The Importance of Motor Skills in Child Development and Strategies to Boost Them

Introduction

Motor skills are the ability for us to move and control our body effectively. This involves the coordination of muscles to perform simple movements such as holding a spoon, or more complex activities such as dancing or playing sport. Movement can be divided into two main categories, Gross motor skills, which involves big muscle groups and big movements (e.g. walking, jumping, crawling) and fine motor skills, that involves small muscle groups to perform precise actions such as writing, buttoning a shirt or typing on a keyboard. Motor skills develop as we grow, starting with basic movements, and becomes more refined as we practice and gain control over our muscles.

Why Are Motors Skills Important?

Motor skills are crucial for everyday life and physical activities. Simple tasks like brushing your teeth, taking a bath, or going to school all rely on our ability to move effectively. If a child struggles with these skills, it can impact their overall development, including their physical abilities and how they think and learn.

Research shows that motor skills are closely linked to important body functions, like physical fitness (Liu et al., 2023), and brain development (van der Fels et al., 2015). Developing motor skills often involves fun and active play, which helps kids stay motivated, build confidence, and improve their social and emotional skills by interacting with others.

In short, learning motor skills helps children grow in all areas of life—physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally.

Strategies for Developing Motor Skills in Early Childhood

Helping young children develop their fundamental motor skills is essential because it helps to lay the foundations for a healthy and active lifestyle. To do this, we can adopt several strategies:

1. Making playtime active: Play is one of the best ways to encourage and motivate young children to learn and practice motor skills. Activities that involve gross motor movements, such as playing hide-and-seek, hopscotch, or catching, can help children develop coordination, balance, and agility, while also learning social-emotional skills such as taking turns and cooperation.

2. Introducing age-appropriate toys: Toys such as balls, hula hoops, low hurdles and balance beams are excellent for helping children develop both fine (i.e. hand-eye coordination) and gross motor skills (i.e. balancing and jumping).

3. Creating opportunities for movement: Every moment can be used as a opportunity to learn or practice a skill no matter whether it is indoors or outdoors. Take the opportunity in your daily activities to infuse motor skills practice for children such as creating obstacle courses for children to crawl under, jump over or walk around obstacles. Even taking the stairs can help to strengthen leg muscles and coordination.

Supporting Adolescents in Motor Skill Development

In the adolescent stage, children start to develop specialised motor skills and show more complex movement behaviours. These complex movement behaviours, such as performing different combinations of motor skills, and making motor skill performance more accurate, are critical for adolescent children to engage in team sport and tackle more difficult physical environments, such as hiking along a nature trail or rock climbing. Encouraging adolescent children to continually hone their motor skills can come in the form of:

1. Encouraging regular practice: As with all specialised skill, constant practice is key. Regular and frequency engagement in sport is often a fun way to not only socialise, but to explore and train a child’s motor skillsets.

2. Exposure to different sport and activity: To develop a range of motor skills, exposing children to different sporting activities and physical environments is often a good way to help adolescent children build up their motor skills. It provides children with opportunities to explore what their bodies are capable of, and to learn new skills.

Not being fixated with one activity: While it is common to assume that specialising in one sport or activity is essential, having a range of motor skills that children can use proficiently is often times more important in day-to-day activities. Therefore, having an open mind to experience new physical challenges, is often at times needed to stimulate a child’s mind and body.

Indoor VS Outdoor Activities

There is a lot of discussion around which is “better”, indoor or outdoor activities. Both indoor and outdoor activities are equally beneficial and can complement each other. While indoor activities are often controlled, it offers the opportunity to practice very specific motor skills regardless of the weather. Indoor environments can sometimes also be an opportunity to create physical activity and play in a manner that is specific to the child’s needs. For example, indoor obstacle courses provide a safe environment for parents and children to engage in physical activities that may be too difficult or complex in an outdoor environment. Performing physical activities indoors may help to boost a child’s motor competence in a safe manner. On the other hand, outdoor activities can provide opportunities for a child to explore different environments and learn how to use different motor skills to navigate different outdoor environments. Outdoors environments provide the opportunity for children to connect with nature, making learning high engaging and fun.

Key Takeaways

Here are 3 key takeaways from this article:

1. Motor Skills Are Essential for Holistic Development: Developing motor skills is crucial not only for physical tasks but also for mental, social, and emotional growth. Skills like coordination, balance, and fine motor control enable children to perform everyday activities and participate in social activities with friends and family effectively.

2. Play and Practice Drive Development: Engaging children in active play and diverse physical activities supports the development of gross and fine motor skills. Strategies such as introducing age-appropriate toys, creating movement opportunities, and regular practice help enhance their motor abilities and confidence.

3. Variety in Activities Matters: Exposure to both indoor and outdoor activities provide balanced opportunities for skill development. Indoor environments allow for controlled and specific skill practice, while outdoor activities promote exploration, adaptability, and connection with nature.

Get started today with easy, actionable strategies—click here for expert-backed resource guides on motor skill development. For more tips and resources on fostering healthy child development through sports and physical activity, explore our Active Parents site.

References

1. Jones, R. A., Riethmuller, A., Hesketh, K. D., Trezise, J., Batterham, M., & Okely, A. D. (2011). Promoting Fundamental Movement Skill Development and Physical Activity in Early Childhood Settings: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. In Pediatric Exercise Science (Vol. 23, Issue 4, p. 600). Human Kinetics. https://doi.org/10.1123/pes.23.4.600
2. Pereira, J., Vila-Nova, F., Veiga, G., Lopes, F., & Cordovil, R. (2024). Associations between outdoor play features and children’s behavior and health: A systematic review. In Health & Place (Vol. 87, p. 103235). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.10323