Psychomotor skills are a set of skills that we are continuously developing and improving from birth. They involve the use of other skills necessary for the proper development of gross motor skills (learning to walk, sitting without falling, etc.) and fine motor skills (grasping an object, coloring within the lines, etc.), sensory (responding to sounds), affective-emotional (imitation), and cognitive skills, and language development (words that are pronounced correctly). There are many pathologies that present with psychomotor delay, which translates into motor, cognitive, and affective difficulties. For example, children with developmental disorders such as autism, mental retardation, or brain damage, as well as dyslexia, ADHD, or cancer, may have problems with psychomotor development. Fortunately, there are many Games and mental exercises that can help improve psychometric skills in children , which will be helpful whether your child is struggling or not.
What aspects of psychomotor skills will you train with these games?
- Coordination
- Fine motor skills
- Hand-eye coordination
- Visual-spatial integration
We'll leave you with some exercises/games that can help improve your child's psychometric skills. If your little one isn't a gamer, we recommend visiting our article where You will be able to learn some techniques and tips that can help you integrate your child into the game..
- Play with clay. Squeezing, stretching, and pulling clay will help develop the muscles used in fine motor skills. Making shapes and figures encourages creativity. Suggest creating different shapes; you can go by category: animals, food, things found in nature… or you can let your child surprise you! You can also place things in the clay, such as buttons, straws, beans, pasta, etc., and then pull them out.
- Make mazes. Start with the simplest and work your way up to the most difficult. If you want to make a simple maze more difficult, have them complete it in their heads before drawing it.
- Play with geometric shapes. Recognize geometric shapes as templates for the child to draw.
- Cut. Use safety scissors to cut shapes. Start with simple shapes and play with them once you're finished!
- Puzzles: Also known as “puzzles,” not only improve our motor skills but also help improve our executive functions. Play with simple puzzles that are appropriate for your child, and make them increasingly difficult as your child’s skills improve.
- Playing dress-up. This is fun, and your child will have tons of fun! Putting on and taking off different items of clothing with different types of buttons (large, small, oval, etc.), Velcro, and zippers will help develop fine motor skills.
- Shoot hoops. Grab a trash can and shoot some hoops with your child. Use different heights (sitting on the couch, standing, standing on a chair, etc.), different distances, and balls with different weights (paper balls, large rubber balls, small handballs, etc.).
- Make bracelets Besides being fashionable, they make a great gift for moms, aunts, grandmothers… Use buttons, beads, and laces.