Motor Development

Gross motor skills during the early childhood years involve the use of the arms and legs, and moving around the environment with growing confidence and purpose. Fine motor skills — finger dexterity and eye-hand coordination — also improve substantially during early childhood, and it is during these years that a child's preference for using the left or right hand typically develops. Major accomplishments in gross and fine motor skills unfold through early childhood in a fairly predictable order. By around 3 years of age, children typically manage gross motor skills such as hopping, jumping and running, along with fine motor skills such as building with blocks and picking up small objects using the forefinger and thumb. By around 4 years of age, children can typically climb up and down stairs placing one foot on each step, and can fit a jigsaw puzzle toget …