On the Move!

Have you ever wondered why we have your toddlers and preschoolers dance, wave their arms, or do other funny things during storytimes and other library programs? It’s not just fun; it’s helping them develop their gross motor skills! Gross motor skills are large body movements that are made with arms, legs, feet, or the entire body. These movements include walking, running, sitting, and climbing. These skills are very important for children because they can help them sit still for long periods in school, play on the playground by chasing, jumping, skipping, and kicking balls, and even read and write! Children who have a good grip on their gross motor skills can use one hand to hold and adjust a piece of paper while the other hand writes, and their eyes can easily track the words on an entire open book.

So how can you, as a parent or caregiver, help your toddler and preschooler build up these skills? Here are some fun activities that you can try:

-Go for walks in places that may involve a lot of different surfaces. Walking on grass, sand, gravel, or anything uneven will strengthen their balance.

-Place soft things like blankets, cushions, and pillows on the floor and let your child jump around on them. The action, combined with the uneven surface, will give them a workout. Plus, if they fall, there’s a soft place to land!

-Place a large piece of paper on the floor, and have your child color it. The change in position, while still grasping the crayon, will work different muscles and have them shift their weight in different ways.

-Create obstacle courses for your child out of toys you already own, such as blocks, hula hoops, or even furniture! Crawling, jumping, and climbing through the course will be fun and will build their motor skills.

-Encourage your child to play with balls and throw, kick, and chase them everywhere!

Guest post by Sarah H. 

Get Moving!

We were lucky enough to have some experts join us at the library last week at our annual Kindergarten: Ready or Not? program. A panel of local kindergarten teachers spoke to parents and caregivers about some ideal traits and skills of incoming kindergarten students. One of the fabulous teachers, Joely Hastings from Primary Village South, covered the topic of motor skills for kindergarten readiness. Since some of the ideas she mentioned were terrific and so simple and easy to do at home, I thought I’d share a few of them here.

Gross Motor Skills (core/upper body strength):

-Visit playgrounds regularly. Activities like climbing and hopscotch are especially good ones for developing gross motor skills. If your child is starting a new school soon, try taking him to the playground at that school. It’ll help him be more comfortable when school starts.

-Encourage “tummy time.” Yes, you read that right; “Tummy time” isn’t just for babies! It’s actually really effective in strengthening core muscles. Have your child read, draw, and play board games while she’s lying on her stomach on the floor. If you want to get really fancy, you can play rolling-pin ball, where two people, each with a rolling pin, lie on their stomachs across from each other and pass a ball back and forth, using the rolling pin.

Fine Motor Skills (hand-muscle strength and dexterity):

-Practice using clothes fasteners, like zippers, snaps, and buttons. It will definitely require a little more time to get ready before going places, but letting your child work on these skills on his own is really helpful in improving those fine motor skills.

-Do activities with clothespins. Working with clothespins really helps your child’s pincer grasp, which will make writing a lot easier. Get creative with it—write letters or numbers on the clothespins and have your child spell her name or put numbers in order along the edge of a shoebox. 

These are just a few of my favorite ideas that Joely mentioned at our program. If you like them and want more suggestions, she recommends a blog called OT Mom Learning Activities, which includes lots more fun and easy exercises.