Early Childhood: Motor Development
Motor skills do not develop in isolation.
The skills that emerge in early childhood build on the achievements of infancy and toddlerhood.
Motor coordination in childhood tends to be a relatively stable trait over time.
Motor coordination has also been associated with both childhood and adolescent levels of physical activity.
As children’s bodies become less top-heavy, their center of gravity shifts downward:
Improves balance
Paves the way for new motor skills
Upper- and lower-body skills combine into more refined actions
Changes in ball-throwing and catching skills illustrate preschoolers’ gross-motor progress
Three-year-olds have the highest activity level of any age in the life span.
Preschoolers motor capabilities greatly advance, more coordinated, integrated
At age 3, enjoy simple movements such as hopping, jumping, and running back and forth.
At age 4, become more adventurous and begin climbing down as well as up.
At age 5, runs hard, more adventurous, may try ‘daredevil’ stunts
Fine motor skills are also developing.
At age 3, children show a more mature ability to place and handle things than they did as infants.
At age 4, coordination is improved and more precise.
At age 5, hand, arm, and body all move together under better command of the eye; and the child seeks more complex activities.
Fine-motor skills take a giant leap forward in the preschool years
Self-help skills:
At age 3, children show a more mature ability to place and handle things than they did as infants.
By age 4 to 5, dress and undress without supervision
By age 4, adept with a fork; by age 5, can use a knife to cut soft foods
Drawing:
Scribbles begin during the second year
First representational forms appear around age 3
More realistic drawings are done at ages 5 and 6
Drawing skills vary across cultures
Poor motor coordination has been associated with an increased risk of obesity or overweight in children in what is likely to be a reciprocal relationship.
Gains in fine motor skills allow young children to take more responsibility.
Helps with attention and concentration , creative problem solving
Movement gets the brain going. An active body makes for an active brain
Parents and teachers can help by:
Make learning an active affair - opportunities for movement activities
Providing safe equipment to jump and climb
Offering gentle coaching and encouragement
Motor skills do not develop in isolation.
The skills that emerge in early childhood build on the achievements of infancy and toddlerhood.
Motor coordination in childhood tends to be a relatively stable trait over time.
Motor coordination has also been associated with both childhood and adolescent levels of physical activity.
As children’s bodies become less top-heavy, their center of gravity shifts downward:
Improves balance
Paves the way for new motor skills
Upper- and lower-body skills combine into more refined actions
Changes in ball-throwing and catching skills illustrate preschoolers’ gross-motor progress
Three-year-olds have the highest activity level of any age in the life span.
Preschoolers motor capabilities greatly advance, more coordinated, integrated
At age 3, enjoy simple movements such as hopping, jumping, and running back and forth.
At age 4, become more adventurous and begin climbing down as well as up.
At age 5, runs hard, more adventurous, may try ‘daredevil’ stunts
Fine motor skills are also developing.
At age 3, children show a more mature ability to place and handle things than they did as infants.
At age 4, coordination is improved and more precise.
At age 5, hand, arm, and body all move together under better command of the eye; and the child seeks more complex activities.
Fine-motor skills take a giant leap forward in the preschool years
Self-help skills:
At age 3, children show a more mature ability to place and handle things than they did as infants.
By age 4 to 5, dress and undress without supervision
By age 4, adept with a fork; by age 5, can use a knife to cut soft foods
Drawing:
Scribbles begin during the second year
First representational forms appear around age 3
More realistic drawings are done at ages 5 and 6
Drawing skills vary across cultures
Poor motor coordination has been associated with an increased risk of obesity or overweight in children in what is likely to be a reciprocal relationship.
Gains in fine motor skills allow young children to take more responsibility.
Helps with attention and concentration , creative problem solving
Movement gets the brain going. An active body makes for an active brain
Parents and teachers can help by:
Make learning an active affair - opportunities for movement activities
Providing safe equipment to jump and climb
Offering gentle coaching and encouragement
