Fine motor skills involve hands, fingers, wrists mostly but also feet, toes, and lips and tongue. They develop later in children than gross motor skills involving the larger muscles. The reasons for this are that the central nervous system must be well developed to get complex messages from the brain to the fingers, and the small muscles fatigue more quickly. The development of fine motor skills requires patience and tenacity, something children don't have tons of at a young age. The first significant fine motor skill to emerge is the pincer grip, which typically appears around age one. This is when objects can be held between the thumb and index finger, giving much more control in manipulating objects. Developing fine motor skills requires a variety of activities and experiences, as well as plenty of practice. Helpful activities include cutting with scissors, building with blocks, drawing, utting together puzzles, or using silverware, among other things. While all children develop fine motor skills on an individual timetable, if a child doesn't seem to be keeping up with peers, consult a physician for an evaluation.
Gross motor skills involve the larger muscles of the body and develop rapidly in early childhood. Without gross motor skills, there is no movement from place to place, or locomotion. The first gross motor skills to develop include lifting the head, crawling, rolling over and sitting up, and they are seen in infancy. Later the gross motor skills involve walking, running, jumping and climbing. Riding bicycles, kicking a ball and skipping also involve gross motor skill development. Children need plenty of room to exercise their gross motor skills. Outdoor play is especially beneficial.
For more complex motor skills to develop, balance and coordination are required. These types of skills are nonlocomotor, meaning they don't involve moving from place to place. These movements include things like twisting, pushing, pulling, turning, wiggling, sitting and getting up from sitting. Without balance and coordination, a child cannot clap, eat or play. Hand and eye coordination are important in developing balance and coordination and can be seen when an infant sees and reaches for an object. He will exhibit more accuracy with practice. Balance and coordination requires the hands and eyes working together with the large muscles. Copying figures on paper, building with blocks, painting and sorting small objects all require these coordinated skills. Side to side movements, such as used in painting or drawing, help a child later with left to right tracking used in reading and writing.