Fine Motor Skills Linked to Numerical Skill Development

Fine Motor Skills Linked to Numerical Skill Development

When you walk into any preschool classroom, you will observe children using their fingers to count.  Finger counting helps children to represent numbers and later influences the ability to complete arithmetic problems.  The ability to count usually develops side by side with fine motor skill development.  Many times, when children first start to learn arithmetic it is finger-based.  Previous research indicated links between fine motor skills in kindergarten and concurrent or later mathematical development.  Perceptual and Motor Skills published research to investigate whether the link between fine motor skills and numerical skills in preschoolers is from the involvement of finger representations in early mathematics.

The research study included 81 preschool children who were evaluated for fine motor skills and numerical tasks using receptive vocabulary and chronological age as control measures.  The fine motor skills that were assessed was pegboard task, bead stringing and block turning.  Numerical tasks were assessed using non-finger based (children were not allowed to count with their fingers) and finger-based (children were prompted to use their fingers).  The results indicated the following:

• a positive and strong correlation between virtually all fine motor skills and numerical skills.
• only age and finger-based numerical skills were significantly related to fine motor skills.
• fine motor skills, independent of age and receptive vocabulary, contributed significantly to all numerical skill measures.
• the fine motor skill link appeared strongest with finger-based numerical skills.
• age, but not receptive vocabulary, also appeared to be a significant predictor of numerical skills generally and of nonfinger-based numerical skills.
• age was not a significant predictor of finger-based numerical skills.

The researchers discussed that preschool children with greater fine motor skills are better able to represent numbers with fingers which links to better performance on finger-counting and finger arithmetic tasks.

Reference: Suggate, S., Stoeger, H., & Fischer, U. (2017). Finger-Based Numerical Skills Link Fine Motor Skills to Numerical Development in Preschoolers. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 0031512517727405.

Check out these products to help preschoolers with fine motor skill development:

Hands First for Learning Fine Motor Curriculum and Preschool Units

Fantastic Fingers® Fine Motor Program

Fine Motor Breaks

 

 

 

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Math, Movement and Motor Skills

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience published research on math, movement and motor skills.  The participants included 165 children, average age 7.5 years old, who were randomized into three groups for 6 weeks of mathematical instruction: a non motor group, a fine motor math group and a gross motor math group.  The gross motor group performed inter-limb gross motor movements that alternated between dynamic and static movements and involved a large range of movement (e.g., skipping, crawling, hopscotching, throwing, one-legged balance) while solving mathematical problems throughout all lessons.  The fine motor group manipulated LEGO® bricks supporting the mathematical principles.  Each child completed a standardized mathematical test before, immediately after and 8 weeks after the intervention.  In addition, the researchers examined whether motor-enriched math was accompanied by different effects in low and normal math performers and the potential contribution of cognitive functions and motor skills on mathematical performance.

The results indicated the following:

• all groups improved their mathematical performance on test scores before and immediately after.
• improvement on test scores was significantly greater in the gross motor group compared to the fine motor group
• no significant differences in mathematical performance were observed 8 weeks following the intervention.
• normal math-performers benefited from gross motor math compared to both the control group and the fine motor group although these effects were not observed in low math-performers. The effects were partly accounted for by visuo-spatial short-term memory and gross motor skills.

The researchers concluded that motor enriched learning activities (particularly gross motor math instruction) can improve mathematical performance.

Reference:  Beck, M. M., Lind, R. R., Geertsen, S. S., Ritz, C., Lundbye-Jensen, J., & Wienecke, J. (2016). Motor-Enriched Learning Activities Can Improve Mathematical Performance in Preadolescent Children. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10.

Want to incorporate gross motor movements into your math lessons?  Create some Movement Flashcards.

Movement Flashcards digital download includes 10 aerobic exercises with flash cards templates. Students can get physical activity while reviewing material. The 10 aerobic activities include: run in place, jumping, hopping, squats, lunges, skipping, twists, cross crawls, jumping jacks and marching. Each page includes a picture image of the aerobic exercise along with a blank template to type in 18 flash cards. You choose what to work on for academic material.  FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION.

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Movement Activities and Math Skills

The school year will be starting shortly for many of us.  Start the school year off with fun, purposeful activities that combine movement with math skills.  Not only will children benefit from the physical activity, moving while learning can help with memory skills, attention and focus.  Here are three fun math activities that can be modified as needed to include many different math skills.

Purpose:  Practice sensory motor skills while reinforcing math concepts.  This is a great in class energy release.

Materials:  math flash cards, dice

Activity #1 – Flash Card Fun for a Group:  Have the group sit or stand in a circle. Create one rule for the group to start. For example, if the answer is correct everyone should clap hands and if the answer is incorrect everyone should jump in place. Pick a student to go first. Hold up a flash card.  Student responds verbally with the answer to the math problem. The rest of the group must now act.  Each student must begin to perform with clapping hands or jumping in place depending upon whether the answer is correct or incorrect. The leader then reports the correct answer. Continue playing creating new rules with new movements every 10 flash cards.

Activity #2 – Circle Math: Have the group stand in a large circle with a clear path behind the entire circle. Make sure there is ample distance between each student. The leader stands stationary out the outside of the circle. The group walks in a circle, one student behind the other. When a student arrives at the leader, the group stops walking, the students reads aloud the problem and answers it. If the answer is correct, the group continues to walk forward. If the answer is incorrect, the group walks backward in the circle. The next student now arrives at the leader and answers flash card problem. Continue playing until all flash cards have been answered.

Activity #3:  Dice Jumping: This activity is for simple math problems. Again, have the group standing in a circle with area clear. One student goes in the middle of the circle. The student rolls the dice and adds them up and shouts out the answer. The students in the circle join hands with the student in the middle. All the children jump in place the number of times of the sum of the dice. Continue playing until all students have had a turn rolling the dice.

For more activity ideas check out Get Up and Learn! – How to Integrate Movement with Learning e-book.

The post Movement Activities and Math Skills appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Movement, Math and Visual Perceptual Skill Freebie - Roll, Move and Cover

Here is a fun game, Roll, Move and Cover that incorporates movement, visual perceptual skills, fine motor skills and math skills.  It is a freebie game from Animal Actions A to Z.  Basically, the student rolls two dice, adds up the numbers, finds the number, performs an animal action and then colors in the circle to cover it up.  Another option is to cover up each circle with a small ball of clay.  You can download the free activity here  http://yourtherapysource.com/animalactionsazfreebie.html

Get more information on Animal Actions A to Zat http://yourtherapysource.com/animalactionsaz.html

3 Activities to Get Moving with Math

Purpose: Practice sensory motor skills while reinforcing math concepts. These are some fun in class energy release activities.

Materials: math flash cards, dice

Activity #1 - Flash Card Fun for a Group: Have the group sit or stand in a circle. Create one
rule for the group to start. For example, if the answer is correct everyone should clap hands and
if the answer is incorrect everyone should jump in place. Pick a student to go first. Hold up a
flash card. Student responds verbally with the answer to the math problem. The rest of the
group must now act. Each student must begin to perform with clapping hands or jumping in place depending upon whether the answer is correct or incorrect. The leader then reports the correct answer. Continue playing creating new rules with new movements every 10 flash cards.

Activity #2 - Circle Math: Have the group stand in a large circle with a clear path behind the
entire circle. Make sure there is ample distance between each student. The leader stands
stationary out the outside of the circle. The group walks in a circle, one student behind the other.  When a student arrives at the leader, the group stops walking, the students reads aloud the problem and answers it. If the answer is correct, the group continues to walk forward. If the
answer is incorrect, the group walks backward in the circle. The next student now arrives at the
leader and answers flash card problem. Continue playing until all flash cards have been
answered.

Activity #3: Dice Jumping: This activity is for simple math problems. Again, have the group
standing in a circle with area clear. One student goes in the middle of the circle. The student
rolls the dice and adds them up and shouts out the answer. The students in the circle join hands with the student in the middle. All the children jump in place the number of times of the sum of the dice. Continue playing until all students have had a turn rolling the dice.

Need more movement and learning activities?  Check out Get Up and Learn! at http://yourtherapysource.com/getuplearn.html

Simple Sensory and Fine Motor Counting Bin

I love sensory bins and am always impressed by all the fun ones I see on Pinterest.  The only problem is some of them would cost a fortune to make or are too hard to clean up (rice is such a pain to pick up off of the rug).  I am all for messy play but at times I just don't have the time to clean it up.

For this simple sensory bin, I dyed some dried pasta with food coloring and a few drops of alcohol (put dried macaroni in plastic bag with a few drops of food coloring and rubbing alcohol, shake the bag and pour out onto paper towel to dry).  I added a few froggy erasers I got at the dollar section.  So for about $3 I had a great sensory bin that was easy to clean up.

For this activity, the child rolled the die.  She had to identify what number was rolled, find that many froggy erasers and count them.  I wrote the number, dots and written numeral on the paper for her to reinforce reading numbers.

When done counting, you could play with the sensory bin - sort the pasta by type or color.  

If you want to add in gross motor skills, you could move the sensory bin across the room, roll the die, perform a locomotor action to the counting page and place the erasers on the paper.  Repeat until all the numbers 1-6 have been rolled.

This activity encourages:

1. tactile input


2. fine motor skills


3. gross motor skills


4. visual perceptual skills


5. counting skills - common core standards addressed with this activity:  CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.A.3 - Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects).

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.B.4 - Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality. 

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.NBT.A.1 - Count to 120, starting at any number less than 120. In this range, read and write numerals and represent a number of objects with a written numeral.

IEP Goals Related to the Common Core for OT/PT is a large goal bank for school based occupational and physical therapy that is aligned with the English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics common core standards for grades K-2. Find out more at http://yourtherapysource.com/commoncorek2.html

 

 

 

Bilateral Math Facts

Here is a fun twist to do instead of traditional flash cards.  Another big bonus is practicing visual tracking skills and bilateral coordination skills.   View the video at YourTherapySource.com.

Multisensory Lessons - Math

This is the second in a series of posts on creating multisensory lessons in the classroom or home. Go to Simple Multisensory Lessons - Spelling to read the first post. By incorporating various sensory pathways in learning you can help all students especially kinesthetic learners.

Here are several ideas for math lessons:

1. Clapping: When counting, clap hands. Count by 2's, 5's, 10's and clap at each number. Clap at chest level or overhead.

2. Ball Math: Throw a beach ball to a student. Call out a math problem. The child solves the problem out loud then creates a new problem for a different child. The child throws the beach ball to the next kid to solve the problem. C

3. Ball Math #2: Beach balls are very cheap at the end of the summer. Use a permanent marker and write math problems all over the ball. Maybe do all of one family of problems (i.e. all 9 addition problems). Throw the ball to the child. Whatever problem the child has their thumb on must be solved.

4. March around room while doing math facts.

5. Write large numbers outdoors with sidewalk chalk. Create math problems and children run to the correct answer. Try running to only even numbers, odd numbers, multiples of 2, etc.

6. Manipulatives - this one is quite obvious but use manipulatives to give meaning to math and they frequently encourage fine motor skills.

7. Clothes Pin Line - children can hang math problems in numerical order. See video below.


8. Jump Rope: Jump rope while counting or doing math problems.

9. Large Number Line: Draw a large number line with sidewalk chalk outdoors to learn about positive and negative numbers.

10. Movement and Math activities for the whole class

Any one else want to add to the list?