Gross Motor Skills in a 5 year old

[Jemimapuddlemuck]

DS's teacher has mentioned that he's a bit behind with his gross motor skills. He's just turned 5. I suspected this but haven't worried about it much because he is a fairly active little boy, he just chooses to do running around type games, eg tig or cops and robbers, rather than structured games, so I kind of thought it would just come later but now I'm thinking I need to do something. My problem is he gets very frustrated when he can't do things straight away and will refuse to try. So how do I encourage him to try and learn to skip, ride his bike or catch a ball, without him feeling pressurised? Also can anyone link me to a list of where exactly a 5 year old should be in terms of motor skills please? Google has just confused me!

These are the ones listed on one site and they seem to be similar to the things a pediatrician looked at in my friend's little boy when we went to get him assessed for other issues. (I was supporting her)

Runs in an adult manner
Walks on tiptoe, broad jumps
Walks on a balance beam
Skates and jumps rope

WHen you say you don't want to pressure him is that because he actively avoids playing ball or walking on walls etc?

You could just try bopping a balloon at him in an impromptu game one day? Not as obvious as "lets play catch" Or when you're walking, try walking on a bench yourself...or a low wall....ask him to hold your hand while you do it and he might then ask for a go himself. A kite could be a good way of getting him to use his arms in a more organised fashion too...

Oh but also remember...not ALL kids are on time with these things. My DD is 7 now but when she was 5 she could not "jump rope"! or skate! No concerns about her motor skills were raised.

Take him to the park & encourage him to climb everything?

Climbing he's ok with, he's like a little chimp on the soft play frame and he's happy to balance on a wall walking along, although would usually need to hold my hand. He's actually a great little walker and can do about 4 miles, climb big hills etc, if he's in the mood.

The pressure thing is just that he has that sort of personality where he hates not being good at things and gets very frustrated (this is probably his age too). For example he really struggles with throwing and catching a ball, and so won't join in with a game of catch because he doesn't want to drop it. Same with skipping with a rope, he just says "I can't do that". Even though I've tried explaining that me and daddy do it either when we were little but we just practised until we could. He has now got the hang of pedalling his bike (with stabilisers) but finds it really hard, I don't know whether that's co-ordination or muscle tone maybe.

I hadn't thought of a balloon, he does always play with them at parties so I could start with that, maybe praise him when he hits/catches it so he starts to believe he can do it, then start with the ball. I am not the most co-ordinated myself so it might just be how he's going to be! I just remember hating all team sports at school and finding it all so humiliating, and I really want to give him the best start I can..

I realise from my last post I may well be doing some textbook projecting here!

I would start with catching a ball, try it about 2 feet apart and make a funny noise every time you catch his throws. I can remember age 7 throwing a ball back & forth in the hall with my mom (when she suddenly realised my skill deficit).

I still can't skip rope. And am Terrible at tying shoe laces, but I really dont think I have motor skill problems.

Pedalling bike without stabs: get the seat right down as low as you can, then you can dare to take the stabs off. His feet should be flat on the ground at all times until he's totally confident without stabs. He can't learn to balance until he knows he's safe to get his feet down fast enough.

With the skipping, who is turning the rope? Him?? My 6 yr old has no chance. He will attempt to do it if two people are turning the rope for him. What happens if you start off with a rope lying on the floor, and get him to jump over it?

We've found small bean bags much easier to catch than a ball.

I'd suggest just trying to keep the balloon in the air to start with - predicting where it is going to go. actually closing hands on a ball to catch it seems much harder.