Mastering Motor Skills

As parents, we often think about teaching our child to ride a bike or tie their shoes as being “big milestones”. Getting our children to improve their motor skills is often overlooked because most children learn some on their own. Unless the motor skills are worked on prior to “bike riding age”, your child may have a difficult time learning how to ride a bike. Motor skills are used in almost every aspect of life. How could you, as the parent, help your child with mastering motor skills at an early age?

Ways to Help Your Child With Mastering Motor Skills in Infancy

Babies begin grasping at an early, age as long as they are given objects to grasp like the Hudson Glow Rattle. With lights on the side of the rattle that only light up when the rattle is moved, your child will love to do more than just lay there staring at it. At first, they may just clasp the toys to their chest but once they see how the rattle lights up, they will be eager to find ways to move their hands to make the toy move and ultimately, light up.

Once a baby begins grasping, the next step is for them to find its way towards there mouth. They will get to the point where that seems to be the first thing they do with everything. However, it doesn’t just “happen”. The more a baby plays with toys, the more they can control their hands to be able to move the toy to it’s intended place (the mouth). That is all part of mastering their motor skills!

Once a child begins to sit up, toys such as Go Car by Kid-O are great for children to work on leaning and balancing all while moving their arms to make the Go Car move. Motor skills are increased and more of the body is used which helps the overall motor skills to get closer to being mastered.

Moving on to the Toddler Stage

When your child moves from infant to toddler stages. Stubbornness can sometimes take effect. Children want mom and dad to interact with them so often times, they tend to not want to play. Always provide opportunity whether they take the opportunity or not. Continuing to give a child a toy that will help them with their motor skills, may not ALWAYS be accepted by the child. Eventually, curiosity will get the best of them and they will begin to play. Don’t do everything for your child, allow them to explore on their own!

Once your child realizes that you are not going to do everything for them, they will begin to desire independence. That is when toys such as the Myland Fire Truck come in handy. Children can match the characters by matching the bottom of the character with the seat color. The firefighter and the firedog work as on and off switches to control the firetruck. Lights and sounds will encourage children to not only push the truck around but also maneuver the ladder and the characters to get the outcome they would like.

As the Children Grow

As children grow, continuing to give your children the exercises to increase their motor skills are still important. Kid-O offers educational toys such as the Magnatab which allows the child to learn to draw and hold a “pencil”.

These are all motor skills that need to be achieved prior to starting school. The more a child exercises their use of holding a pencil, the more the muscles in their hands will be ready to hold a real pencil for longer periods of time during the school day. The Glow-In-The-Dark Jumbo Magnatab even glows in the dark which peeks the interest for even the older children!