Developing Motor Skills
Stage 1 - Babies and Toddlers begin to make use of their fingers. They make patterns in their food, in sand and in water they enjoy poking, prodding, squashing, swirling and patting things. They always attempt to pick up small objects using fingers and thumbs. They begin to develop some degree of co-ordination between hand and eye
Stage 2 - Toddlers begin to make use of a variety of instruments, such as thick paint brushes, thick crayons and pencils. We encourage them at this stage to make random scribbles and to enjoy this activity in an unhibited way.
Stage 3 - Children become aware of writing in their environment. Their scribbles begin to include more definite shapes and lines.
Stage 4 - Children pretend to write. They give names and meanings to what they have written, although it still bears very little resemblance to the real thing.
Stage 5 - At this stage, children begin to recognize their own name and with our help, start using letters, ‘sign’ thing. Some children write their names and show an interest in other words and letters.