Running, jumping, covering distances, and grabbing objects with a secure grip: throughout childhood, children refine their motor skills through play. By playing and experimenting, your little explorer gains confidence and becomes more skilled at different types of activities.

Think about it: by imitating and experimenting, they quickly go from being immobile at birth to running, jumping, and getting into all kinds of mischief—they truly are little marvels! A few months after birth, they start grasping objects. Around their first birthday, they begin taking their first steps. However, these are not universal rules: each child develops motor skills at their own pace, and these skills can be refined with the help of adults.

What are motor skills?

Before figuring out how to help your child become increasingly confident in physical activity, it helps to understand what motor skills are. Motor skills are the set of physical abilities each of us has that allow us to learn and perform different movements.

They are classified into two types: gross and fine motor skills.

How to stimulate the child's motor skills?

From birth, your little explorer is stimulated mainly through the senses: smell, hearing, sight, and touch. Some children develop their motor skills simply by imitating others or exploring independently, especially if they are naturally drawn to certain activities.

Other children, however, are less inclined to explore and move—there’s nothing wrong with that; everyone has their own personality! As parents, you can encourage them to take that extra step needed to become seasoned explorers. How? With some targeted games that will help them develop their gross motor skills without them even noticing.

5 games to develop motor skills

With these five games, your little explorer will learn to move with much more confidence and awareness.

1. 
   Play with the ball. The ball is a very precious tool for your child’s motor skills. Playing catch with the ball using their hands, and trying to kick it first with one foot and then with the other, helps little ones learn coordination. These games for one-year-olds are already perfect. When they can throw it well, try tossing a small, very light, soft ball close to them and ask them to catch it with their hands. This will also help develop their reflexes.
   

2. Imitate the animals. How does the elephant move? And how does the frog hop? Can you stand on one foot, just like a crane? Imitating animals is a great exercise for becoming aware of your body in space and for training balance.
   

3. Ride a bicycle or a scooter Among outdoor games for children that are very useful for developing motor skills is riding a bicycle. Thanks to the bicycle, in fact, both gross motor skills and balance and proprioception can be developed.
   

4. Walking on the trails. All you need is a bit of colored tape (if you're indoors) or some chalk to create paths of all sizes and shapes to walk along. Your role as a parent is to invent courses with curves, zigzags, and straight lines for your little one to follow. As they grow, you can increase the difficulty level and perhaps even include circles for them to jump through. Do you remember “Mondo,” the game track drawn on the ground with chalk where you had to hop on one or two feet until reaching the sky? Well, without even realizing it, as children we played games that trained our motor skills!
   

5. Play with the structures of the playgrounds. Playgrounds, ropes, Tibetan bridges, and ladders are specifically designed for children who are in the motor skills development phase. Taking children often to the park and letting them be free, even if they fall sometimes (supervising them and not leaving them in dangerous situations, of course), is the best way to help them move more confidently. Moreover, they will be outdoors and able to interact with other children—what more could you ask for?