Running head: FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT 1

Signature Assignment- Fine Motor Development

Ramona Torres-Martinez
Fresno Pacific University
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Fine Motor Development

Part 1: Child Observation- Summary and Analysis

The Child Skills Checklist tool (Beaty, 2014.pp.5-8) was utilized to observe and collect

data on Jordan a three-year-old boy. He is confident, joyful, imaginative, and independent.

Throughout, the observation centered on the behaviors and interactions of Jordan in the

classroom it was noted that he has numerous well-developed skills areas. The areas of strength

noticed for Jordan are his sense of Self-Identify because he was happy to arrive to the classroom

and separated from his mom without difficulties. He followed the routines without reminders

and made activity choices on his own to play in several of the centers in the classroom during

center time. He also chose to participate in the teacher directed table activities. He demonstrated

a well-developed Emotional Development because it was noticed that Jordan smiled throughout

the observation especially during music time when his favorite song Looking for Dracula was

played. When he had a conflict with a peer over a toy in the house area he left the area and asked

the teacher to read him the book Goldilicious. Jordan also exhibited strong Cognitive skills,

Social and Pro social skills, and Imaginative skills. He was observed interacting with children in

different area of the classroom and engaging in brief dramatic play in the house area. He shared

the magna tiles in the block area with the children playing next to him without asked to do so by

the teacher.
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The one area of strengthen prevailed among the others was Jordans gross motor skills.

During outside time he was observed participating in an obstacle course game. He walked on the

balance beam without stepping off, jumped forward with both feet, and ran to the designated

cone then ran back stopping when he reached the start of the line. It was also noted that he

alternated his feet to climb up and down the stairs on the playground equipment. During music

time, Jordan was observed moving his feet in a rhythm to dance to the song Stop and Go.

Through the behaviors noticed during the observation and marking off items on the

checklist it was perceived that Jordan has a few areas that he is still developing. The areas of

improvement noted for Jordan include Spoken Language, Pre-Writing & Pre-reading skills, and

Art skills. But the skill area with the greatest deficiency was Jordans Fine Motor Development.

It was noticed that Jordan had difficulty demonstrating hand preference during an art activity and

continuously alternated the use of both hands to sustain the drawing tools. When utilizing the

drawing tools he held the markers and crayons with a fisted grip and moved the tool in a side to

side motion. Another behavior observed was Jordans grip on the handle of a pair of scissors.

He held the scissor with the tip of the blade facing down and inserted two fingers into each

opening on the handles. Jordan used both of his hands to open and close the blades on the

scissors attempting to cut into his construction paper. In the sensory table it was noted that

Jordan struggled to transfer fake snow from a small measuring cup into a larger measuring cup

without spilling.
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Part 2: Learning Prescription

LEARNING PRESCRIPTION

Childs Name Jordan Martinez Age 3 Date 11/28/2016

Areas of Strength and Confidence

1. Jordan is able to manipulate an object with both hands. He held a large

piece of play dough in his right hand and tore pieces off with his left hand.

2. Jordan shares materials with others. He took a fish shaped cookie cutter

from the play dough toy container and placed it on the tray of the child

sitting across the table from him without adult prompting.

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3. Jordan used hand and eye coordination to roll a small chunk of play dough

into a ball. He placed the play dough in between both of his palms and

moved his hands in a circular motion.

Areas Needing Strengthening

1.

Jordan needs to strengthen his hold/grasp. He held the play dough knife handle with a fisted

grasp when piercing the play dough.

2.

Jordan needs to develop his cutting skills. He held the scissors from the handle using his index

finger and middle finger from both hands

3. Jordan needs to develop hand dominance when manipulating objects.

Jordan switches from using his left hand to using his right hand when

manipulating play dough and play dough toys.

Activities to Help
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1. I would incorporate more fine motor activities in the daily lesson plan. I

would provide activities like lacing and using tongs of different sizes to pick

up small and big items like pom poms (big and small), buttons, beadsetc.

2. I would also incorporate fine motor activities in the classroom that

encourage Jordan to cross his midline on his body to strengthen his hand

dominance. One activity would be using a large spoon to scoop objects from

one container to another. The containers would be placed on opposite sides.

(Ong & McLean, 2011.p.170)

3. An activity the can be done in the classroom and at home is setting up a

cutting station for Jordan to practice his cutting skills. The materials for this

could include scissors with a blunt tip and different kinds of paper like:

wrapping paper, wallpaper, newspaper adsetc. Additional materials could

contain drinking straws, play dough, ribbonetc. This activity would

encourage Jordan to use his fingers to open and close the scissors. (Beaty,

2014.p.155)
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Part 3: Curriculum File and Resources

Activity 2: Colored pom pom sorting game

Resource:

Tullet, H. (2011). Press Here

http://busytoddler.com/2016/05/pom-pom-sorting-fine-motor-skills-activity/

Focus Area: Fine Motor Development

Behavioral Objective/s:

Student will complete an activity that is intended to increase their fine motor skills
Students will practice using their pincer grasp and hand dominance skills
Students will exercise their eye-hand coordination

Group Size: 4-5 Children (Small group)

Age(s): 3-5

Materials:

Red, yellow, and blue pom poms

Red, yellow, and blue cupcake liners
Child-friendly plastic tweezers/ tongs
Plastic bowls
Press Here book by Herve Tullet (2011)

Procedure:

Overview:
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Read the book, Press Here by Herve Tullet to the students during circle time and model

the instructed hand actions on each page.

Discuss the different hand actions in the book and review the colors of the dots.
Tell students they are going to be using tweezers to sort colored dots (pom poms) into

colored groups.

Presentation
1. After circle time teacher will dismiss children from carpet into small group time.

Allowing only four to five children at a time to join the pom pom sorting game activity.

2. Teacher will display the book at the table during small group and allow the small group

of children to take turns following the fine motor movements instructed in the book.

3. The materials need for the sorting activity will be set out in front of the children after

they have finished interacting with the book. Each child will get a red, yellow, and blue

cupcake liner, a pair of plastic tweezers, and a plastic bowl full of pom poms (red, yellow,

and blue).

4. Teacher will direct children to use the tweezers set out on the table to sort the colored

pom poms from the bowl into the appropriate colored cupcake liner. Place the plastic

bowl and liners on opposite side to encourage the children to cross their body midline

while using the tweezers.

5. Encourage children to use a pincer grasp to hold the tweezers. If the child has difficulty

holding the tweezers, the teacher can offer larger tongs.

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6. After the children have finished transferring all the pompoms from the plastic bowl into

the cupcake liners encourage the children to transfer the pom poms back into the bowl

using the tweezers.

Discussion Questions/Follow-Up Activities

What do you think will happen to the pom poms if you clap your hands?
What made the dots in the story move?

Ask children to sort other red, yellow, blue items like buttons, plastic lids, counting

cubesetc.

Substitute the plastic tweezers with smaller tweezers and encourage children to practice

using their pincer grasp to pick up small objects.

Replacing the cupcake liners with other containers with small openings like empty plastic

drink bottles, paper towel tubes, and plastic jars.

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Activity 2: Magazine Picture Cutting

Resource: Flyte, M. (2015). Box

http://www.inlieuofpreschool.com/thrifty-scissor-practice-for-ages-2-and-up/

Focus Area: Fine Motor Development

Behavioral Objective/s:

Student will participate in an activity that is intended to increase their fine motor skills.
Students will employ an open and close motion to operate scissors to cut out pictures

from magazines.
Students will practice using their non-dominant hand to hold the paper while they cut

with scissor using their dominant hand.

Students will apply eye-hand coordination when manipulating the scissors to cut.

Group Size: 4-5 children

Age(s): 3-5

Materials:

Small cardboard box (ask parents for box donations)

Old magazines (appropriate for preschoolers)
Newspaper ads
Store Catalogs
Scissors
Black permanent marker
Box book by Min Flyte (2015)

Procedure:

Overview:
Read the book, Box by Min Flyte to the students during circle time
Discuss the story and recall the objects found inside each of the boxes.
Tell students they are going to be using scissors to cut pictures out of different printed

media to place inside their own personal box.

Demonstrate to the students before the activity how to correctly hold a pair of scissors.
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Presentation
1. Display the book on the tale during small group time and allow the children to explore

lifting the tabs on pages to discover the objects hiding inside the boxes.
2. The materials need for the cutting activity will be set out on the table and placed in front

of the children. Each child at the table will be given a cardboard box and a pair of

scissors.

3. Direct the children to look through the magazines, newspaper ads, and store catalogs to

find and choose pictures of special things they would like to cut out place inside their

box.

4. Direct children to cut out the pictures they choose with a pair of scissors encouraging the

children to cut around the outline of the pictures. If its too difficult for some of the

children the teacher should use the black marker to draw thick black lines around the

picture for the children to follow when cutting.

5. Direct the children to place all the cut out pictures inside their box.

Discussion Questions/Follow-Up Activities

What pictures did you put inside the box and why?
Which picture was your favorite and why?
What would you do with a box?
As a follow up activity the teacher could provide different wrapping paper, scissors, and

glue to encourage the children to wrap the outside of the box.

Providing the children with different wrapping paper, glue, tape, and scissors to

encourage them to wrap their box from the outside.

Additional materials could include stickers, mailing labels of various sizes and self-

adhesive foam shapes to encourage children to practice using their fine motor skills.
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Annotated Bibliography

Books Relating to Fine Motor.

1. Tullet, H. (2011). Press Here. San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books.

Can you magically move the dots with the touch of finger? Press Here is a fun hands-

on interactive book that uses bright colored dots to engage younger readers in a

magical adventure. The dots on each page change with a simple touch tap, rub,

tilting, blowing, and clapping actions from the children. With each action performed

the dots magical change their color, size, and orientation. This book skillfully

employs the illusion for children that they are interacting on an electronic device to

manipulate the dots with a various hand actions. This is a fun and fascinating book

that can be enjoyed not only by children but also by adults that want to experience

some magic.

This book addresses the area of fine motor as it allows children to interact with the

contents of the book by encouraging children to use their fingers to manipulate the

dots on each page. It encourages children to use hand and finger movements to

magically move the dots on the pages. Throughout this book, children are able to

exercise and coordinate their finger and hand movements.

2. Flyte, Min. (2015). Box. Somerville, Massachusetts: Nosy Crow Ltd.

What can be hiding inside the box? The Box is a hands-on book with colorful

illustrations that includes plenty of flaps and fold out throughout the book to captivate

childrens interest to discover what is hidden inside each of the boxes. The books

characters are a group of curious toddlers that explore each box to discover its

contents and discover clever, imaginary ways to turn ordinary boxes into magical

things like castles, train, sail boat, and a rocket ship.

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This book addresses the area of fine motor as it allows children to participate in the

telling of the story by lifting the tabs and pulling on the fold-outs. Children are able

to practice using their eye and hand coordination to lift each individual tab on each

page. Throughout the book, children are encouraged to actively participate in the

hands-on experience offered in this fun and imaginative story.

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References

Beaty, J.J. (2014). Observing Development of the Young Children. Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Pearson Education, Inc.

Busy Toddler. (2016, May 3). Pom Pom Sorting: Fine motor skills activity. Retrieved on

December 16, 2016 from http://busytoddler.com/2016/05/pom-pom-sorting-fine-motor-

skills-activity/

Flyte, M. (2015). Box. Somerville, Massachusetts: Nosy Crow Ltd.

In Lieu of Preschool. (n.d.). Thrifty scissors practice- for ages 2 and up. Retrieved on December

16, 2016 from http://www.inlieuofpreschool.com/thrifty-scissor-practice-for-ages-2-and-

up/

Ong, F. & McLean, J. (2011). California Preschool Curriculum Framework. (Vol.2) Sacramento,

CA: California Dept. of Education

Tullet, H. (2011). Press Here (C, Franceschelli, Translator). San Francisco, California: Chronicle

Books

Wiggins, K.M. (n.d.). The Importance of Teaching Your Child How to Use Scissors. Retrieved

on December 16, 2016 from http://www.gandetherapies.com/index.php?

option=com_content&view=article&id=114&Itemid=175
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