ADVANTAGES OF DEVELOPING THE PSYCHOMOTOR AREA OF CHILDREN IN PRE-SCHOOL AGE
The psychomotor or the psychomotor development of the child, often refers to the skills that children needs to develop as they grow older. This is the skill where the muscles and the brain are coordinated and works hand in hand with one another. The development of this skill is fundamental for their growth as their motor coordination will become a major influence as they grow older and perform many different activities.
Activities to Stimulate the PsychoMotor.
When children are asked to move or run, the skill is generated for psychomotor control.
To stimulate gross motor, skills such as running and dancing as well as other sport activities are highly recommended. However, there are many other children that may have deficiencies in developing their fine motor skills that are tuned towards the need of precision movements such as drawing, tearing, painting, cutting, and even writing.
Here are a few activities that aids in stimulating the psychomotor in children.
1.-Using a balloon, the child is invited to play a game of pass the balloon while hitting without having it fall on the ground. This activity will contribute to the find motor of the child that feels the contact of the balloon with the tips of their fingers and allows them to apply adequate force that keeps the balloon afloat.
2.-Giving the child the opportunity to maneuver and manipulate modelling clays. This is an excellent activity where the touch and hand’s motility is combined. By creating figures such as circles or straight lines with modelling clay, the child works the mobility of their extremities.
3.-A child can also harness and exercise their fine motor skills as well as their focus and concentration through the means of a drawing book. We can often find these drawing books in book stores that may come in a house or animal theme. The challenge here is to let the child color the drawings on these books without crossing over the lines or going beyond the edges.
4.-Cutting is another highly recommended activity. Straight, curved, and even wavy lines can be drawn on a piece of paper where the child is asked to cut. The challenge here is to ask them to cut following the line, and maybe even contour as accurately as possible as they progress.
And a combination of 3 and 4, the child can be asked to fully color the drawing of a house or an animal from the drawing book. And after doing so, to cut it as accurately as they possibly can by following the edges.
There are definitely many different activities that help stimulate the nervous system that enables the child to develop their fine motor skills. These examples are some of the low cost, and yet easy to perform, both at home as well as at school.
