How motor skills develop with toys

Toys are a child’s best friend! They come with lovely colours, that’s why every child gets attracted to it! They not only entertain kids but also provide lot of learning in terms of learning alphabets, how to pronounce different words, problem solving, developing motor skills, communication skills, cognitive development and many more! In this blog we will talk more about motor skills development.

Motor skills development means the development of child’s bones and muscles that helps the child to touch, hold, move anything that is present in the physical environment. These skills naturally develop according to child’s age. These skills can be learned through practice! Toys and other outdoor activities can help in mastering the skills. There are two types of motor skills.

• Gross motor skills- These skills require large muscles to perform activities like running, sitting, standing, walking and running. Also activities that require hand-eye co-ordination like throwing, batting, kicking, pulling, swimming, catching are also included in gross motor skills.
• Fine motor skills- These skills require small muscles of hands, fingers, toes, wrists, feet to perform activities like picking up objects between thumb and finger, writing, blinking, drawing, tying hair etc.

A child goes through different stages of body and mind development according to age, so appropriate toys should be introduced so that child can learn from them! Let’s have a look on different types of toys that can help in motor skills development according to their age:-

0-6 months baby

• Play Gyms- This activity gym consists of small toys attached overhead with variety of colourful themes! The movement of baby’s hands, wrist and fingers to catch hold of dangling toys helps in strengthening large and small muscles.
• Blocks and shape sorters- The set of blocks come with different colours and shape sorters which attracts baby to touch and grasp them, thereby developing finger and hand dexterity.
• Teether toys- Teethers come in different textures, shapes, soft to chew and easy to hold for the baby. Griping the teether and taking to the mouth develops motor skills.
• Rattles- They make sounds when shaken. The shaking of hands and holding it develops motor skills.

6-12 months infants

• Stacking/nesting toys- These toys require picking up the right pieces and placing them according to the size. This activity needs use of hand muscles and balancing the body which develops fine motor skills and gross motor skills.
• Push toys- These toys are available in attractive designs of different animals, trains, wagons with attached rope. As they push the toy they learn to walk and stand without support thereby balancing and strengthening body muscles.
• Soft balls- Holding, throwing, moving the ball strengthens the muscles of hands and build balancing skills of whole body.

12-18 months toddlers

• Ride on toys- Toy cars, bikes, piggy rides when operated can develop both fine and gross motor skills in many ways like turning steering, playing with dashboard and opening and closing the doors.
• Books- Flipping the hard pages of story books, holding it, showing different pictures all can develop motor skills in toddlers.
• Puzzles- Aligning different pieces of puzzles and completing the puzzle is an amazing opportunity for fine motor development.

18-24 months toddlers

• Blocks- Constructing different figures like fish, house, boat, plane requires use of little hands and lot of creativity. This activity boosts fine motor skills.
• Activity cubes- All the sides of the cube has different fun activities to learn about colours, shapes, numbers, alphabets and tracks of wire of colourful shapes that can be moved through the track. This activity hones fine motor skills.
• Drums- Banging the drum by using drumstick strengthens arm muscles in turn developing motor skills.

There are lots of toys available in market that develop motor skills, we have picked some of them and given its significance in motor skills development! But let’s remember one thing, any skills cannot be mastered overnight it requires time, patience, practice, most importantly support from parents.