Gross Motor Skills

Gross motor skills are important to develop during childhood.  A lot of our gross motor skills are learned through play.  Gross motor skills are defined as the amount of control and coordination we have over the large muscle movements that our bodies make.  These muscular movements include activities such as running, walking, jumping and maintaining balance. 

There are many ways to help improve gross motor skill development:

• Playing “Simon Says” and doing movements like jumping jacks, hopping on one leg at a time and jumping with both feet.  This will get the child moving and using their muscles.
• Ask your child to shadow or mimic your actions.  This will not only be fun for the child, but it also gets them moving around while having fun!  
• Imitate different animals with your child: Jump like a kangaroo, waddle like a penguin, crawl like a mouse, creep like a tiger, gallop like a horse.  Activities like this encourage children to move their muscles in different ways from the way they normally move when doing activities such as running or walking.  
• Activities like swimming, riding a bike or tricycle, skipping or hopscotch help to increase muscle endurance and strength.
• Playing catch! The larger the ball the easier it is so start with something big like a beach ball. Also, try rolling a ball or kicking it. 
• Walking on curbs and low barriers (sometimes found in parks) improves balance and coordination. However, if your child is walking on curbs, ensure that it is in a safe environment!  

Gross motor skill development is a fundamental part of growing up.  By developing gross motor skills, children are able to increase their strength, endurance, coordination and balance.  This in turn helps children with their self-care, social skills, handwriting, postural stability, navigating through their environment safely, and their daily routines and activities.

- By Sirida Johnston (Occupational Therapy Student & LD )