Motor skills are used when the muscles of the body act and/or are coordinated. Gross motor skills- actions that use the large muscles of the body. Fine motor skills- actions that use small muscles of the body.

Gross motor skills allow the use to fundamental movement skills that are movement patterns to involving different body parts like the legs, arms, trunk and head. This includes skills like running, hoping, and catching. These are foundation movements that are used in more specialised, challenging and complex actions needed for play, active games, sports, dance, gymnastics, and physical recreation activities. RECOGNISING GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

Fundamental movement skills can be divided into three categories: Body management skills involve balance; for example: -bending -swinging -climbing -lifting -reaching

Locomotor skills involve moving the body in a direction; for example, by: -hopping -skipping -jumping -galloping -sprinting -running

Object control skills involve the control of objects; for example: -throwing -kicking -catching -batting -shovelling

To allow children to practise and develop their gross motor skills, they must have access to equipment, games and toys that facilitate this.

In a care service, this means supplying equipment such as: -climbing frames -ladders -steps or stairs -space to crawl, walk around furniture, walk independently, run, skip and hop -

- skipping ropes -balls -push-along trolleys -dolls prams -tricycles and/or bicycles -monkey bars -shovels -trampolines

Fine motor skills refer to the smaller movements of the body parts, such as the wrists, hands fingers, feet and toes. Fine motor skills also include hand eye coordination that is necessary in tasks where you see something and coordinate your hand to move to what you see. There are many activities that use hand-eye coordination; for example: reading typing throwing a ball RECOGNISING FINE MOTOR SKILLS

Activity: List as many things as you can think of that require children to use hand-eye coordination.

To allow children to practise and develop their fine motor skills, they must have access to equipment, games and toys that facilitate this. In a care service, this means supplying equipment such as:

finger puppets pasting or painting brushes scissors Play-dough pencils, pens, textas staplers nails and hammers toy cars and car mats

clothing with buttons, press studs, studs, ties, zips knives, forks, spoons computer keyboards books small sorting items for children older enough; for example, buttons, coins, bottle tops, pebbles Wool for knitting, sewing, stitching, pom-pom making Puzzles

Hand grasp also develops in sequence and influences the ability of a child to control their activities. Dexterity is a word used to explain the manipulation of objects using your fine motor skills. Skills like hand grasp are influenced by the environment, so if the child is not provided with opportunities to use a grasp, this skill will not develop as quickly and their dexterity may be poor.

A palmer grasp appears once the grasp reflex has disappeared, at around 4 months. The whole fist is first used in this grasp- the palm covers the object and the fingers then curl around the object intentionally. The child is able to let go of the object when they want to.

A pincer grasp occurs next as the fingers become more controlled. The pincer grasp is useful for picking up small objects and uses the index finger (the first finger) and the thumb together in a pinching motion.

A tripod grasp follows where a thick crayon or piece of food is held with the fingers in a tripod style with two fingers and the thumb.

Finally, a pencil grasp develops. This enables the child to have greater control over their drawing or writing implement.