Gross motor skills are skills that involve the entire body, such as running and jumping. According to Baby Center, fine motor skills are equally as important as gross motor skills. Fine motor skills involve more precise movements using specific body parts such as the hand, thumb, or wrist. The development of gross and fine motor skills are often connected, reports the Encyclopedia of Children's Health. Gross motor skills will enhance the development of fine motor skills and will vary by age.
Infant Development
Infants are able to grasp an object placed in the palm of their hand and are able to flail their body towards objects by about two weeks of age, reports the Encyclopedia of Children's Health. These large body movements, considered gross motor skills, will eventually lead to the infant's ability to rely on hand eye coordination so that she is able to reach for and grab a toy, which is considered a fine motor skill. During infancy, touching is an important gross motor skill that enhances the infant's ability to grab toys, but will eventually lead to the ability to use a pincher grasp to pick up small objects between the thumb and first finger, says the Encyclopedia of Children's Health. The flailing about of an infant is not a useless skill. These gross motor actions are what enable an infant to learn fine motor skills.
Toddler Development
According to Children's Health, one of the most important achievements for a one- to two-year-old child is learning how to walk. In the early stages of walking, toddlers will hold their arms in front of their bodies and toddle around. As they become more efficient at walking, they will begin to hold their arms at their sides and walk with their feet closer together. The gross motor skill of walking will eventually allow a toddler to learn many fine motor skills, reports Children's Health. For example, once a toddler has mastered walking, she will begin to lean down and pick up toys or pull a toy behind her while she walks. As toddlers become able to do more physical activity, their fine motor skills will increase as well. Then they are able to color with crayons, play with dough, stack blocks, and do simple puzzles, for example.
Preschool Development
During the preschool years children make incredible developmental strides in their physical movement. Kid's Health reports that four-year old children are usually able to hop and will soon be able to skip. The development of these gross motor skills goes hand in hand with the new fine motor skills that preschool age children learn. The Encyclopedia of Children's Health states that the nervous systems of preschool age children are continuing to develop. As a result, preschoolers are still learning to translate what their brain is telling their fingers to do in order to complete fine motor skill tasks such as tying shoes or using silverware. Gross motor skills will encourage the development of these types of fine motor skills, but the Encyclopedia of Children's Health points out that fine motor skills require patience that many preschoolers do not have. If you encourage gross motor activity, preschoolers will be better able to engage in a wide variety of fine motor skill activities.
School Age Development
School age children are able to perform many different fine motor skill tasks such as drawing stick figures, cutting, pasting, and tracing, says the Encyclopedia of Children's Health. Children master hand-eye coordination between the ages of six and 12 and a variety of different gross motor skills will continue to enhance the school age child's fine motor skills. For example, the Encyclopedia of Children's Health reports that playing sports is one way that school age children enhance their fine motor skills using their gross motor skills. Doing chores around the house and caring for pets also requires the use of gross motor skills and will work to enhance fine motor skills such as doing crafts or puzzles and building with blocks.
