4.4: Motor Skills

Gross Motor Skills

Voluntary movements involve the use of large muscle groups and are typically large movements of the arms, legs, head, and torso. They are referred to as gross motor skills (or large motor skills). These skills begin to develop first.

Examples include

• moving to bring the chin up when lying on the stomach,
• moving the chest up,
• rocking back and forth on hands and knees, and then
• crawling

Many babies, if seated in a carrier or other device that frees the hips, may begin to explore an object with one’s feet as early as 8 weeks of age. This may be easier than reaching for an object with their hands, which requires much more practice and effort.

Sometimes an infant will try to move toward an object while crawling but then move backward because of the greater amount of strength in the arms than in their legs! This also tends to lead infants to pulling up on furniture, usually with the goal of reaching a desired object. This will eventually lead to taking steps and then walking.

Fig. 4.4. Baby crawling.

Image Source: Shubham Rawat. Close-Up Shot of a Toddler Crawling on the Floor. Pexels.com

Physical Gross Motor Milestones

As stated above, infants and toddler grow very quickly and meet physical milestones rapidly in the first few years of life. The table below shows typical major milestones that occur during the first formative years -- behaviors or physical skills seen in infants and toddler as they grow and develop.

Table 4.4 - Gross Motor Milestones

Typical Age	What Most Children Do by This Age
2 months	• Can hold head up and begins to push up when lying on tummy • Makes smoother movements with arms and legs
4 months	• Holds head steady, unsupported • Pushes down on legs when feet are on a hard surface • May be able to roll over from tummy to back • Brings hands to mouth • When lying on stomach, pushes up to elbows
6 months	• Rolls over in both directions (front to back, back to front) • Begins to sit without support • When standing, supports weight on legs and might bounce • Rocks back and forth, sometimes crawling backward before moving forward
9 months	• Stands, holding on • Can get into sitting position • Sits without support • Pulls to stand • Crawls
1 year	• Gets to a sitting position without help • Pulls up to stand, walks holding on to furniture (“cruising”) • May take a few steps without holding on • May stand alone
18 months	• Walks alone • May walk up steps and run • Pulls toys while walking • Can help undress self
2 years	• Stands on tiptoe • Kicks a ball • Begins to run • Climbs onto and down from furniture without help • Walks up and down stairs holding on • Throws ball overhand
3 years	• Climbs well • Runs easily • Pedals a tricycle (3-wheel bike) • Walks up and down stairs, one foot on each step

Fine Motor Skills

More exact movements of the feet, toes, hands, and fingers are referred to as fine motor skills (or small motor skills). These include the ability to reach and grasp an object in coordination with vision. Newborns cannot grasp objects voluntarily but do wave their arms toward objects of interest.

At about 4 months of age, the infant can reach for an object, first with both arms and within a few weeks, with only one arm. Grasping an object involves the use of the fingers and palm, but no thumbs.

At about 9 months of age babies begin to grasp an object using the forefinger and thumb. This is known as the pincer grip. This ability greatly enhances the ability to control and manipulate an object and infants take great delight in this newfound ability. They may spend hours picking up small objects from the floor and placing them in containers. And as those objects will often next go into the mouth, caregivers must be vigilant about keeping items small enough to be choking hazards out of reach of little fingers. By 9 months, an infant can also watch a moving object, reach for it as it approaches and grab it.

This is quite a complicated set of actions if we remember how difficult this would have been just a few months earlier.

Fig. 4.4.1. Toddler feeding himself with a spoon

Image Source: Matt Preston. In a Mess. Flickr.com

Physical Fine Motor Milestones

While fine motor skills are slower to develop (in accordance with proximodistal development), remarkable progress is made in fine motor development during the first three years. In the first few years of life children go from having no intentional fine motor control to being able to manipulate objects to play and learn, as well as beginning to care of themselves.

The following is a table of the major milestones in fine motor development.

Table 4.4.1. Fine Motor Milestones

Typical Age	What Most Children Do by This Age
2 months	• Grasps reflexively • Does not reach for objects • Holds hands in fist
4 months	• Brings hands to mouth • Uses hands and eyes together, such as seeing a toy and reaching for it • Follows moving things with eyes from side to side • Can hold a toy with whole hand (palmar grasp) and shake it and swing at dangling toys
6 months	• Reaches with both arms • Brings things to mouth • Begins to pass things from one hand to the other
9 months	• Puts things in mouth • Moves things smoothly from one hand to the other • Picks up things between thumb and index finger (pincer grip)
1 year	• Reaches with one hand • Bangs two things together • Puts things in a container, takes things out of a container • Lets things go without help • Pokes with index (pointer) finger
18 months	• Reaches with one hand • Bangs two things together • Puts things in a container, takes things out of a container • Lets things go without help • Pokes with index (pointer) finger
2 years	• Builds towers of 4 or more blocks • Might use one hand more than the other • Makes copies of straight lines and circles • Enjoys pouring and filling • Unbuttons large buttons • Unzips large zippers • Drinks and feeds self with more accuracy
3 years	• Drinks and feeds self with more accuracy • Draw a circle with a crayon, pencil, or marker • Play with toys that have small moving parts and/or buttons • Turn the pages of a book one at a time • Create towers of six or more blocks • Work door handles and open twist-on bottle tops

Source

• Leon, Ana R. Children’s Development. Licensed under CC BY 4.0