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Your child's motor development

Author Danina Kooijman, Pedagogical policy officer at Kibeo
Published December 8, 2021

“At Kibeo we stimulate the development of your child” 

Sounds good, you might think. But what exactly is this development we are talking about? How do the pedagogical staff stimulate development?

We can divide the development of children into different areas. Consider, for example, language development and social development. You may also have heard about motor development. This is about moving. It is important that your child can move freely in order to feel, grasp and experience everything. This is how your child discovers the world around them. Motor development is divided into two types: fine and gross motor skills. In this blog you can read more about motor development.

Fine motor skills

With fine motor skills you should think of the refined movement and cooperation between the fingers, hands and arms. The youngest children already learn this by grabbing a toy and holding it. But turning pages in a book is also a form of fine motor skills. Toddlers also practice fine motor skills by coloring, painting or building a tower of blocks. Preschoolers and older schoolchildren learn to draw more neatly, fold paper and string beads. They also learn to tie shoelaces and use both hands independently. At Kibeo we ensure that there are (play) materials that exactly match the development phase your child is in.

Gross motor skills

With gross motor skills you should think of the larger, physical movements of children. In babies, this involves rolling, crawling, sitting, standing and walking. The pedagogical staff member plays games with your baby every day in which this is stimulated. Toddlers develop a smooth walking movement and discover speed. Running, stepping, turning, walking backwards and climbing are fun and challenging. We therefore give them plenty of room to move. watch this movie about stimulating motor development in toddlers.

The older children are, the better the muscles and movements must be coordinated. Due to the improvement in muscle coordination, children can eventually learn to ride a bicycle, rollerblade and jump rope. And did you know that motor development is also very important for social development?

Social advantages

Motor development often plays a major role in how children see themselves and how other children see them. Children learn to feel comfortable in their own body by moving. But also taking others into account, working together and waiting your turn. The movement activities that we do at Kibeo are therefore not only important for your child's motor development, but also for social development.

Tracking motor development

In children aged 0 to 4 years, the pedagogical staff of Kibeo keep a close eye on the fine and gross motor development with the child tracking system. This way we know where your child is now and we can offer activities that challenge your child just a little bit so that your child continues to develop.

The basis for motor development has been laid in children at out-of-school care. We then focus more on the social development of your child. But social development and motor development are strongly linked.

You can read more about social development in the next blog.

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