Fine motor skills in 3 year old

[ilovespinach]

It's becoming clear that my just 3 year old is having difficulties with his fine motor skills. For example, he finds it really hard to put puzzle pieces together, although we are lucky that he seems to enjoy puzzles so we can do them everyday. He finds building blocks really hard too, well anything involving hand/eye coordination. We have noticed this at home and so have his kindergarten and Dr (had a 3 year development check this week).

To complicate matters, he has a lazy eye and squint. He wears a patch over his 'good eye' pretty much all of the time.

I've spoken to the Dr and she recommended lots of puzzles and activities such as threading wooden beads. We are lucky that he wants to do these things and is happy to sit with us.

I've just looked at dear old Dr Google. It talks about children with poor motor skills not being able to write etc....

Has anyone experienced anything similar or have any other tips? He's our third dc and the others didn't have these problems. Thanks.

Mark making and messy play are also good for fine motor skills and they have the added advantage of being kinder in terms of success/failure.

Give him lots of activities like home made play dough, gloop, moon sand, shaving foam on a tray and in a sealed bag, sand/flour on a tray, finger paints, chalks on the patio, water painting on walls and fences, decorating biscuits, etc.

Bless him. I think it is due to his lazy eye. Why does he wear a patch over his good eye?

Thanks for the ideas Gold. Guess we should get the dreaded Play Doh out tomorrow.
I think so too Rebecca. He wears a patch over his good eye so that he has to use the lazy eye. Eventually the sight should improve. I will talk to the eye dr at his next appointment. I'm really worried as this process can take years.

You don't have depth perception with only one eye, that's bound to limit him in hand-eye coordination tasks. Have you tried building blocks with a patch over one of your eyes? It's really hard!

You cover the good eye because the brain has started to shut out signals from the lazy eye and it has to be forced to use it. If you miss this early childhood opportunity to get the problem eye working again the structures become permanent and the vision cannot be improved.

It's a pain but it's worth it for the long term gain.

Enjoy the messy play, OP. There are some really good recipes for making your own play dough and you can add scents, glitter, etc to make it more interesting.