Physical Development

What is physical development?

Physical development has two aspects – ‘gross motor skills’ and ‘fine motor skills’. It underpins children’s development in all other areas. For example, by strengthening their hand and finger movements, children can then hold a pencil effectively and learn to write. Gross motor skills involve large muscle movements (such as walking and even sitting) whereas fine motor skills involve smaller muscles such as grasping and drawing. Generally speaking, gross motor skills need to be developed before fine motor skills but it’s not a linear process. Your child still needs to practise running, climbing and digging, alongside threading, cutting and using cutlery.