Fine motor skills are an important part of child development. They prepare children not only for writing, an everyday skill, but also for eating, dressing, and other important self-help skills. Here are some skills your child 0-2 years old should be exhibiting:

Birth to 3 months

• Hand to Mouth
• Reflexive grasp (Place a finger in your child’s palm. Child should automatically hold your finger)
• Visually Tracking High contrast toys (Red, black, and white have been shown to be the most intriguing to this group). Tracking center (midline) to side (both left and right)

3-6 months

• Swipes at dangling objects
• Follows moving objects with eyes (3-5 seconds is a typical attention span)
• Recognizes bottle
• Grasp and shakes rattle

6-9 months

• Raking small objects
• Clapping
• Poking finger in hole
• Transfer object from one hand to another
• Explores toys with hands and mouth

9-12 months

• Pincer grasp (a three finger approach to picking up things like cheerios)
• Removes socks
• Removes 2-3 pegs from peg board
• Puts objects in and takes them out of containers
• 30 second visual and auditory attention span

12-24 months

• Opens book, turns single page
• Tapping spoon
• Helps with dressing
• Plays quietly 5-10 minutes
• 5 minute plus attention span with a single toy
• Stacks 2-6 blocks
• Dumps objects out of a container
• Scribbles in imitation of vertical stroke
• Inserts three shapes into shape sorter

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