Games and exercises for the development of fine motor skills in children aged 3-4 years

THE IMPORTANCE OF FINE MOTOR SKILLS

Fine motor skills of the hands are a unity of coordinated manipulations that are aimed at performing small precise movements with the hands and fingers. Just a few decades ago, parents did not have problems with the motor skills of their children. After all, the children did a lot of things with their own hands: they helped peel vegetables, make pies, do laundry, sort out cereals, tie shoelaces and fasten buttons. Today, most of these activities are done either by adults, allowing children to play, or by specialized machines. Even Velcro shoes and clothes with zippers deprive the child of the opportunity to practice the fine movements of his fingers.

Meanwhile, a lot says about the importance of fine motor skills. Children with weak motor skills are not ready for writing and often lag behind in speech development. All this affects school performance and leads to increased stress on the child’s nervous system.

Among other things, the state of fine motor skills of the hands directly affects the development of the child:

self-care skills;
perseverance;
thinking;
attention;
imagination;
vocabulary;
memory.

After all, the centers of the cerebral cortex responsible for fine motor skills are adjacent and closely interconnected with the centers responsible for the development of these areas. By activating the fine motor area, we naturally influence the neighboring ones.

Program for the development of fine motor skills in children 4 - 5 years old “Genius at your fingertips”

PROGRAM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF FINE MOTOR SKILLS IN CHILDREN AGED 4-5 YEARS OLD

"GENIUS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS»

Author

educational psychologist

Krasotkina Daria Andreevna

MOSCOW 2021

Intelligence is not only heredity, but also the result of mental stress and training. With any motor training, it is not the hands that develop first, but the brain. It has been proven that finger training stimulates the development of certain areas of the brain, promotes the development of speech, mental activity, logical thinking, memory, visual and auditory perception of the child, and develops perseverance and the ability to concentrate. And the development of muscle strength in the fingers of the dominant hand and coordination of movements of both hands are necessary for mastering writing skills.

Author: educational psychologist

Krasotkina Daria Andreevna

The “Genius at Your Fingertips” program is intended for use in preschool educational organizations when working with children starting from 4–5 years old.

Purpose of the program

– development of the child’s mental and physical qualities in accordance with age and individual capabilities by improving fine movements of the fingers.

Program objectives:

Educational:

Ø Learn to master graphic skills: shading in different directions according to the pattern - from top to bottom, from left to right; trace objects by dots, complete drawings of objects, color pictures, following the rules: paint in one direction, without going beyond the outline of the object, do not leave unpainted areas.

Ø Learn to work with paper, mastering different techniques.

Ø Teach how to work with plasticine equipment.

Ø Enrich children's tactile experience, recognize objects and materials by touch.

Educational:

Ø Develop the ability to make precise movements with the hand and fingers.

Ø Develop the ability to work hands with visual perception.

Ø Develop creative activity, spatial thinking, imagination.

Ø Develop fine motor skills of the hands, kinesthetic sensation in the process of objective and practical actions.

Educational:

Ø To instill in children accuracy, perseverance, and a conscientious attitude to work.

Ø Cultivate attentiveness to completing tasks.

Ø Cultivate a respectful attitude towards one’s own and other people’s work.

Main directions:

1. Finger play training, massage and self-massage of the hands - familiarization with a set of exercises that give the finger complete rest, develop dexterity, mobility, have a positive effect on well-being, and improve brain function.

2. Manual skill - introduces the technique of drawing with plasticine, introduces the properties of paper, creates conditions for the manifestation of creativity and the development of imagination.

3. Graphic skills - improve coordination of movements of fingers and hands, holding a pencil correctly.

4. Games and activities with small objects - motor skills are improved, motor coordination and optical-spatial directions are developed, objects of different sizes, textures, and structures are used

The program involves classes once a week, in the afternoon. The duration of the lessons is 20 minutes. The total number of classes per year is 36.

The program defines methods, tools and techniques for corrective and developmental work with children aimed at developing manual skills, gives age-related characteristics of the motor development of preschool children, and presents principles of work on the development of fine motor skills and coordination of hand movements in preschool children.

In this program, classes are structured taking into account the individual characteristics of children of the fifth year of life and consist of 4 parts. The first part of the classes is greeting, the second part is finger play, the third part is a set of games with elements of self-massage of the palms and fingers, the fourth is a set of creative games or performing graphic exercises.

A very important part of developing fine motor skills are “finger games”, massage and self-massage, graphic exercises, and games with objects. Modern authors (M.S. Ruzina, S.Yu. Afonkina, O.E. Novikovskaya, E. Kosinova, etc.) have developed numerous games and exercises that promote the development of fine motor skills. These games are very emotional, exciting and contribute to the development of not only speech, but also creative activity. During “finger games,” children, repeating the movements of adults, activate hand motor skills. This develops dexterity, the ability to control one’s movements, and concentrate attention on one type of activity. It is known that there is a close connection between speech function and the general motor system of a person. The same close connection is established between the hand and the speech center of the brain. Harmonization of body movements, fine motor skills of the hands and speech organs contributes to the formation of correct pronunciation, helps to get rid of the monotony of speech, normalize its pace, teaches the observance of speech pauses, and reduces mental stress. It is also known that in the last 5-10 years the level of speech development of children has noticeably decreased. Why? Parents talk less with their children because many of them are terribly busy at work. Children themselves speak less because they watch and listen more (TV-audio-video...). They rarely do anything with their own hands, because modern toys and things are designed as conveniently as possible, but are not effective for the development of motor skills (clothes and shoes with Velcro instead of laces and buttons, books and manuals with stickers instead of pictures for cutting out, etc. ) Finger games and exercises are a unique means for developing a child’s fine motor skills and speech in their unity and interconnection. By playing finger games to lay out figures and objects, we develop children’s grip with the index finger and thumb, improve the “eye-hand” movement, and develop imagination. You can lay out figures using buttons, counting sticks, matches, geometric shapes, cereals, etc.

What happens when a child does finger gymnastics?

1. Performing exercises and rhythmic movements with the fingers inductively leads to excitation in the speech centers of the brain and a sharp increase in the coordinated activity of speech zones, which ultimately stimulates the development of speech.

2. Finger games create a favorable emotional background, develop the ability to imitate an adult, teach them to listen and understand the meaning of speech, and increase children’s speech activity.

3. The child learns to concentrate his attention and distribute it correctly.

4. If a child performs exercises accompanied by short poetic lines, then his speech will become clearer, rhythmic, bright and his control over the execution of movements will increase.

5. The child’s memory develops, as he learns to remember certain hand positions and sequences of movements.

6. The child develops imagination and fantasy. Having mastered all the exercises, he will be able to “tell” whole stories with his hands.

As a result of mastering all the exercises, the hands and fingers will gain strength, good mobility and flexibility, and in the future it will make it easier to master the skill of writing.

All finger games are divided into three groups.

Group 1 – exercises for the hands:

· develop the ability to imitate, are quite simple and do not require subtle differentiated movements;

· learn to tense and relax muscles;

· develop the ability to maintain the position of the fingers for some time;

· learn to switch from one movement to another.

Group 2 – conditionally static finger exercises:

· improve previously acquired skills at a higher level and require more precise movements.

Group 3 – dynamic finger exercises:

· develop precise coordination of movements;

· teach to bend and straighten fingers;

· teach to oppose the thumb to the rest

Gymnastics complexes with elements of self-massage of the palms and fingers allow you to:

· gain muscle elasticity and increase joint mobility;

· create an opportunity for training frequent, consistent, timely switching of movements, i.e. coordination;

· develop posture holding skills;

· feel the full range of muscle movements, their strength and endurance;

· develop thought processes and their arbitrariness;

· learn by playing, which evokes positive emotions and persistent interest in the activity

Starting from the age of 4, it is necessary to introduce simple tasks for the formation of graphic movements, first of all, shading of contour images. The formation of graphic skills is closely related to the development of such educationally important qualities as the ability to accept a task and voluntarily control one’s actions; learning ability; visual analysis and hand-eye coordination; spatial orientation skills.

Organization of a subject-development environment for fine motor skills:

Ø various mosaics; construction kits of various shapes, sizes, textures; various manuals on unbuttoning and fastening buttons; several lacing options (regular, cross, circle, etc.).

Ø rubber, prickly, corrugated, soft (filled with plastic bullets);

Ø various balls: various juniper sticks, metal massage rings

Ø wrist expanders for the development of the muscular hand;

Ø clothespins for the development of coordination of movements of the fingers (sun, hedgehog, Christmas tree, etc.);

Ø keyboard of an old computer, push-button telephone for the development of differentiated movements of the fingers;

Ø castanets for tapping the rhythm;

Ø templates (patterns) on lexical topics for tracing, coloring,

Ø hatching;

Ø “Kinder Surprise” toys for pulling out of a dry pool;

Ø dry pools filled with beans or peas for self-massage of hands;

Ø “winders” - ropes connected in the center (sometimes with the help of a toy or a wooden ball), to the ends of which handles are attached, to develop coordination of rotational movements;

Ø walnuts and cones, “sudzhok” balls;

Ø cereals of different varieties and threads of different quality for laying out designs;

Ø mesh for the sink and multi-colored ribbons; “Velcro” (pictures with Velcro on the reverse side or a magnet); pasta and laces for stringing or ready-made laces;

Ø theatrical games: finger theater, glove theater, table theater, bibabo;

Ø teaching aids “UniCube” and “Dry Pool”.

Working with parents

Familiarize parents with goals and objectives and the work plan. Involving parents to collect materials for work on developing fine motor skills, helping in the production of games and manuals. Inviting parents to open classes, conducting master classes, preparing a transfer folder, conducting practical classes.

Comprehensive thematic planning

Lesson number	Subject	Target	Content	the date of the
1	Our favorite kindergarten	Develop fine motor skills of fingers and tactile sensitivity.	Games with cut pictures. Games: “Help the bear find the ball”, “Collect toys”, “What’s hidden in the lump?” (smoothing out paper lumps with outline images of toys). “Determine by touch” (dry pool). Finger gymnastics “Our fingers are friends”, “Orange”. Self-massage “Toys”. Exercise: “Palm – fist – rib” (for hands and fingers), “Dexterous hands”.
2	Fruits	Develop fine motor skills of fingers, develop graphic skills. Learn to color in one direction without going beyond the outline.	Self-massage “Washing the fruit” (playing with water). Exercises: “Drying fruits” (stringing geometric shapes on a wire), “What is this? (smoothing paper balls with an outline image of fruit), “Apples” (image of circles, painting with the appropriate color). Finger gymnastics “We cook compote”, “Orange”. Games with cut pictures.
3	Vegetables	Develop coordination of finger movements. Learn sculpting and appliqué techniques. Develop visual-figurative thinking.	Finger gymnastics “Lariska has two radishes”, “Cabbage”. Exercises: “Gathering the harvest” (modeling multi-colored balls from plasticine), “Fold a picture” (cut-out pictures on the topic), “Ripe vegetables” (gluing finished images with the appropriate color - cut-out applique). Games: “Wonderful bag” (identify vegetables by touch). Games with cut pictures.
4	Mushrooms	Develop visual-figurative thinking. Develop coordination of finger movements. Learn techniques for stringing and laying out silhouettes of objects.	Games with cut pictures. Games: “Path to the Forest” (laying out a path of seeds), “Drying mushrooms” (stringing mushrooms from paper onto a wire), “Mushrooms” (hatching the image of a mushroom with appropriate lines). Finger gymnastics “Pick mushrooms”. Laying out silhouettes of mushrooms along the contour with woolen threads .
5	Autumn leaf fall	Develop fine motor skills of fingers. Learn self-massage techniques. Learn stringing techniques. Learn how to apply pieces of plasticine to the base. Continue to teach contour drawing techniques.	Hand massage “Round dance among flowers”. Finger gymnastics “Flowers”. Self-massage “Autumn”. Games with cut pictures. Exercises: “Droplet to droplet - a trickle of rain” (stringing blue circles on a wire), “Path in an autumn park” (sheet of cardboard with a plasticine path, peas), “Autumn leaf fall” (drawing leaves along the contour and painting). Finger gymnastics “Autumn leaves”.
6	Trees of our forests	Continue to teach techniques for laying out objects on cardboard, drawing straight and inclined lines, coloring in one direction without going beyond the outline. Develop coordination of finger movements.	Finger gymnastics “The rain came out for a walk.” Exercises: “Path to the forest” (laying paths of different cereals on cardboard on plasticine), “Autumn rain” (drawing straight and inclined lines according to a model, coloring a cloud within the contour), “Twig” (laying out the silhouette of a twig from threads). Finger massage “Hello, autumn!” (rolling the pencil to the beat of the poem with both hands in turn). Games with cut pictures.
Migratory birds	Develop visual-figurative thinking. Continue to teach plasticineography techniques. Continue to teach self-massage techniques.	Games with cut pictures. Exercises: “A small bird” (plasticine), “What’s hidden?” (smoothing out paper lumps with outline images of birds). Self-massage “Funny Pencil” (rolling a pencil according to instructions). Finger gymnastics “A bird is looking”, “Through sticks”
7	House. Family	Finger gymnastics “Like we have a big family.” Exercises: “Washing clothes” (playing with water), “Drying clothes” (hanging clothespins, working with UniCube), “Let’s help grandma” (sorting beans and peas), “Let’s draw a house” (laying out an image of a house using threads). Self-massage “Roll out the dough with a rolling pin” (ribbed pencil).
8	Furniture	Exercises: “This is furniture” (laying out pieces of furniture from sticks), “Small chair” (complete the legs - straight vertical lines, paint over). Games: “Magic flagella” (laying out furniture pieces from plasticine flagella along the contour), “Dexterous fingers” (caps from felt-tip pens). Finger gymnastics “The table stands on a thick leg.”
9	Clothes, shoes	Exercises: “Place them in order”, “Put the shoes in pairs”, “Big wash” (self-massage, playing with water), “Drying clothes” (lace, image of clothes with holes), “Vanya walks along the path” (cardboard, plasticine, cereal, grain), “What is this?” (smoothing out paper lumps with outline images of clothes and shoes). Finger gymnastics “We bought boots for the cat for the holiday...”, games with cut-out pictures.
10	Dishes	Dishes Games with cut pictures. Exercises: “Mom drinks tea”, “Magpie cooks porridge” (self-massage), “Service for a doll” (stringing paper dishes on a wire), “Teapot” (outline of a teapot, plasticine), shading. Finger gymnastics “Dexterous hands” (with washcloths), “We washed the dishes” (kneading one phalanx for each syllable).
11	Transport	Self-massage “On my way to my grandfather” (hexagonal pencil). Finger gymnastics “Wheels”, “Boat”. Games with cut pictures. Exercises: “Traffic lights” (stringing beads of red, yellow and green colors on a wire), “Roads for cars” (image of straight and wavy lines), “Little artists” (circle a stencil depicting transport and color).
12	Winter	Finger gymnastics “Snowball”. Exercises: “A path for a skier” (laying out a path from a mosaic, focusing on a sample), “Making snowballs” (rolling pieces of paper into lumps), “Ice sleds” (laying out a sled from counting sticks, and ropes from small buttons). Games with cut-out pictures, lacing, “Dexterous hands” (caps from felt-tip pens).
13	Wintering birds	Exercises: “A magpie is cooking porridge” (self-massage of the middle of the palm), “Let’s feed the birds” (sorting peas and beans), “A raven is sitting on an oak tree” (painting over the finished image). “Birdhouse” (laying out the silhouette of a house from counting sticks). Games with cut-out pictures, “Dry pool” (find bird figures by touch). Finger gymnastics “Chicks”, “Duck”.
14	Winter fun	Exercises: “The snow is falling” (sprinkling semolina), “Skating and skiing” (“skating rink” - made of foil, “ski track” - made of velvet paper), “Making snowballs” (roll pieces of paper into lumps), “Track for Santa Claus" (laying a path of cereals on cardboard on plasticine). Games with cut pictures.
15	New Year	Game: “Magic Box” (identify the Christmas tree toy by touch), “New Year’s chain” (gluing rings from strips of paper). Finger gymnastics “Herringbone”. Exercises: “Let's decorate our Christmas tree” (laying circles-balls of different sizes from threads in a circle), “Balls-lanterns” (drawing circles of different sizes in a limited space along the dotted line).
16	Pets	Finger gymnastics “Duck”, “Puppy”. Games: “Dry pool” (find an animal figurine in a box of beans by touch), “Feed the chickens” (grab and pour grains into a container). Finger massage “Pussy” (run a soft brush over your palm). Exercises: “Gather grass for the goat” (finely tear the paper), “Cat Purr” (laying out the cat’s face along the contour with plasticine).
17	Wild animals	Finger gymnastics “Squirrel sitting on a cart.” “Squirrel” massage (run a piece of fur along the outer surface of the hand from the fingertips to the wrist). Exercises: “Who lives in the house?” (identification by touch of toys of different sizes), “The hedgehog has lost its spines” (silhouette of a hedgehog, clothespins), shading.
Wild animals of the north	Finger games “Sun”, “Bear”. Games with cut pictures. Exercises: “Dry pool” (find an animal figurine in a box of beans by touch), shading, “Long paths” (laying out paths using woolen threads). Self-massage “Fox” (movements according to the text). Games with cut pictures.
18	Animals of hot countries	Games with cut pictures. Game “The Way Home” (laying peas on cardboard with plasticine). Exercises: “We wandered in the zoo” (“walk” with the index and middle fingers along the squares for each syllable), “Palms” (laying branches from strings to a drawn trunk), “Guide the animals to a treat” (drawing lines in the middle of the path).
19	Sport. Sports entertainment	Exercises: “Track for runners” (laying out paths from beans and seeds), “Ski track” (drawing straight and wavy lines in the middle of the path), “Multi-colored balls” (roll pieces of paper into lumps), “My funny ringing ball” (with massage balls). Games with cut pictures, lacing, winders. Finger gymnastics “Toys”.
20	Defenders of the Fatherland	Finger gymnastics “Fighters are great”, “Fingers are soldiers”. Exercises: “Count the bullets” (a bag of beans), “Military equipment” (laying out sticks according to a pattern), “Connect the dots” (circle the dotted lines around the images with military equipment and color), “Dexterous hands” (games with felt-tip pen caps ). Games with cut pictures, lacing, winders.
21	Winter (result)	Self-massage “Herringbone - prickly needle” (massage of hands and palms with hexagonal pencils). Finger gymnastics “Snowball”, “Snow fell on the threshold”. Exercises: “Making a snowman” (plasticineography), “Walking on soft snow” (laying out a path from lumps of plasticine, “walking with the index and middle fingers over the lumps”). Games with cut pictures, lacing.
22	Beloved mommy	Finger gymnastics “We washed the dishes”, “Sunny”. Exercises: “Let’s decorate a cake for mom” (circle along the contour, draw wavy lines along the dotted line without lifting the pencil from the paper), “A ball with a surprise” (unwind and wind up a ball with a candy inside), “Iron a handkerchief for mom” (smoothing lumps of paper with your fingers).
23	Spring	Finger gymnastics “Spring has come”, “Puddle”. Games with cut pictures. Hand massage “Spring has come” (lint brush). Exercises: “Icicle” (stringing beads on a wire), “Rivers Flowed” (lay out rivulets on velvet paper from thick threads), “Navigate a boat along a stream” (draw a line between wavy lines, repeating the bends).
24	Professions	Finger gymnastics “Chauffeur”, “Chopping wood”, “Cook”. Self-massage “Logs”, “Roll out the dough with a rolling pin” (ribbed pencil). Exercises: “Boards for a fence” (preparing “boards” from paper by cutting along the contour), “What’s missing?” (completing the drawing of pieces of furniture with horizontal and vertical lines), “Sort out the cereals” (sorting three types of cereals), “I am a builder” (laying out the outline of a 2-3-story house from sticks).
25	Library	Exercises: “Books on the Shelf” (putting books from counting sticks on the “shelves”), “Golden Key” (circle on a stencil and color without lifting the pencil from the paper), “Surprise for the guys” (unwind a ball and see a fairy-tale hero) . Games with cut pictures. Finger gymnastics “Dexterous hands”, “Family”. “Bag of Beans” finger massage.
26	Fish	Finger gymnastics “Once upon a time there was a burbot”, “Shark”. Exercises: “The sea is agitated”, “Fish in the pond” (circular movements with each finger clockwise in a container of water), “On the seashore” (laying out the silhouette of a fish from peas on cardboard with plasticine), “Worms for fish” (modeling from plasticine). Self-massage “Sea urchin” (with a massage ball).
27	Space	Games with cut pictures. Exercises: “Rocket” (laying out the silhouette of a mosaic rocket according to a pattern), “Planet Earth” (torn applique), lacing. Self-massage of hands and fingers “Our cheerful pencil” (with a ribbed pencil), “My cheerful, ringing ball” (with a massage ball), “Porridge for an astronaut” (sorting three types of cereals). Finger gymnastics “Golden Sun”.
28	Insects	Finger gymnastics “Bee”. Exercises: “Butterfly” (laying out a mosaic of a butterfly silhouette according to a model), “Decorate the wings of a butterfly” (plasticine), “Path for a grasshopper” (image of straight and wavy lines on a limited surface). Massage of the phalanges of the fingers (for each syllable, kneading one phalange: fly, grasshopper, etc.). Games with cut pictures.
29	Houseplants	Self-massage of hands and fingers “Our cheerful pencil” (with a ribbed pencil), “My cheerful, ringing ball” (with a massage ball), “Beads-peas”. Games with cut pictures. Exercises: “What’s hidden in the lump?” (smoothing out paper lumps with outline images of indoor flowers).
30	1st of May. Victory Day	Exercises: “What is a person’s mood?” (complete the facial expression according to the model), “Who lives in the house?” (laying out geometric shapes of a house and a person in compliance with proportions), “Star” (laying out from sticks). Finger massage “Bag of beans”.
31	Flowers	Finger gymnastics “Flower”, “Sun”. Exercises: “Connect” (we connect images of flowers by dots), “Nimble fingers” (clothespins, templates), “Let’s assemble a bouquet” (torn applique). Massage of the phalanges of the fingers (for each syllable, kneading one phalange: aster, iris, clover, etc.). Games with cut pictures.
32	Early spring. Late spring	Hand massage “Spring has come” (lint brush). Game “The sun is shining” (laying rays from matches around a yellow circle). Exercises: “Happy Stream” (image of wavy lines in the middle of a path of different widths), “Connect” (connect images of insects and flowers by dots). Finger gymnastics “Drip, drip, drip.”
33	Seasons (summer)	Finger gymnastics “Sun”, “Girls and boys”. Game “Nimble Fingers” (templates, clothespins). Self-massage of hands “Sharpener” (hexagonal pencil, hand movements imitate a sharpener). Exercises: “What’s hidden in the lump?” (smoothing out paper lumps with outline images of the seasons).

HAND DEVELOPMENT NORMS

After 3 years, children’s motor skills become more complex and varied: the percentage of actions that require coordinated hand movements from the child increases.

What should children of this age be able to do in terms of developing fine motor skills?

To hold objects, they increasingly use their fingers, rather than the palm, as before.
Able to hold a pen or pencil.
They can draw lines, circles, polyhedra, redraw crosses and squares.
They know how to cut paper shapes with scissors.
Can take off and put on clothes and shoes.
Grab small objects or parts with your thumb and index finger.
Build a tower with at least 3 cubes.
Draw a person consisting of at least 3 elements (head, torso, limbs).
Take out small objects from a transparent container.
Unscrew the lids.
String beads onto wire.
They can draw with their fingers.
Scoop the cereal into a spoon from one container to transfer it to another.
Trace the outline along the dotted line.
Simple elements are molded from plasticine.
Fasten and unfasten zippers, clasps, snaps, buttons.
Sorting small items and cereals.
Unwrap candy wrappers.
They tie knots.
Hand movements occur through coordination with vision.

All these skills need to be developed and improved, preparing little hands for increasingly complex and precise manipulations.

If your baby does not yet know how to do something from this list, it is important to fill this gap in a timely manner. Teach him age-appropriate skills, otherwise he will have problems later: he will have to not only learn new skills, but also catch up with his peers where he lags behind. And this is more difficult.

How to develop fine motor skills in a child?

The main thing is motivation to practice. Experts have created many special games that effectively influence motor skills. You just need to take age into account. The key to success will be regular play (every day) and persistence.

Tip 1. Invite your baby to play with the sensory box

Such games can be offered when the child no longer tries to put everything that moves or is given into his mouth.

A sensory box is a simple but interesting idea for a child. Take a large container or basin, fill it with clean sand or cereal and bury several small objects in it - pebbles, cones, figurines, etc.

A child up to one year old will happily dig into the litter, bury and dig up toys. If he gets bored with this, you can make a vegetable garden in a basin: beds and plant acorns or twigs in them, put figures of animals, people, houses, cars.

Tip 2. Make a busy board for your baby

This type of activity is suitable for children over 1 year old. A business board is any plywood or furniture board on which various buttons, levers, switches, latches, hinges, wheels, shoe Velcro are attached, that is, everything that can be touched, pressed, pulled, twisted, etc.

If, when you press the button, a light comes on or a sound appears, there will be no limit to your delight. But all devices should not be sharp or dangerous.

You can also glue small toys to the table/board yourself using tape or plaster and ask your child to free the captives from captivity.

Tip 3. Paint with finger paints

This activity is suitable for babies over 1 year old, but if the child is interested, you can start earlier. It is still difficult for a baby to use brushes, but there is no need to put off painting for this reason.

Special finger paints are now sold in stores: even if the baby swallows a little dye, there will be no harm. By the way, they are tasteless.

You can make finger paints yourself, but they are duller and do not wash well. For preparation, use salt (it will make the paint tasteless), flour or starch for thickening, and vegetable oil. “Edible paints” can also be made from jam, jam, mustard, and ketchup.

The baby will be happy to first study the paint, try to see his handprints and fingerprints on the cardboard, and then eagerly begin to draw lines and circles.

At 3–4 years old, children already depict cars, the sun, a house, etc.

Tip 4. Look at what educational toys are in children's stores

In stores, do not choose dolls for girls and shooting games for boys, but take care of the usefulness of the toy for fine motor skills. Believe me, this is also a very interesting thing. Give preference to this.

For children under one year old, stretchers with bright pictures or figures, musical toys, pendants with tactile elements - rustling, ribbed, rubber and fabric - are suitable.

As the year approaches, you can buy simple wooden or plastic cubes: move them from the box to the floor and back, stack them on top of each other - build a house. Also suitable are toy cars that can be pushed, and shaped toys in the shape of animals made of different materials.

You can try wrapping toys in paper and inviting your child to unwrap them.

Toys from one to three years:

Pyramids - they are so varied in shape that you can find one for every taste: round, square, triangular, etc. And if you also buy knockers with a hammer, bodyboards with pullers, the joy will go off scale.
Beads that need to be collected by size, color or pattern.
Sorters with large parts, games with clothespins, kinetic sand.
Massage balls for rolling on the hand, tactile and ribbed tracks.

Over the age of three, children can already trace drawings, shade and paint, and repeat simple shapes. You can prepare your hands for writing - different simulators are suitable for this, for example, in the form of a wooden board with holes, lines, curved patterns that need to be traced with a wooden stick. You can also practice using regular stencils for drawing curved lines.

Children will have fun sorting small parts by colors, shapes and other features. Today special kits for such sorting are sold. You can also buy mosaics to assemble according to the diagrams.

A new word in the field is special children's storage facilities, for example, a cabinet for sorting garbage, household appliances, buttons, and “transport.” The game is a small chest of drawers with retractable cells and slots. The child’s task is to correctly arrange the figures and objects in them.

Designers like Lego are great for developing motor skills.

Tip 5. Teach your child to write with a pen

This can be done when the baby learns to read. Writing is also useful because it trains the hand with its dynamic grip. To encourage your child to write, tell him that he won’t be accepted into school without it (children dream of going to school and will try, although they will, of course, accept them without it too) or ask him to write a letter to Santa Claus about gifts.

Tip 6. Testoplasty

This includes modeling from plasticine, clay and salt dough. There are no limits to imagination here: you can sculpt not only sausages and balls, but also figures of people, animals, and household items.

The figures can be divided, then molded again, etc., made into flat cakes, pasted over jars, twigs, etc. etc. Lay out the given design on cardboard or plywood. Sculpt geometric shapes, numbers, letters.

Tip 7. Finger gymnastics

“Finger games” are activities in which, with the help of their fingers, children try to dramatize some kind of fairy tales and stories. Many games require the participation of both hands; they will help orient children in the concepts of “right”, “left”, “up”, “down”, etc. Each finger needs to be trained.

It is better to combine such activities with reading poetry, fairy tales, working on nursery rhymes, jokes, that is, any speech material. When listening to fairy tales, children learn with adults to portray characters, move their fingers, perform actions.

For little ones, 3-5 minutes a day is enough, after 5 years - up to 15 minutes. More details about finger gymnastics here.

Tip 8. Ball games

For a child, you can pick up a small ball with a diameter of 3–5 cm. For an adult, you need a larger one so that it completely occupies the palm, but can be comfortably grabbed with your fingers.

Children prefer bouncy, light and bright balls.

It's better to start with a massage ball. The ribbed needle-shaped surface affects the nerve endings, activating blood circulation.

Achieved effect:

encouragement to communicate;
accuracy of movements in terms of strength, dexterity and eye;
reaction speed and muscle strength.

Tip 9. Graphic tasks

Graphic skills are taught already in kindergarten during fine arts classes, but they can be supplemented at home. This activity helps to better understand the width and length of the sheet and prepares the child’s hand for learning to write.

It is better if the tasks have a figurative and semantic load. For example, drawing waves, rainbows, puffs of smoke, fish scales. Children willingly fill in the missing details of flowers and objects, trace patterns, and color the outlines of images and pictures in albums.

Experience in graphics is gained by performing various hatchings, copies of drawings obtained by tracing contours along dots or dotted lines, or patterns along cells. At the same time, the child learns to understand the terms “top-to-bottom” and “left-to-right”, to stroke evenly without spaces, without going beyond the outline.

WHAT CONTRIBUTES TO HANDBOOK DEXTERITY?

There are many ways to make little fingers more skilled. The following games and activities perfectly develop fine motor skills in children aged 3–4 years:

fastening buttons, snaps, lacing;
unscrewing lids on jars and bottles;
rolling pencils, nuts, spools in the palms;
modeling from plasticine or dough;
sorting of cereals (peas, beans, buckwheat, rice);
finger painting on sand, semolina or buckwheat;
drawing with finger paints or pencils;
cutting out figures along the contours;
games with small details (constructor, mosaic, puzzles);
stringing large beads on fishing line or wire;
feeling surfaces made of various materials and textures;
massage with spiked balls.

When your child paints with finger paints, put on things that you don’t mind getting damaged by paints, and cover the table with protective oilcloth to make subsequent cleaning easier.

Most of these activities captivate children 3–4 years old, especially if parents give them the form of an entertaining game. For example, they suggest not just sorting out the cereals, but helping Cinderella go to the ball, not just touching different surfaces, but imagining yourself as a blind Mole from the fairy tale about Thumbelina, and guessing what you touched.

Games for the development of fine motor skills in the second junior group

Games that promote the development of a child's motor skills include the following types of entertainment activities:

fingered. They are considered a unique way to develop children's speech. Along with the exercises, kids memorize texts, which helps develop attention, memory, imagination, thinking, reaction speed, expressiveness of emotions, etc.;
origami. Creating paper crafts without using glue is the next option for developing motor skills, which can be interesting for both children and adults;
lacing is a type of game that is not only useful for general development, but will also help the child in the future;
games with cereals, sand, beads, bulk substances (stringing, transferring into containers, etc.);
modeling from clay, dough, plasticine.

Card index of games for artistic and aesthetic development

FINGERS PLAYING

However, the most interesting activity for children is finger games: all kinds of rhymes, tongue twisters, nursery rhymes, mini-performances that are performed only with the help of fingers. Here we present several new options for finger games.

But first, here are a few rules for conducting activities that develop fine motor skills:

Work with your child regularly, include hand massage, games with small parts, creative activities, and finger exercises in your training program.
Finger gymnastics should last from 5 to 15 minutes, no more, otherwise the baby will get tired and switch his attention to something else.
Before starting the exercises, you need to warm up your palms by actively rubbing them against each other.
Remember that now it is difficult for children to perform movements with both hands at once, so start with one, then repeat with the other, and only after that try to synchronize the hands.
Keep in mind that the child may not remember all the movements or words of the game the first time, this is normal at their age. Everything will work out gradually.
The baby will also learn to correlate words with movements during the lessons; if he doesn’t succeed right away, encourage him and help him perform the action.
Move from simple to complex. If a child is offered an exercise that he cannot do, next time he will simply refuse to play.
Try to interest your child by organizing games with his favorite characters, melodies, and rhymes.
Do not exercise if your baby is unwell or in a bad mood. Don't force it. There are no useful games against the will of the player.

Card file of exercises and games with goals according to the Federal State Educational Standard

The card file of exercises according to federal standards includes the following types of classes:

to relax your arms (hands);
for the development of motor skills using an unsharpened hex pencil;
for the development of motor skills using natural materials (cones);
for the development of motor skills with the help of a prickly massage ball.

The first type includes the following exercises:

"Fish" in the water;
“Helicopter”, which involves winding thread around an elastic band or ball;
“Hedgehog” with palms;
“Hare and Fox” with quickly and slowly “walking” fingers;
“A conversation between two”, involving interaction between several group members;
“Flight of the Birds” with active hand work;
“Track” with buttons sewn to the fabric;
“Pebbles” with plasticine laid out in a straight line;
“Watch” aimed at active movements of the hands;
“Lock”, which includes movements of the fingers and hands;
“Spider” - moving fingers along the wall;
“Scissors” with cutting movements of the fingers;
“Firefighter”, which involves running your fingers along a “ladder”;
“Peck fingers” - connecting the thumb with the rest in turn.

The second type includes the following exercises:

“Pencil rolling” using the palm of your hand;
“Making fire” with rolling a pencil up and down between your hands;
"Slide" with rolling a pencil up and down one hand using the other hand;
“Spinner” with a pencil spinning on the table;
“Helicopter” with a pencil spinning in the air;
“Crane” with lifting an object with two fingers;
“Excavator” with lifting a pencil with your finger;
“Swing” with swinging a pencil with two connected fingers.

The third type includes the following exercises:

“Twist the bump” using your palms;
“Roll the bump” using your palms on the table;
“Catch the cone” by throwing it from hand to hand.

The fourth type includes the following exercises:

rolling an object back and forth on the table;
rolling an object around the table in a circle;
finger pressure;
catching a thrown ball;
pressing on the ball with both hands;
moving the ball from hand to hand with acceleration.

Classes on cognitive development in preparatory groups

Finger games and exercises

Finger exercises and games include many variations that require small and large objects of different types and densities. Paper, cereals, bulk and small items are suitable for this.

Important! It is best to accompany lessons with sayings in poetic form. Thanks to this, children will develop their speech apparatus and memory.

Many of the exercises will be useful to the baby in the future (for example, the ability to tie shoelaces, fasten buttons).

Finger drawings

Finger drawings as an element of classes are recommended to be done before lunch. During this period, children are especially active. At first, it is worth conducting a lesson for a couple of minutes, gradually increasing the time to 20 minutes without breaks.

For classes you need to purchase special paints, sold in any store. They have a special consistency that does not require adding water. The lid should fit tightly to the jar.

The sheets you choose should be A3 format so that the child can safely draw and the colors are bright. The presence of “CE” on the box means that the product meets world-class standards.

Massage of palms and fingers

Massage is a key point in the development of children's motor skills. The massage includes stroking the arms from fingers to palms, including the hands. Classes are accompanied by tongue twisters and poems.

Finger massage

Note! Before the massage, you need to warm up the baby's hands. The duration of the procedure should not be more than 5 minutes. Massage should be done for 10 days once a month.

EXAMPLES OF FINGER GAMES

So, the development of fine motor skills in children 3–4 years old begins with the simplest games:

Actively rub your palms and ask your baby to do the same.
Show your child how siblings greet each other - the fingers of the same name on your hands: touch each other alternately with your little fingers, ring fingers, middle fingers, index fingers and thumbs, telling your baby that this is how brothers greet each other. Let him try again.
Let the baby imagine that his index and middle fingers are legs that are stomping along a path (for example, into the forest for sweet strawberries). His fingers should precisely walk along the surface of the table.
And now let him turn into an old grandmother (grandfather) who cannot see well. The doctor prescribed glasses for them (the child uses his thumb and index fingers to pretend to be glasses, bringing them to his eyes).

A little later, when the baby gets used to such exercises, you can start playing with short rhymes, gradually adding longer rhymes and complex movements.

boat

A hare is swimming in a boat (the child folds his hands in the shape of a boat),

The little bunny calls to swim with him (the baby waves his hands with inviting gestures).

cat

How painfully does a baby cat bite?

He decided that he saw not a finger, but a mouse!

But I'm playing with you, baby,

And if you start biting, I’ll say: “Come on, shoot!”

When performing this game, the mother takes an old clothespin with a relaxed clamping mechanism so that it does not catch painfully, and “bites” each of the child’s fingers in turn.