What Is Graphomotor Skills?
Graphomotor is the concept that groups two skills of fine motor skills: movement with the hands and writing. The term starts from the union of two words: graph (writing) and motor (movement) and means something like the movement that is carried out with the hands when drawing and writing.
The ability to write completes and enriches the mastery of fine motor skills in children. In order to do this, at Eres Mamá we invite you to enhance it by putting into practice activities that allow better control of the wrist, fingers, hand in general and even the forearm. They will not only help your son’s muscle control, they will help him make better lines and have a legible and beautiful letter.
Activities for the child’s graphomotor skills
Children under 1 year
Children under 1 year of age should receive stimuli that help them to continue to know their body and all that it can do. In addition, it is necessary to provide them with exercises that allow them a better control of their movements and, in this case, give them activities that develop the dexterity of hands and fingers.
To achieve something like this, we suggest you teach him to clap his hands, especially to the beat of the music, and interpret and make the gestures suggested by children’s songs, moreover, those that encourage:
- Move the hands
- Turn your wrists
- Open and close fists
- Move your hands first in all directions and then in unison up, down, to one side, to the other …, etc.
Other exercises to give the child under 1 year can be:
- Throw objects defining a specific target
- Handling, for example, small plastic chips and pouring them into a bottle. The tokens can be exchanged for any other object, but be careful. Be aware that small things can get into a child’s ears, nose, or throat. Don’t lose sight of him when you give him an activity like this
- Give him a plasticine to fit and disengage anything from it or chop it while making tweezers with his fingers.
Children 1-3 years
If your child is between 1 and 3 years old, it is time for you to enhance his eye-hand coordination. Therefore, whenever you can, give him crayons and chalk so that he can write on any surface. Candle other than on the walls of the house because the “cave painting” is one of those that most attracts the child at this stage of his life.
We also invite you to give him a brush dipped in watercolor and a sheet or surface to paint on. The first few times he will let you teach him to take the brush and help him brush, but immediately afterwards he will want to do it alone and that will be beneficial. Take some time to do this and wet the brush every time it dries so your child has fun while strengthening his movements.
Every time he masters the chalk, the crayon, the brush … give him a marker ( marker or marker depending on the country) in addition to teaching him what he does, you must show him and help him to grasp it correctly. Although there are those who prefer colored pencils, we recommend the markers because they paint easily without him having to press them too much.
Encourage your little one to make lines and squiggles on the paper. Through the free stroke he will begin to exercise his movements and in some way to enter into the learning of writing. Let him “write” with ease and praise all his “drawings.”
Children 3-6 years
At this stage, children should have mastery of most fine motor skills. Thus, they are ready to begin to learn other skills of graphomotor skills.
Mom, take time to teach your child the correct way to color a space. Show him that to fill a gap you have to move the color on the sheet from left to right and from right to left. Also explain that the same thing happens when you want to color vertically: top to bottom and bottom to top. It is important for him to master this skill.
From here your child will be ready to enter the world of writing. At school, his teachers will teach him letters, sounds and how they are represented on paper.
At home you should review his strokes and help him with his calligraphy. They will have a whole world to go, but if as a child you were dedicated and exercised their psychomotor movements, their graphomotor performance will not take long to bear its first fruits.
