Fine motor skills with chopsticks
It didn’t occur to me till DD offered to serve her grandparents the yu sheng (raw fish salad) at lunch the other day, that transferring food from one plate to another using chopsticks is a great fine motor skill activity! :-)
In fact, just holding the chopsticks to toss the salad was giving 18-month old DS a pretty good finger workout. It doesn’t matter if the yu sheng doesn’t land neatly, what’s important is the coordination required to hold two skinny tapered wooden sticks between two fingers and a thumb. As adults, we don’t think twice about it, but it’s real work for a toddler! :-)
What are motor skills?
Motor skills are motions carried out when the brain, nervous system, and muscles work together.
Fine motor skills are small movements — such as grabbing something with your thumb and forefinger — that use the small muscles of the fingers, toes, wrists, lips, and tongue. Gross motor skills are the bigger movements — such as running and jumping — that use the large muscles in the arms, legs, torso, and feet.
Click here to read about other activities that encourage the development of fine motor skills.