Simple activities to help develop young children’s hand eye coordination
Developing a child’s hand eye coordination is vital in supporting their early physical development. This is when the child’s eyes are able to judge distance and their surroundings, whilst their brain gives the instruction for their hand to make a particular movement. This skill will be needed as the child grows to perform tasks such as fastening buttons and writing. There are many activities designed for babies and toddlers to practise and perfect this skill, that are simple to carry out and using easy to find resources.
Simple but effective activities
Activities using household items are a great way for children to experience using everyday tools to develop hand eye coordination and fine and gross motor skills. One activity to support hand eye coordination is through using a wooden mug tree and several wooden curtain rings. The adult can encourage the child to hang the curtain rings on the branches of the mug tree. The child can choose which branch to place their wooden ring on, using their hand eye coordination alongside problem-solving skills.
Another way to develop hand eye coordination is through using pipe cleaners and a range of colanders. The children can use the pipe cleaners to thread through the holes into the colanders, making lots of different arrangements and structures. This will aid the children’s fine motor skills as they manipulate the pipe cleaners into the holes.
Other tools to support and develop hand eye coordination are using chunky tweezers to pick up items such as dried pasta and beans and dropping them into sorting bowls. The child will need to use fine motor skills to manipulate the tweezers and grip to food before transporting it to the bowls.
Dropping pom poms through tubes that are secured into pots also provide a great way for the children to manipulate their movements using hand eye coordination. This activity will also help develop a child’s concentration and perseverance with an activity.