What are motor skills?
Updated 7 hours ago
by Sophie Phillips
Dan Jones and Trish Tucker - Contributors
What are motor skills?
Motor skills are foundational for a lifetime of movement. For children, they play a vital role not only in facilitating physical activity levels but also for cognitive and socio-emotional development and school readiness. Motor skills are broadly separated into two groups: fine and gross motor skills. Fine motor skills are movements that use smaller muscles, specifically related to the hand, like grasping a pen. Gross motor skills are movements that use larger muscles, and these can be categorised into three main groups: