Birth to Three Years Old
Gross Motor Skills
- Tummy time.
- Opportunities to play sitting.
- Opportunities to pull myself up.
- Walking and running.
- Moving on different surfaces and at different heights.
- Climbing using steps and ramps.
- Big movements outdoors.
- Using bikes and scooters.
Fine Motor Skills
- Playing with small toys.
- Mark making using different media.
- Handling fine objects like sand.
- Developing hand strength using playdough and other malleable materials
- Joining pieces of small construction together.
- Using tweezers.
- Threading
Nursery 3-4 Years Old
Gross Motor Skills
- Opportunities to move in different ways.
- Moving like animals, with weight on the hands, building strength.
- Using movement adaptations of effort, space and relationships to develop different ways of moving.
Fine Motor Skills
- Providing lots of small objects for children to move with their fingers.
- Activities such as putting coins into a money box, beads onto laces and boxes to wrap up.
Reception 4-5 Years Old
Gross Motor Skills
- Link different ways of moving. e.g. ask children to skip to the water tray, hop to the sand.
- Introduce rhythmic movements that take a lot of coordination.
- Use the movement adaptations of effort, space and relationships to enhance walking and running
Fine Motor Skills
- Variety of writing opportunities, labels, lists, and sentences.
- Making loom bracelets or bracelets with beads.
- Variety of malleable materials.
- Using buttons and zips.