We use our fine motor skills every single day, from getting dressed to eating to writing. Fine motor skills require the control of small muscles in our hands. These muscles can be strengthened and improved each day. Not only are these important skills to develop for daily activities but they also include a host of other benefits such as improving academic readiness and fostering independence. Doing developmentally appropriate activities with our ...

Since we learned about the importance of fine motor skills (that it affects learning skills having to do with hygiene, academic performance, how they relate to peers, and more) in another blog post, let's look at what other types of development are involved in fine motor development, including mid-line crossing, ocular motor control, and hand-eye coordination. Read on to learn the basics of each. Midline crossing According to Kid's Sense "the bod...

Holiday traditions bond families together. Whether we realize it or not, our traditions give us a sense of belonging, importance, and security. Regardless of the changes occurring in our lives, we know that these family rituals will stay constant! Halloween will probably have a lot of changes this year. Many of us are missing getting together with family or even trick-or-treating. This is an excellent time to create a new tradition: start creatin...

You may have heard your neighbor talk about how a certain toy is helping Sally develop her fine motor skills and wondered "What does that really mean?" or "What's the big deal with fine motor skills?" The reality is that the beginnings of fine motor skills lay the foundation for necessary everyday abilities later on. Fine motor skills are basically the things you do with the small muscles in your hands and fingers (e.g. playing a musical instrume...

There are many perks to being the oldest child; every little milestone is tracked, celebrated, and recognized. Everything from my first words, to walking, and even toilet training, it was an exciting time for my parents to watch me grow. There was a sense of anticipation with each milestone, and as I learned new skills, they looked forward to what I'd be learning next. I was able to experience a little bit of that excitement when my youngest sist...

This week I went to Target and saw that all of the school items are out and school shopping has already begun! As a result to this sighting, I was laying in bed reminiscing on my kindergarten experience. My son is not nearly old enough for Kindergarten, but I wonder how his experience might be different from mine when that day does come. I remember a few things from Kindergarten very distinctly, like coloring a picture of an apple on my first day...

There are many perks to being the oldest child; every little milestone is tracked, celebrated, and recognized. Everything from my first words, to walking, and even toilet training, it was an exciting time for my parents to watch me grow. There was a sense of anticipation with each milestone, and as I learned new skills, they looked forward to what I'd be learning next. I was able to experience a little bit of that excitement when my youngest sist...

​ "Hand, hand, fingers, thumb. One thumb one thumb drumming on a drum. Dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum" writes Al Perkins in the beloved children's book "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb." As a young girl, my mom taught me how to play the piano. Like many young kids, I would moan and groan for the full 20 minutes my mom asked me to practice each day: one thumb, two thumbs, pounding-the-same-eight-notes in a scale over and over and over was not nearly a...

As children grow up, besides their usual everyday activities, arts and crafts form an essential part of their formative years. In schools these days, keen importance is placed on helping children discover and explore their creativity through arts and crafts projects, primarily. Arts and crafts do not only bring out the creativity children; health-wise, there are other benefits that children can gain from arts and crafts to boost their physical an...

Looking for something fun to do with your children and only have a piece of paper? This is a fun way to entertain children (and yourself) while exercising your brain muscles: Tangrams. Tangrams is an ancient Chinese puzzle that has seven pieces (tans) of geometric shapes. Each set has one square, one parallelogram, and a variety of triangle sizes (two large, one medium, and two small). A simple way to play with tangrams is to print out ...