Blog for 11/15
Montessori education focuses on developing the whole child. This includes fine and gross motor skills. What are these skills, what are they important and how do we develop them in the classroom?
Gross motor skills involve coordinated movements using the large muscles of the body such as the arms, legs and core muscles. Children use gross motor skills to crawl, walk, run, jump, hop, swim and play. Developing gross motor skills help children learn to balance, maneuver around obstacles and control their bodies.
Fine motor skills involve using the hands and fingers to grasp and manipulate small objects such as knobs of puzzle pieces, spoons and forks, pencils, markers and paint brushes. Fine motor skills include everyday tasks such as buttoning clothes, tying shoes or zipping zippers.
Gross motor skills also help lay the foundation to be able to complete fine motor skill movement such as pinching or grasping. The development of the large muscles in the arm help build strength and coordination in the smaller muscles of the fingers and hand. The development of the large muscles of the legs and core help children sit upright for proper posture when writing or attending class instruction.
How do we develop these skills in the classroom?
Fine motor development happens in Practical Life and Sensorial. Many of these materials have small objects or tools that require the use of the thumb first two fingers of the hand. This is called the pincer grasp and is also the grasp we use to hold a pencil. The Knobbed Cylinders in Sensorial are grasped and moved using these fingers. Tools in Practical Life such as a strawberry huller, tweezers, and pitcher handles also use this grasp.
Gross motor development also happens in Sensorial. The Pink Tower and Brown Stairs both have a set of ten blocks that need to be carried, one at a time, from the shelf to a mat on the floor. We also have a fun activity in our classroom called Movement Spots. Students place 2 colored spots on the floor, read a simple command card with a single word on it (walk, hop, jump, etc.) then perform that action starting at one spot and ending at the other. We also practice walking on a line to develop balance and coordination. Students also have many opportunities to develop gross motor skills on the playground at recess by running, jumping and climbing on the play structure.
Here are some photos of our students developing fine and gross motor skills in our classroom and on the playground.
Motor Development in P1 and on the Playground
Here is an article about Gross Motor development if you are interested in learning more.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
Thank you!
Ms. Melissa, Ms. Diana and Ms. Kini