Why are fine motor skills important for handwriting

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Gender characteristics of study participants

These fun fine motor activities can help your child to develop the skills needed for handwriting and self care tasks.

Over the years I have written lots and lots of pages crammed with photographed activity ideas - so this page is where I link to them all.

I've categorized the different pages with a brief overview of each category.

All pages contain photos, tips, and loads of helpful information. You will also find links to related pages on my site, because issues like pencil grasp and handwriting are very relevant when you are looking to boost your child's fine motor skills.

This site is intended to promote your child's normal development. If you are at all concerned about your child's fine motor development, please consult your health professional. Use of this site is not a substitute for an occupational therapy evaluation and treatment.

Hand, Finger and Wrist Activities

Being able to control the small muscles of the hands and fingers has been shown to have a greater impact on handwriting skills than the actual pencil grip the child uses. Fine motor activities should, therefore, make up a big part of a child's daily life, in order to prepare him/her for handwriting.

These pages on my site provide easy-to-do fine motor exercises and activities to strengthen hand and finger muscles and improve dexterity in the hands. I also give ideas on how to help kids develop better finger movement and pencil control, but you should only try those activities once your child has mastered the simpler activities.

The position of the wrist plays an important role in how well your child will be able to control the pencil when writing, and so I have included a page about wrist extension (the position of the wrist) as well as a page of activities and exercises that may help kids who struggle with poor wrist positioning.

All of the practical information and activities found in the articles above, can be found in my handy Fine Motor Activities download, for the price of a couple of coffees!

View my Fine Motor Activities E-Book now!

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Scissor Skills And Their Importance

Cutting with scissors is an important fine motor exercise, as it strengthens the fingers that are needed to control the pencil, and also helps develop stability on the ulnar side of the hand (the little finger side of the hand). This can help children with other fine motor skills, including handwriting.

Preschoolers should spend lots of time learning to cut with scissors, and I have written these pages to inspire you with photographed ideas and to answer frequently asked questions about how to help kids learn to cut, and how to help them improve their cutting skills.

I also provide a free cutting template download, and lots of tips to help your child develop good scissor skills.

My 33 page scissor skills e-book covers all the information in my scissor cutting pages, and will give you step by step photographed activities to help your child master scissor skills.

View my Scissor Skills E-Book now!

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Essential Info For Fine Motor Development

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Themed Fine Motor Activities

These themed pages contain some fun fine motor activities and ideas to help your child build skills with playdough, baking or Christmas activities...

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Pages Related To Fine Motor Function

When parents are looking for fine motor activities to help their child, they often have questions about related skills and issues, such as pencil grips and handwriting.

Check out these pages on my site for some answers to your questions!

Pencil Grasp Pages

Letter Formations and Handwriting

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Helpful Tips From Other Bloggers

Some of my blogger friends have written helpful articles related to fine motor skills - check them out

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Free Printable Fine Motor Download

This free printable download gives you an overview of the essential bases for fine motor development.

It is part of a set of 3 handouts that I compiled to help parents understand how fine motor skills, gross motor skills and visual perception skills can affect your child's learning.

You will get all 3 handouts absolutely free when you sign up for my newsletter!

Find out more about my newsletter!

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Thank you for visiting my site! I hope you found it helpful!

Please sign up for my free newsletter to receive occasional updates when I post new activities and articles.

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Cornhill, H; Case-Smith, J. Factors That Relate to Good and Poor Handwriting.  50(9):732-9 · November 1996 http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.50.9.732

Ohl, A. M., Graze, H., Weber, K., Kenny, S., Salvatore, C., & Wagreich, S. Effectiveness of a 10-week Tier-1 Response to Intervention program in improving fine motor and visual–motor skills in general education kindergarten students.  American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 67, 507–514. Sep/Oct 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2013.008110

Sharp, G. and Thompson, D. (2001-11-27) Biomechanics of the Hand. Retrieved (last checked 2019-01-04) from https://ouhsc.edu/bserdac/dthompso/web/namics/hand.htm

Weintraub, N. ;Graham, S. The contribution of gender, orthographic, finger function, and visual-motor processes to the prediction of handwriting status. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research; 20(2):121-140 · March 2000 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/153944920002000203

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