Poor fine motor starting reception.

[hairymclaryforever]

As the title suggests really. My son has poor fine motor skills imo. He's not very interested in tool kits to help with this area and won't sit and colour for long

Should I worry? He's starting reception in September

What’s his gross motor like? Core/trunk strength is really important to support fine motor skills.

Does he like playdough? YouTube has lots of “dough disco” games which strengthen hand muscles. If you google “fine motor skills” and then something he is interested in (eg animals) followed by “theme” you might get some ideas for things he will engage in. Equally Lego, and other construction activities, will be really good for fine motor.

I wouldn’t worry too much right now - you’ll probably have a parents’ meeting in the first few weeks of term and you could raise it then? Or at a home visit?

What is he interested in? Puzzles, lego, sand/playdoh, beads or craft?

He likes duplo sometimes but generally he's very outdoorsy. He could be outside all day walking running and climbing and be super happy

Drawing on the outside concrete with chak
Painting fences and walls with water on a large paintbrush.

My daughter has just finished reception, and in her class everyone has a pot of play dough in their tray and they do the dough disco type activities as a class quite frequently, so I don’t think it’s unusual for children to need some help with their fine motor skills.

Is he actually behind if you look at the ASQ for his age? I found this link which has them all listed, I’m guessing you’ll want the 48 or 54 month versions. www.michaeltaymormd.com/storage/app/media/forms/master-set-asq.pdf

Given he enjoys being outside would he do things like jigsaws or bead threading activities if you did them outdoors?

Over the next few weeks maybe do some outdoor treasure hunts, collecting conkers, acorns, fir-cones, leaves, feathers etc. then use them for crafts, leaf rubbing, collages, building towers and so on. Blackberrying, fruit picking then use in baking.

My son totally was. Like yours, very uninterested in typical fine motor related activities and it was a struggle to engage him in anything that didn’t involve running around…. (and he’d attended the school nursery!).

In reception he suddenly clicked with the laid back and calm activities and now enjoys drawing and writing. Probably a bit behind where expected, but catching up nicely!

Just coming back to add that my son can hold a pencil felt tip pens etc he's just not awfully interested - he loves outdoors and books - those are his main interests

Does he like cheerios or similar shaped cereal. Use them to thread onto a piece of dry spaghetti, it works hand eye coordination getting the cereal on the spaghetti, finger dexterity picking up the cereal and using the right amount of force for the job otherwise the spaghetti will break.

We work on fine motor daily in reception! Please don't worry xx

There are plenty of things her can do related to his outdoor interests like @LIZS says. He doesn't have to do activities he doesn't enjoy.

My DS was very similar, he's a summer baby and it has taken a long time for him to engage with writing (not helped by covid!).

His writing is still not amazing but he now chooses to write things and is improving all the time. They work on these things in Reception and if he needs work on fine motor they'll set up activities to encourage him. I'd try not to worry too much, maybe talk to his teacher when he starts and see if they can give you any tips on activities you can do at home.

Please don't worry, tiny hands aren't meant to be writing at such an early age. It's just our silly education system in this country. All the gross motor activity your son is doing is exactly what he needs to be doing. You can help him by providing opportunities for his arms and core to develop, climbing and hanging from things to strengthen his upper arms. Eventually his fine motor skills will develop when they're ready. Outdoor play like scooping with big spoons in the sand or mud or using big tongs to pick things up are also great.
At school they should be providing play based activities that encourage fine motor development before expecting writing. Also remember that they all do this at different times and it's not a race to the finish.

This photograph is worth a look.

Thank u all for replying

@ColmanFlamingo I do agree and lots of countries I know they start later but we aren't in other countries we are in uk and Altho I agree it's not a race, equally I would hate for him to be lagging behind everyone else

My son couldn’t hold a pencil until half way through year R. He’s now going into year two and is fine, his handwriting is the same standard as most of his class, his reading and maths were always fine he just had rubbish fine motor skills.

Don’t panic - they’re all different and they won’t be doing lots of sitting down and writing to start with anyway

Physical development is one of the prime areas in early years. He’ll be doing so many activities to develop his gross and fine motor skills during his time in Reception. But to be honest, if he’s holding a pencil correctly then he’s doing brilliantly!