Motor Learning in Children – 3 Tips to Help Them Learn New Skills
Motor Learning in Children
Do you ever find that a child may learn a new motor skill (i.e. skipping) only to forget it rather quickly? Or perhaps you teach a child a new skill and he/she remembers how to execute it for a long time (i.e. bike riding)? There are many reasons why the body has better muscle memory for certain motor plans. This is all part of motor learning in children.
3 Tips to Help with Motor Learning in Children
Once children have started to learn the basic of a new motor skills, here are 3 suggestions to help children retain these news motor skills over time.
Practice the New Motor Skill
Practice, practice, practice! The key factor in motor learning in children is practice.
Have you ever watched a baby learn how to sit up? When they first begin to sit upright, the make small weight shifts and movements practicing controlling their body in all different ways. Sometimes they fall over and then prop themselves back up to try again and again and again. Soon the skill is acquired and retained. But they need ample practice time. This is why it is so important for children to have floor play time.
The same is true for higher level skills such as when children learn to ride a bicycle. The child practices hundreds perhaps thousands of revolutions in one bike riding session. When a child practices a skill like skipping, he/she may only try it for 10-20 steps. A main ingredient to motor learning in children is practice!
Change Up the Environment
It may be easy to skip in an isolated room with no distractions, but add in a crowded, loud gym and skipping may not be so easy anymore. Or maybe the child can ride the bicycle on a straight path but add in curves or other bikers and suddenly the skill is not so easy.
It is crucial to practice the skill in the real environment where you need to use the skill. For motor learning in children, when they are able to complete a motor skill or carry out a motor plan in all environments they are more likely to retain that skill over time.
Vary the Practice Sessions
Space out practicing different but similar skills to help with motor learning in children. Perhaps you are working on galloping and the child is just mastering it. Don’t switch immediately to practicing skipping. Space out the practice sessions between these two skills to allow the first skill to be retained.
Maybe a child is practicing proper spacing between each letter as he/she writes. Don’t immediately move to teaching a child proper spacing between words. Since the spacing is a little different, the child may have difficulty retaining the first skill of proper spacing between letters.
In summary, children need practice, different environments and varied practice sessions to help with motor learning in children.
Resources to Help with Motor Memory
Looking for activities that incorporate movement with working memory skills? This digital packet of Motor Memory Games includes 5 games to memorize colors and move your body. You can play these games on Google Slides, Powerpoint AND print the games!
Read More on this Topic
Motor Learning Strategies: The Five Step Approach
Universal Design, Play Time and Motor Learning
Motor Learning in Children with CP
