Snip, snip – the skills your toddler needs and develops using scissors
If you have scissors around at home, or if your toddler has seen them at nursery, they might be starting to show some interest in using them. Mastering cutting accurately is hard, your toddler will need to have the control and strength to open and close the scissors with one hand as they move them, while also holding whatever they’re cutting.
So, what exactly is involved in learning to use scissors and what can help your toddler develop these skills?
Strong hands and fingers – how everyday activities support fine motor skills
The vast array of products and toys available for your toddler can be confusing – do they need new things to develop their fine motor skills? The ideas on your activities tab will give you suggestions that are perfect for your toddler – but we thought it might be helpful to highlight some of the simple, everyday things that help develop co-ordination and control.
When we talk about fine motor control, we are talking about being able to co-ordinate movements made with the smaller muscles in our body. But, like so much of development, this control depends on other aspects.
What’s that? It's moving, let me grab it!
Your toddler is now better able to pick up objects that move, thanks to their developing fine motor skills. Great when it comes to playtime, but what about when they see a spider or ladybird? Your toddler might use their developing fine motor and sensory skills to try and grab it.
It’s moving, I want to pick it up!
Motor planning and what it means when stacking blocks
You'll spot the term 'motor planning' a few times in the app. It involves making lots of different connections between the body and brain. Watching your toddler stacking blocks is a great way to see this complex process played out in a seemingly simple (but incredibly skillful) way.
Motor planning is a skill used in loads of everyday activities; it’s a combination of thought, sensory information and movement
Why you should let your toddler puzzle it out... even when you’re itching to jump in
Watching your toddler play with a simple puzzle can be its own form of torture – especially if it’s taking them what feels like hours to fit a small cut out of a cat into a clearly very cat-shaped hole on the board! But, although our instinct is so often to help them ‘finish’, this might not be what your toddler needs. There are many, many skills being practised which might be more important to your toddler than finishing the puzzle.
Your toddler is exploring the puzzle piece, and board, every time they play with it. Their fine motor skills, which allow them to move and control the tiny muscles in their fingers, are now more sophisticated and your toddler can move the puzzle piece, turn it and flip it over. They might spend a long time doing this, and perhaps trying and failing to fit it into its space.
Some 'good to knows' about your toddler's toes
Your toddler probably has a good relationship with their toes, odd though that might sound. Whether they have mouthed them as a baby or used them during singing times, they'll have likely provided entertainment! But our toes provide much more than that: their ability to keep us active is actually mind blowing!
We probably don’t really pay much attention to our toes; we might paint them from time to time, or clip and file them.
It started with a switch – shining a light on your toddler's ability to 'click'
Being able to control a switch when you are a toddler is quite exciting: on, off, and on again! Your toddler may become completely engaged in this form of exploration, and why not? What an exciting new skill it is for them to achieve. They are taking another step on their road to independence.
It takes a lot of strength, skill and precision to press or flick a switch. Muscles from the shoulders to the fingertips must coordinate with (their) vision to make this action happen.
One-handed wonders – drinking from a cup using one hand only
Have you noticed your toddler trying to reach and grab their cup with one hand? This is a very exciting stage in their development. Moving from using two hands to one when holding a cup will gradually lead to many new independent skills. Let's look at the brilliance of one-handedness and independent feeding...
Using one hand to hold a cup is so fantastic! It is the start of your toddler being able to use both hands to do different tasks.
Mark Making – seeing beyond the scribble
If your child goes to nursery or a childminder you might have come across the phrase ‘mark making’. But what does it really mean – isn’t your toddler just scribbling?
Learning to write is complicated – your toddler will need to understand that letters and words can be used to share meaning; they will need to hear the sounds in words and know which ones to use; they need the physical skills to write the letters and the sensory skills to combine information from what they see and feel to adjust their writing as they go.
