Hop, skip and a jump into Prep with good fine motor skills

It may be a cliché, but the pre-school years really do fly by so fast for us as parents and carers. They are a whirlwind of sleep deprivation and making sure everyone survives the day. It is easy for us to take for granted that our kids will do enough in their daily lives to develop the necessary fine motor skills needed for school. But that is not always the case – and we as educators see this first hand.

Children are spending more and more time in front of screens. We see them mastering computer games and manipulating technical devices better than we could ourselves. It is not hard to think that their nimble little fingers will be ready to hold a pencil and write by the time they are five – but it is sadly not the case for many children starting school.

Good fine motor skills rely on a broad range of experiences. Read Write Ready packs include games to develop fine motor skills in a playful way, and give your child a foundation on which to learn more difficult skills such as holding a pencil or scissors.

While technology is now a part of everyday life, we also need to look back to our own childhoods and get our children challenging their bodies in different ways.
 

Home tips to get Body Ready

• Climbing trees and playground equipment, swinging on monkey bars
• Playing bat and ball games
• Cooking together
• Digging in the sandpit or at the beach
• Manipulating clay and play dough
• Wheelbarrow walking, crab walking, animal walking and crawling
• Lots of drawing, painting, block building, puzzles, mazes and matching games
• Playing finger puppet games and action songs.