and the terminal phalanges of the others are involved. In the game, the child begins to explore objects in different ways. At the age of 1.6-3 years, the child develops visual perception of objects. A dominant hand also appears, which may change over time. At the age of 3-4 years, a child should be able to circle the kennels and pick up the ball well. At the age of 4-5 years, the child should paint over simple shapes. Copy block letters. Draw various circles, squares, diagonals, etc. For example, drawing a man. At 5-6 years old, children should be able to accurately color pictures and write letters and numbers.

The development of hand motor skills may have its own age characteristics. At the age of 1-2 years, a child can hold two objects in one hand, draw various scribbles with a pencil, and turn the pages of a book. At the age of 2-3 years, a child can open various boxes and take out their contents, play with sand, string beads, and sculpt simple figures from plasticine or clay. At 3-4 years old, he clearly holds a pencil or pen with his fingers, collects and builds various buildings from cubes, and much more. At the age of 4-5, he draws with pencils, identifies objects in a bag by touch, sculpts several parts from plasticine, i.e. for example arms, legs, head, etc. Knows how to lace shoes.

There are also pathologies, for example, if a child’s visual and motor coordination does not correspond to his age. Such children require a more responsible approach and careful training. Normally, by the age of 6-7 years, the maturation of certain areas of the brain that are responsible for fine motor skills and speech development ends. Accordingly, fine motor skills begin to be developed long before entering school. This means that parents and employees of child care institutions must be actively involved in this. In general, fine motor skills need to be developed from an early age, for example, in newborn babies you can massage the fingertips, everyone knows such games as “Magpie” and much of the like. All this has a positive effect. A lot of time should be spent on games, exercises, etc. all this will help develop the child intellectually, and generally spend time in a pleasant game with the baby. And in the future this will have a positive effect on school education. Parents should notice all the “little things” of the child’s behavior in games and hobbies. Children also need to be taught self-care, for example, taught how to fasten buttons, lace shoes, hold a spoon, etc. In preschool age, the development of motor skills is a major and integral part.

The connection between fine motor skills and speech pathology and writing

One is directly related to the other. Deviations in the formation of speech are considered as disorders of the development of mental functions. There are categories of children who have insufficiently formed language structures. Here children have impaired pronunciation and distinction of sounds, lexicon very small, underdeveloped coherent speech in children with normal intelligence and hearing. This disorder is usually called speech underdevelopment.

Children with speech underdevelopment show deviations in the emotional-volitional sphere. Observation and motivation are also reduced. Self-doubt appears, the child becomes aggressive and touchy. Children experience difficulties communicating with others and with children their age.

It's time to look at preparing children to write. As mentioned above, this is also part of the development of fine motor skills. After all, when a child comes to school, he or she may experience difficulties in writing letters, etc. Most children hold the pen incorrectly, and as a result, the letters are very tense, making it very difficult to write. As we already know, all this is directly related to the absence or minimal development of fine motor skills in the child’s hands. And again this suggests that you need to start developing hand motor skills early. This can be done using drawing, modeling, mosaics, construction sets, etc. We will consider all this in more detail below.

Everyone knows that writing is a very difficult process, which especially for children is not very easy. It is important that the child is as prepared as possible for school, because it is also very difficult to change incorrect hand movements; it is much easier to work with a child in preschool age. Of course, parents are the main helpers and teachers.

The importance of developing fine motor skills for children

preschool age.

Lacing, fantasizing, playing,

Speech and fine motor skills

We develop together.

In recent years, there has been a trend in our country towards an increase in the number of children with speech development disorders. These deviations are associated primarily with unfavorable environmental conditions and various infections.

The problem of speech correction is relevant in our time. Considering that speech abnormalities arise at an early age; they need to be identified and corrected in a timely manner.

It has been scientifically established that the level of speech development of children is directly dependent on the degree of formation of fine movements of the fingers (fine motor skills).

Fine motor skills- is a set of coordinated actions of the human muscular, skeletal and nervous systems, often in combination with the visual system in performing small, precise movements of the hands and fingers. The term “fine motor skills” is often used to describe “dexterity.”

To the elder preschool age Work on developing fine motor skills and hand coordination should be an important part of preparing for school.

Parents who pay due attention to exercises, games, various tasks to develop fine motor skills and coordination of hand movements, they solve two problems at once. Firstly, they indirectly influence the general intellectual development of the child, and secondly, they prepare for mastering the skill of writing, which in the future will help to avoid many problems of school learning, and also accelerates the maturation of speech areas and stimulates the development of the child’s speech. Work on developing hand movements should be carried out regularly. Only then will the greatest effect from the exercises be achieved. Tasks should bring joy to the child, avoid boredom and overwork.

What can you do with children to develop manual skills?

Run small tops with your fingers.

Knead plasticine and clay with your fingers.

Roll pebbles, small beads, balls with each finger in turn.

Clench and unclench your fists, while you can play as if the fist is a flower bud (in the morning it woke up and opened, and in the evening it fell asleep - closed and hid).

Use two fingers (index and middle) to “walk” across the table, first slowly, as if someone were sneaking, and then quickly, as if running. Perform the exercise first with your right hand and then with your left hand.

String large buttons, balls, beads onto a thread.

Tie knots on a thick rope, on a cord.

Fasten buttons, hooks, zippers, clasps, tighten lids, wind mechanical toys with keys.

Tighten screws and nuts.

Games with a constructor.

Folding nesting dolls.

By the age of five, the possibility of precise, voluntary movements increases, so children perform tasks that require sufficient accuracy and coordination of hand movements. These include different types weaving from paper and fabrics, braid (for example, weaving rugs from multi-colored paper strips). The child needs to fold a sheet of paper in half, make a series of even cuts with scissors, without going beyond the outline, then cut thin strips of a different color and in a certain way, following the pattern, weave them between the cuts of the main part of the rug.

Children acquire precision and dexterity in finger movements in the exciting lesson “Let's Make Beads.” Children cut rectangular sheets of paper into triangles, each of them is twisted into a bead, and its end is glued. The finished beads are strung on a thread.

The ability to confidently use scissors plays a special role in the development of manual skills.

A very important part of the work on developing fine motor skills is “finger games”.

Finger games- this is a dramatization of any rhymed stories or fairy tales using your fingers. Many games require the participation of both hands, which allows children to navigate the concepts of “right”, “left”, “up”, “down”.

Except finger gymnastics There are also various graphic exercises that promote the development of fine motor skills, coordination of hand movements, visual perception and attention. Given the enormous importance of developing fine motor skills in children, the task of teachers and child psychologists is to convey to parents the importance of this problem. Work on developing the hand and correcting existing deficiencies should be carried out in close contact with parents, preschool teachers. This will help you achieve faster desired results. Parents and teachers must understand: in order to interest the child and help him master new information, you need to turn learning into a game, not back down if tasks seem difficult, and do not forget to praise the child.

Remember! Any games and exercises will be effective only with regular exercise. You need to exercise daily!

Play with a button and create

And be sure to speak up!

Show your friends

And teach mom and dad

How to assemble new patterns from buttons

And successfully develop fine motor skills.

The material was prepared by teacher L.Yu. Varlamova.

Tips for parents to develop fine motor skills

Teacher speech therapist

S.A. Galkina

Perhaps every modern parent knows about the need to develop fine motor skills. But not everyone finds the time and desire to seriously engage in this interesting and useful process.

Fine motor skills (as defined by Wikipedia) are a set of coordinated actions of the nervous, muscular and skeletal systems, often in combination with the visual system in making small and precise movements of the hands and fingers and toes. In other words, this is the precise movement of the fingers and toes.

Fine motor skills affect many important processes in a child's development: speech abilities, attention, thinking, spatial coordination, observation, memory (visual and motor), concentration and imagination. After all, the brain centers responsible for these abilities are directly connected to the fingers and their nerve endings.

Children who regularly perform exercises to develop fine motor skills begin to speak earlier: they develop correct speech faster and are less likely to encounter speech therapy speech defects. At school, their writing skills develop faster and dysgraphia (writing impairment) is less common.

There are many games and exercises aimed at developing fine motor skills in a child's hands. All of them are very diverse in complexity, interestingness, and accessibility.

Gymnastics for the hands consists of stroking the palms in different directions, massaging and rubbing each finger, patting the palm with the tips of bent fingers. You can sort through large and small objects (the latter - under your supervision!): beads, beans. Also string large beads on a string, transfer pencils, buttons, and so on. This can be complemented by a game with mosaics and construction kits.

Finger games can be accompanied by recitation of suitable poems. At first the exercises are done slowly, then faster. You need to start the lesson by warming up your fingers, flexing and extending.

Here are some suitable exercises:

Ring: fingers clenched into a fist, first extend the thumb and index fingers and connect them into a ring. Then we straighten all our fingers and spread them apart.

House: we direct our palms towards each other at an angle, fingers touching. Middle finger right hand lift it up (this is a pipe), connect the tips of the little fingers at right angles to each other (this is a balcony).

Chain: we connect the thumb and index fingers of the left hand into a ring, and through it we alternately pass rings from the fingers of the right hand - thumb with index, thumb with middle, and so on.

Dog: place the handle on the edge. Thumb lift the top and bend it slightly; Bend your index finger too, place your middle and ring fingers together. Lower and raise the little finger alternately.

Daily fastening of buttons, tying shoelaces - you need to give the child the opportunity to do it independently, thus, fine motor skills will be trained almost automatically, without any exercises. In addition, you can help achieve success in this with the help of a rope, teach what kind of knots can be tied from it. You can buy a special toy that combines strings and buttons - let the child learn to use them. In older children, fine motor skills are well developed by modeling, drawing, coloring, embroidery, and manual labor. A pencil is preferable to a felt-tip pen - it forces the child to strain his pen and use different techniques for drawing strokes, which greatly develops fine motor skills. All available means will be used:

Cereals: you can entrust the sorting and sorting of various cereals;

Natural materials: acorns, cones, pebbles, shells, sticks;

Kitchenware;

Various containers, vials, boxes;

Zippers, laces, ties, threads, ropes, fasteners, buttons, fabrics various sizes, shapes, colors and textures;

Beads and rings, which are very interesting to string on braid;

From matches cotton swabs and toothpicks you can lay out various designs;

Boys will especially appreciate bolts and nuts, as well as broken technical devices (telephones, calculators, etc.)

It is also useful to involve children in household responsibilities and teach them to help with cleaning around the house:

Sweep and collect garbage, objects scattered on the floor (buttons, beads, puzzles), as well as wash the floors;

Make cookies and pie decorations from the dough;

Open the door with a key;

Try to put on your shoes, dress yourself, as well as take off your shoes and undress.

Peel boiled eggs, jacket potatoes, tangerines;

Help parents unscrew various caps - from canisters of water, bubble bath, toothpaste, etc.;

Peel off and stick stickers;

Turning the pages of a book;

Sharpen pencils with a sharpener and erase what you draw with an eraser;

Important rules in the process of developing children's fine motor skills.

Classes should resemble a game, not lessons at school. During the game, talk to your child more, carry on a dialogue.

Games and activities should be systematic.

Choose games and activities that are appropriate for your child’s age and development.

It is important that the child enjoys the process itself - take care of this. And also sincerely show that you enjoy it too.

Control the time - it is individual for each child.

Try to try as many as possible in various ways development of fine motor skills. But under no circumstances do you do everything at once.

Criticism in this matter is not appropriate - don’t forget to praise your child even for the smallest successes!

Remember that any learning process requires a lot of patience and work. Do not neglect the time that is passing away forever - use it wisely. Be wise, attentive and loving parents.