Gross & Fine Motor Skills

Explore a wide range of activities, milestones, and tips to help children develop essential gross and fine motor skills through fun and engaging play, in school or at home.

Here are some popular resources on gross motor development to get started with:

• Gross Motor Skills in Early Childhood: Examples of gross motor skills and the best ways to build them.
• 35 Best Gross Motor Activities: These are all simple, easy-to-prep, everyday activities that are great for building gross motor skills.
• Gross Motor Milestones: A simple breakdown of the milestones from 0 to 6 years.
• Crossing the Midline: Here are 15 ways to encourage children to cross their midlines.
• Hand-Eye Coordination: 19 easy ways to improve hand-eye coordination.
• The Vestibular System: Located in the inner ear, this system helps with balance, eye-hand coordination and many aspects of self-care. Here are 35 simple vestibular activities.
• Proprioceptive Input: Proprioception relates to a person’s awareness of body position and where their body is located in space. Here are 16 proprioceptive input activities.
• Balance: These are the best activities for developing balance.
• Obstacle Course Ideas: Build your own obstacle course with these easy ideas.

Here are some fine motor development articles to get started with:

• Fine Motor Skills in Early Childhood: Examples of fine motor skills and the 10 best ways to build them.
• 17 Best Fine Motor Activities: These are all simple, easy-to-prep, everyday activities that are great for building fine motor skills.
• Fine Motor Milestones: A simple breakdown of the milestones from 0 to 6 years.
• The Best Art Activities: These are the 15 best art activities for preschoolers.
• Easy Playdough Recipes: Here are the 6 basic, no-cook playdough recipes and some ways to build fine motor skills with playdough.
• Shaving Cream Activities: Playing with shaving cream is a wonderful sensory activity that has many benefits. Here are 10 ideas.
• Slime Activities: Here are 10 ways to play with this wonderful sensory substance.
• Paper Tearing: Build strength in the finger muscles with these paper-tearing activities.
• DIY Puppets: These are the 4 easiest types of puppets to make with young kids.
• Finger-Painting Activities: Here are some fun ideas for finger painting with kids.