As an Occupational Therapist, I strive to find the most optimal and fun ways to facilitate improvement of a child’s fine motor skills. One of my favorite activities for children is coloring; a quick internet search and I can find a child's favorite character in coloring page form, and off we go!
There are huge benefits to sitting down and completing a coloring page with a pack of good old fashioned crayons. A child’s fine motor coordination benefits greatly from coloring. Think of it as a work out for the hand and arm. When children use crayons to color a complete page, they are building the strength and endurance of all the musculature in their fingers, palm, wrist and forearm. In addition, they also are learning how to control a tool with their fingers in order to stay in a boundary. A child’s fine motor control and handwriting will greatly benefit from this practice.
There is absolutely a right way and a wrong way to color and it’s all about grasp. Children first grasp items as infants with their whole fist, gradually moving towards using only their fingers as their skills mature. Here is a great image that shows the typical development of a child’s grasp and gives parents an idea of the progression that we want to see:
If children color using an immature grasp, such as a cylindrical “fisted” grasp after 2 years of age, no real muscle work or small finger movement is happening. I’ve discovered that providing the right crayons for children naturalistically encourages the grasp I want them to use- the more finger involvement, the better! As a general rule, small crayons are best. I tend to stay away from Markers and Jumbo Crayons; these are just too large for little hands and encourage a fisted grasp, which is the opposite of what I want when building fine motor skill.
Here are the top five crayons I recommend for children that will facilitate improvement in fine motor skills, in order from beginner to most mature (with affiliate links for easy purchase!):
1. Honey Sticks (2-3 years or skill equivalent) These introductory crayons give children a nice short and fat crayon to put in their palm and start to encourage fingers pointed towards the tip.
2. Crayon Rocks (3-4 years or skill equivalent) The small size of these crayons encourage a nice pincer grasp and encourage a child to use their fingers instead of their whole hand.
3. Broken Large Crayons (3-4 years or skill equivalent) Breaking crayons may break your heart- but it's GREAT for your child! Broken crayons encourage a child’s index finger, middle finger and thumb to have the most involvement when coloring.
4. Large Triangle Crayons (4-5 years or skill equivalent) Triangle crayons help cue and teach a tripod grasp by naturally providing a space for each finger to rest on when grasping the crayon. I often still break the triangle crayons at this stage.
5. Regular Crayons (5-6 years or skill equivalent) By this time, your child can hold the skinniest level of crayon and build up the endurance and musculature to fine tune their maturing grasp. You can still break them at this point if need be!
From here your child will be ready for pencils, colored pencils and beyond. Keep in mind, many times children with fine motor delays will move through the grasp progression on their own timeline. Individual children’s needs vary, so these are meant to be general guidelines. Try them with your child at home and get those coloring pages out! If you have any specific questions about your child’s fine motor development, schedule a free consult here- we would be happy to help.
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