Index
Given the name of motor coordination, the ability to move muscles precisely, giving total body control. It is possible to notice conditions of children’s motor coordination through routine activities such as playing, drawing and even walking. When a baby is born, he spends more time sleeping than interacting. And that changes with the passing of the months, when he starts to stay awake longer paying attention to every detail around him. Over the months, he will acquire skills such as holding some objects , pulling and even bringing it to his mouth.
The development of motor coordination will happen naturally and obviously will need stimuli for the result to be even better and within the expected. But the stimuli must be made with some care and apprehension, within a limit so that you are not forced to do too much for your stage. There is no better way to develop, than through play. Through children ‘s songs, paintings and whatever is the child’s favorite game that will make him develop with pleasure. It is the children’s motor coordination that allows the child to be able to dance, jump and do tasks that will improve each day more, such as writing and using scissors to cut a paper.
It is divided into two categories, gross motor coordination and fine motor coordination . Where the thick is determined by the muscular movements of the larger limbs where they define the most skillful movements such as running, jumping, climbing stairs and kicking. Exercises widely used in sports activities, and that some children have more difficulty in these movements.
Fine motor coordination, on the other hand, is that of smaller muscles, such as hands, fingers and feet. They are verified through painting and in the handling of materials such as pencils , pens and scissors. They require firmer and more delicate movements, and must be more precise, movements that will be used throughout life.
Motor Coordination from 0 to 6 years old
It is in early childhood education that child motor coordination will be more worked and stimulated. With the help of well-designed and dynamic activities it is possible to receive immediate responses and thus being able to evaluate them. The development of motor coordination begins with the birth of the baby. Ripening is essential for the child to be able to take an interest in the objects around him and receive the stimulus to reach out to grab, squeeze and pull . Over the months, these movements will be increasingly improved, giving the opportunity to seek new learning.
When they start to crawl around 6 to 10 months of life, the space so limited previously is now wider and with much more chances of exploration and development of motor coordination. They climb on furniture, climb sofas and move everything and this improves their muscles more and more each day, strengthening them for better control and coordination of arms, legs and hands, including sitting, turning and standing up, holding each day more easily.
When they finally manage to stand up on their own and walk into their first year of life, gross motor coordination is starting to improve. From this moment on, it must be worked on to evolve more and more. Using a fork to try to feed yourself or give a crayon to draw, it is possible to stimulate fine motor coordination, perfecting each time you try to control your hands.
Play whatever it is will always be a constant exercise to improve children’s motor coordination. For example, when pushing a toy , the child works beyond the legs and arms the eyes, which have to be aware of where it is going while trying to put the toy where it wants. That is why it is recommended that children play at will, without imposing limits and space. Let the place be explored, obviously with the utmost care to avoid domestic accidents , but let it play with the toys you want to push, dismantle, spread and collect.
At the age of 2, the child can move around alone and firmly. He already explores and knows what he likes to do. Through drawings, colored squiggles also show the immaturity of fine coordination and the lack of hand control and reasoning. In this phase, painting with your little fingers is a way of learning to deal with movements more firmly. They respond well to body language, through music they can move more firmly.
When they are older, from 3 to 4 years of age , in addition to playing, the discoveries and exercises become more intense. The doll that before was only hugged and rocked to “sleep”, now manages to receive baby food in the mouth. The cart that was only pushed back and forth, now maneuvers and is now even possible to face a remote control and its buttons. Children’s movements and motor coordination are adapted to their phase, according to their growth. At school, they manage to make more expressive and easy to understand drawings, different from the doodles at the beginning. Drawings take shapes and it is already possible to make cutouts with scissors and dotted designs are the kids’ favorites.
At the age of 5, the vast majority of children already have great control of motor coordination. They can safely hold a pen or pencil. They use scissors precisely and make body movements with balance, they can even ride a bicycle, and in some cases even without a wheel to help balance. They can dance, jump and run more accurately. Now it will be time to improve fine motor coordination, requiring more delicate hand control. When the child reaches 6 years of age, literacy starts. Intense training with crayons, colored pencils and pens from an early age, will now be intensified with the use of writing pencils. Accurately, the letters should appear in the notebook, first the form letters and the numbers, with the passage of time the long letter must be learned completing this phase of learning and evolution of the children’s motor coordination.
Children develop and learn new skills at different times. That is why it should not be charged or compared to the development of others. In the event of any noticeable delay, including by teachers, the pediatrician should be consulted for follow-up.
See also: Montessori Method – Learning without Limits
My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.
Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.
