Fine Motor Development in Toddlers

Your child will progress from opening and closing their hand to writing their name with a pencil in preschool. But how do children develop fine motor skills?

In This Article

• What are Fine Motor Skills?
• Some Signs of a Developmental Coordination Disorder
• • Between the Age of 3 to 6-months -old
  • From 6 to 12-months -old
  • Between 12 and 24-months-old
  • From 2 to 3-years-of-age
  • Between 3 and 4-years-old
• Six Easy Fine Motor Skill Activities

What are Fine Motor Skills?

Fine motor skills consist of the muscles and tendons in the hand and wrist used for a variety of everyday tasks related to self-care, eating, and writing. Such skills requiring fine motor movement include:

All of these skills will develop for your child over time as his or her fine motor movement improves well beyond the toddler years. While most babies can tighten and relax their hands and shake a rattle by three months old, not all children develop at the same rate. Each child develops naturally at his or her own rate with fine motor movement. There is no good or bad development, just your own child’s personal development.

If you are concerned about your child’s fine motor development by the time they have reached preschool age, ALWAYS talk to your child’s pediatrician about it. Developmental coordination disorders affect 5 to 6 percent of school-aged children. Sometimes, a delay in fine motor development could signal a developmental coordination disorder. Here are some skills to keep in mind for working on fine motor skills.

Some Signs of a Developmental Coordination Disorder

To keep track of fine motor skills for your child, it’s a good idea to be aware of the average fine motor development milestones according to age.

Between the Age of 3 to 6-months-old

From 6 to 12-months-old

While it may seem like fine motor skills have developed quickly over a year, your child is just getting started! Once your child hits the one-year mark and beyond, those early fine motor skills develop into more complicated skills to help fuel independence with self-care tasks.

Between 12 and 24-months-old

From 2 to 3-years-of-age

Between 3 and 4-years-old

As you can see, the progression of fine motor skills builds upon itself naturally for your child. But remember that every child grows and develops at his or her own rate. You are probably wondering what you can do for your child’s first four years of development to help fine motor skills. Thankfully, there are many activities you can add to your child’s day to help develop these skills!

Six Easy Fine Motor Skill Activities

Tummy time: While your baby is doing his or her tummy time, place toys in front of your baby to encourage him/her to reach and grasp for toys.

Block stacking: Help your child under one stack blocks. Most children can stack two blocks together by 12-months-old.

Play-Doh: Your child can smash, roll, flatten, or use Play-Doh tools like small plastic scissors.

Hole punch: Help your child learn the grasp required for using a hole punch.

Painting: Start with finger painting, then work your child up to using paintbrushes.

Tweezers: Have your child use tweezers to pick up and organize small items like cotton balls or pom-poms.

Although developing fine motor skills in toddlers happens progressively and naturally as your child becomes older, fine motor milestones and activities still need to be accomplished. The activities above are easy to incorporate into young children’s daily schedules and will only help further their fine motor development in preparation for preschool and beyond.