DEVELOPING FINE MOTOR SKILLS IN CHILDREN: HOW TECH CAN HELP

Helping children keep up in the development of their fine motor skills is an important and impactful part of early parenting.

- DEVALA REES

And unfortunately, a recent study by Worcester Polytechnic Institute found that fine motor development has been decreasing in children between the ages of 4-6 in the U.S., which they believe is likely tied to children spending more time on touchscreens and less time playing with various physical objects.

But before you write off tech for kids altogether, consider that how kids use tech may be a more important factor than whether they use it.

Many apps are specifically designed to help develop fine motor skills in children. Such apps combine fine motor with visual motor functions, especially with tasks like puzzles, drawing, tracing, and connecting dots.

Another advantage of apps is that many children will simply pay more attention to them than to less visually engaging toys, such as a stack of blocks. A conventional toy might motivate them to practice a fine motor skill for five minutes, while an app might easily hold their attention for 15 or 20 minutes. And it's a lot faster and easier to download many apps than obtain many physical toys. Of course, it will vary from child to child, but it may be well worth giving this strategy a try and seeing if it's a good fit for your child.

Bubbles (free) is a good app for this; in it, children must track moving bubbles across the screen and tap to pop them. Apps like these may be easier for children to use than a crayon or pencil and allow them to get a head start on developing these important skills and connections. Also, apps can utilize built-in difficulty progressions to guide children through increasingly complex movements, instead of simply playing with a toy in the same way over and over. Well-designed apps can also divide difficult fine motor skills into smaller steps so they're easier for a child to learn.