From moving game pieces to running around in the yard, climbing and balancing in the playground,

and even jumping on the bed, children demonstrate to parents the range of motor skills they are
learning and how well they are using these skills to interact with the world around them. The questions
and tips that follow will help you understand what physical skills your 3- to 4-year-old child should be
learning – and how you can support her continued development.Use (child-sized) scissors to cut
along a line.
It’s helpful to know what physical skills your child should be developing by age 3 or 4. Abilities in this
area include both gross (large) motor skills and fine (small) motor skills. Review the following
checklists about physical development expected in a child this age, and note how your child is doing
in each area.
 Pick up small items such as coins, toothpicks, and paperclips.
 Assemble simple puzzles.
 Copy simple shapes, like a circle or square.
 Print some letters of the alphabet.
 Stack objects so they don’t fall.

http://www.getreadytoread.org/early-learning-childhood-basics/early-childhood/understanding-
physical-development-in-preschoolers

Importance of the Proper Pincer Grip

The “pincer grip” is a common term among elementary school educators, therapists, and doctors.
Simply put, the pincer grip is the grasp used by the index finger and thumb to pinch a shoe lace, a
cereal puff, or a pencil.

There are typically three different grip styles children use as they develop fine motor skills:

Fist grip. Children younger than one year old typically reach for and hold items with their entire fist.
When using a pencil or crayon, a young child will hold the item in their closed fist with their pinky
closest to the paper and thumb on top.

Four-finger grip. As children gain fine motor control, they typically progress from using a fist grip to a
four-fingered grip. With a four-fingered grip, a child uses all four fingers together to hold an object
against his thumb. This grip gives a child greater control when holding small items (or self-feeding),
but it is still clumsy and inefficient.

Pincer grip. Once children develop strong fine motor skills, a true pincer grip emerges. With this grip,
a child uses only his thumb and index finger to hold and manipulate small objects. With a pincer grip,
a child can easily twist dials, turn the pages of a book, open and close a zipper, and use crayons or
pencils with precision.

Importance of the Proper Pencil Grip.

The correct pencil grip involves holding the pencil between the thumb and pointer finger,
and resting the pencil on the middle finger for added stability. Since a child’s natural
inclination is to hold a pencil with his entire fist (pinky finger closest to the paper and index
finger and thumb on top), the proper pencil grip must be actively taught.
Since writing comfortably is a skill your child will use throughout his lifetime, it is wise to
help your child develop a comfortable and efficient pencil grip when he is young. Also, it is
much easier to learn to hold a pencil correctly at the start than it is to unlearn an improper
pencil grip and retrain muscles to learn the proper grip once your child is older.
Importance of the Proper Scissors Grip
Like the proper pencil grip, the proper scissors grip must be actively taught. This is because
the proper scissors grip is completely unlike any other grip your child has likely used. Most
children explore with their hands outstretched and their palms facing downward. Or, as they
get older, they default to holding small items with their thumb and pointer finger (the pincer
grip!). The proper scissors grip requires a child to rotate his hand so that the thumb faces
upward and the pinky finger points at the floor. Then he must spread his thumb and pointer
finger as far apart as possible while using his palm to help stabilize the scissors.
For older children who are already comfortable with the proper pincer grip, focus on helping
your child gain a strong pencil and scissors grip. As a starting point, print some printable
tracing worksheets and direct your child to trace over the lines, curves and shapes. Or, to
make homemade worksheets, use a yellow marker to draw the shape and then have your
child trace your lines with a blue or red marker to see the shape magically turn a different
color. Tracing not only requires a strong pencil grip to hold the pencil or marker, but it also
requires strong coordination of the muscles in the hand to stay on the narrow line while
tracing.
After your child finishes tracing, have him use scissors to cut out the shape. Begin with
simple lines and curves and then move to basic shapes, such as circles or ovals, and then to
more difficult shapes such as triangles, squares, and other multi-sided shapes. (When
cutting a circle, your child can cut continuously while slightly turning the page in his non-
dominant hand. When cutting a triangle or square, his dominant hand needs to cut, then
stop, wait for his non-dominant hand to pivot the paper 90 or 60 degrees, and then resume
cutting. When cutting a multi-sided shape, the start-then-stop-then-start-then-stop
process repeats even more frequently and requires even more coordination between the
dominant and non-dominant hand.) We have a variety of printable cutting worksheets you
and your child might enjoy.
http://www.schoolsparks.com/early-childhood-development/fine-motor

Children in the first year of school present with varying skill levels, ranging from having
highly developed fine motor skills, such as proficient writing skills, to having very definite
‘gaps’ in their fine motor skills, such as being unable to use scissors or having an inefficient
or immature pencil grasp. However, the fine motor skills that typically developing 5- to 6-yearolds
progressing from preschool or prep to school generally demonstrate are quite amazing
and include the ability to:
• demonstrate hand dominance
• use the tips of the fingers and the thumb together in a precise pinch or pincer grasp
• assume and use some form of tripod pencil grasp, where a writing tool is held between
the tips of the thumb, index finger, and middle finger (versus a whole hand grasp)
• follow an object smoothly with the eyes only while the head remains still
• cut around reasonably complex designs such as a combination of straight and curved
lines and corners, with less than 1 cm deviation from set lines
• draw a circle, triangle, square, and a recognisable picture of a person and a house
• use one hand to stabilise an object and the other to perform a separate activity such as
unscrewing a lid and doing up buttons, and think of the stabilising hand as the helper
hand and the hand performing the task as the worker hand
• manipulate small objects within the hand
• put together a complex, interlocking puzzle
• independently complete many self-care tasks such as simple dressing, toileting,
shoelace tying, and lunch set-up (Beery, 1997; Brigance, 1978; Case-Smith & Shortridge,
1996; Edwards, Buckland, & McCoy-Powlen, 2002; Exner, 1989; Exner, 2001; Furuno,
1987; Shaffer, 2002).
For some children, their hands do not seem to work together in the way that they should
(Woodward & Swinth, 2002). This may lead to such frustration that they may resist activities that
require them to coordinate all of the muscles and joints in their hands and fingers. As a result, they
do not get to practise these skills correctly or develop the correct muscles (Woodward & Swinth,
2002). This in turn may affect the development of higher-level fine motor skills, such as writing. It is
often at the stage when formal handwriting instruction has commenced that children are identified
as having fine motor weakness (Amundson & Weil, 2001; Dennis & Swinth, 2001). Resultant
commonly seen behaviours might include: • outright refusal to participate in an activity • avoidance
techniques (‘I need to get a drink of water’) • anger outbursts (rip up paper/tantrums) • sadness
(crying) • ‘defeatist’ behaviour (‘I’m no good, I can’t do this’).
http://www.fingergym.info/downloads/Finemotordevpp1-4.pdf