Child development and growing up

Hand skills

Hand skills (also known as fine motor skills) are important for our day-to-day lives. As your child plays with their hands, they will develop their hand strength and dexterity. This will help them use tools like cutlery, pencils, and scissors.

Explore other hand skill pages

Hand eye coordination is needed for lots of everyday activities. You need hand eye coordination for:
- - grasping
  - throwing
  - posting
  - drawing
  - ball sports
  - racket sports
  - climbing
You can help your child practice by:
- - throwing and catching a ball, start by using a balloon and then moving onto a larger ball like a beach ball and move to smaller balls
  - drawing
  - messy play
  - building with building blocks like wooden blocks or any other similar block toys
  - stacking toys, cups, blocks, clean and empty boxes, eggboxes and yogurt pots
  - emptying and filling plastic water bottles or washing up liquid bottles
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Having reasonable hand strength is really important for things like:
- - gripping
  - squeezing
  - opening containers
  - using scissors
  - playing with toys like a bat and ball
Hand strength can also help with managing activities that take a long time to complete.
You can help your child practice by:
- - using squeezy water squirting toys
  - playing with playdough
  - baking and cooking
  - gardening
  - origami
  - construction toys and interlocking blocks
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Moving a small object in 1 hand is also known as ‘in-hand manipulation’. This is important for:
- - fastening buttons
  - tying shoelaces
  - taking coins out of a purse
If your child is struggling to move things in 1 hand, they may use a table or the rest of their body to move objects in their hand.
You can help your child practice by:
- - playing with puzzles
  - playing with wind-up toys
  - playing card games where you turn over the cards like snap or pairing games
  - picking up small objects and holding them in their hand, see how many they can hold before dropping. Small objects could be:
    
    beads
    
    pipe cleaners
    
    lollipop sticks
    
    pencils
    
    interlocking blocks
  - twisting lids of snack containers
  - making balls using playdough
  - reading a book and turning the pages
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Your child may begin by throwing away the object, this is sometimes referred to as ‘casting’. They may be doing this without looking.

As your child develops, they will become interested in where the objects land. They will start to learn to control where these objects go. It will develop their play skills and help them with other activities like feeding themselves.
You can help your child practice by:
- - playing with shape sorters
  - playing posting games
  - playing with marble runs
  - stacking blocks
  - throwing objects into a target like a bucket
  - squeezing playdough
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
The pincer grip also known as the pincher grip is when you grab an object using your index finger and thumb. Your child may drop the first item picked up because of a lack of finger strength, this is completely normal.
You can help your child practice by:
- - eating smaller foods like raisins, small cereals and crisps
  - doing arts and crafts such as stamps and sequins
  - using stickers with your child
  - tweezer games and activities like operation, avalanche and sorting numbers into colours or numbers
  - playing with clothes pegs like making pictures using clothes pegs on cardboard or pretending to hang dolls clothes on the washing line
  - threading beads onto string
  - pulling pegs out of putty or playdough
Your child may pick up small objects or food by curling their fingers into the palm of their hand. This is known as a raking grip, it is the earlier version of a pincer grip.

You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Shoulder stability is also known as ‘shoulder girdle stability’. This is the ligaments and muscles around the collarbones and shoulder blades. It helps the shoulder joint move.
You can help your child practice by:
- - swimming
  - playing on climbing frames and using monkey bars
  - playing on hands and knees
  - playing games that involve pulling and pushing
  - playing with water games
  - throwing and catching
  - walking like an animal like pretending to be a frog, a snake, a rabbit or a crab
  - pushing or pulling like tug of war or rowing
  - wheelbarrow walking
  - lying on their tummy and holding themselves up on their forearms when watching TV, playing a game, using a tablet or reading a book
If you have a baby or infant, tummy time helps develop shoulder strength and stability.
Using both hands together is also known as ‘bilateral coordination’. This is the ability to use both hands together to complete 2 handed tasks. This can be a difficult skill to learn as each hand has a different task to do. The types of activities that needs to use both hands together are:
- - using scissors or glue sticks
  - dressing themselves by doing up buttons, zips and shoelaces
  - holding a piece of paper as they write
  - using cutlery
You can help your child practice by:
- - encouraging them to reach for items on their
  - doing handprints
  - threading beads onto a string
  - holding a cup or bottle and putting small objects like beads into the cup or bottle
  - side sitting when playing on the floor
  - playing hand clapping games and hi-fiving
  - tearing and sticking paper using glue sticks
  - pulling apart and pushing together building blocks, Velcro fruit and jigsaw puzzles
  - holding a book and turning individual pages, you may want to start with cloth or board books
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Using one finger, also known as finger isolation, is an important skill. It's the ability to move certain fingers in a different way from the rest of the the fingers and hand. It's very important for hand skill (fine motor) development. Your child will need it for:
- - pointing
  - pressing buttons
  - using touch screen technology
  - drawing shapes and letters in sensory trays
Your child will start by grabbing and pressing objects using their whole hand. They will move onto using just one finger for more accuracy.
You can help your child practice by:
- - popping bubbles
  - finger puppets
  - pointing games like I spy
  - using their pointing finger while reading or looking at objects
  - using their pointing finger to trace shapes and number
  - counting on fingers, 1 finger at a time
  - playing with toys like toy cash registers, toy phones or calculators
  - playing with music toys like keyboards
  - using poppets
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Visual skills are also known as ‘visual perception’. This is how the brain interprets the information that the eyes can see. These skills involve:
- - focusing on important visual things and ignoring the things that aren’t important
  - finding the differences or similarities in objects
  - remembering what things looked like
  - remembering objects in the correct order
  - noticing objects are the same even if they are different in size or turned around
  - identifying a object or shape when part of the picture is missing
  - copying from a board or book in school
  - finding the right piece of lego or a toy in a box full or different toys
You can help your child practice by:
- - playing with puzzles
  - playing memory or matching games
  - completing dot-to-dot activities or mazes
  - drawing
  - playing spot-the-difference games
  - playing with shape sorters
  - playing simon says
  - colouring in like colouring by numbers
  - using puzzle books like Where's wally?
  - playing tetris
  - copying models using construction toys
  - copying peg, block or bead patterns
  - origami
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.

Find other pages on Hand Skills

Showing only their hands. Adult and child playing with food.

0-1 Years
1-5 Years
5-11 Years

Messy play

Messy play is also known as sensory play or adventure play. It is where your child plays with no rules using a variety of different materials and objects. It’s play that is not based around a specific toy. Children learn a lot of things through play as it allows them to experiment and understand different things in a fun way.

Toddler girl sitting on adult woman's lap at a table. The toddler and woman are both holding a crayon and smiling at one another whilst drawing on a piece of paper in front of them.

1-5 Years
5-11 Years

Getting ready to write

Making marks is foundation of being able to control a pencil, draw lines and shapes and then being able to draw. Mark making is considered part of ‘pre-writing’ which are the skills learned to enable children to hold pencils and pens and start to write letters and words.

Young girl writing in coloured pens on a large sheet of paper. An adult woman is sitting behind the girl leaning over her shoulder and looking at what the girl is writing.

5-11 Years

Handwriting and typing

Whilst technology has moved forward, learning to write by hand is still an essential skill. Handwriting helps us how we picture a letter sound and shape in our minds. Also, having to write things on paper helps improve spelling and reading skills.

Young boy dressed in school uniform sitting in a classroom at a desk writing on a piece of paper

5-11 Years
SEND

Supporting your child's handwriting skills

Handwriting can be hard and tiring for some children. Read more about helpful equipment like pencil grips, ergonomic pens and pencils. Learn about the correct positions for their chair and table.

1-5 Years
5-11 Years
11-19 Years

Scissor skills

Scissor skills are important for many school activities like arts and crafts. You can find advice on how to get started with teaching your child scissor skills and help them develop their skills and build confidence.

Child sitting on the lap of an adult. Parent is supporting their child cutting paper.

1-5 Years
5-11 Years
SEND

Supporting your child's scissor skills

Using scissors can be be hard for some children. Read more about supported snipping, activities you can do with your child to help their scissor skills and the different types of scissors available.

Young boy holding a knife cutting some playdough into pieces.

1-5 Years
5-11 Years
SEND

Developing your child's cutlery skills

Learning to self-feed requires a complex range of skills that develop over time. It is common for children to find it hard to use cutlery and to stay clean whilst eating. Read about helpful tools, equipment and activities to support your child's development of their cutlery skills.

Hand skills

Find other pages on Hand Skills

You must log in to save content

You must log in to save content

Hand skills

Hand-eye coordination

Hand strength

Moving an object in 1 hand (in-hand manipulation)

Picking up and letting go (grasp and release)

Pincer grip development

Shoulder stability

Using both hands together

Using one finger (finger isolation)

Visual skills

Find other pages on Hand Skills

You must log in to save content

You must log in to save content