Thanks to the locomotive system, human beings can perform a wide repertoire of movements , ordered by the brain, which allow us to relate to the world and also explore it to know it better.

With motricity, reference is made to the organism’s capacity to perform different movements and gestures, which can be of greater or lesser complexity and perform varied functions.

From throwing a ball, writing with a pen, or simply running, these movements are within the concept of motility, however, they would fall into different categories of the same.

We are going to find out what the types of motor skills are, their development throughout people’s lives and the movements that go into each one.

Motor types

Basically, motor skills are divided into two types, coarse and fine , depending on the types of muscle groups involved in the movement being performed.

1. Gross motor skills

With gross motor skills, reference is made to the motor capacities of a person in which large muscle groups are involved . The intervention of this type of muscle allows movements in which the whole body or a large part of a limb is activated, such as crawling, walking, jumping, climbing, cycling, swimming and many others.

This type of motor skills begins to develop at an early age, around the first few weeks of a baby’s life. Its development is continuous although, if it is not put into practice or if exercises are carried out with the aim of improving this capacity, there is no loss of gross motor skills. Nevertheless, it is usual that there is a progressive development of these capacities throughout life, even in the adult stage.

The direction in which the large muscle groups are perfected is from head to foot , that is, first you learn how to move your head and neck, then you have more control over your trunk, and finally you control your legs and arms.

During the first years of life, the development of this type of motor skills is fundamental for acquiring the ability to control posture, body balance and gait.

1.1. Postural control

Developing the ability to control your posture and balance are critical to performing upright actions such as walking and sitting.

When the baby is just born, he is not able to control his posture voluntarily, nor is he able to hold his head in correct balance. That is why in the first weeks of life, it is advisable for the baby to lie down.

After two months, the baby has acquired sufficient capacity to maintain a certain balance and can sit upright with the help of his or her caregivers.

By the time they reach their first year of life, infants have become capable enough to sit on a chair by themselves.

1.2. Learning to walk

Related to the previous point, in order to be able to walk upright you must first have sufficient postural control to be able to stand upright.

In addition, it will require strength in the legs, which it will have acquired after several months of crawling and putting some of the weight of the trunk on them, with the help of the arms.

It is around the first year of life that babies are able to walk, however, according to research in this field, it has been seen that they already have the neural pathways to do so before birth.

One fact that would give strength to this is that if a two-month-old baby is placed in an upright position but held by someone, the baby will alternate legs as if walking.

No matter how innate this ability may be, it is very important for the baby to see others, both his own age and older, walk in order to develop this ability.

Rise and fall of coarse capacities

Although the changes that occur during the first years of life are significant, the gross skills also improve during the period between 7 and 12 years . At this age, who will soon be a teenager, their ability to run, dodge, jump rope and other sports-related activities improves.

That is why it is quite notorious to carry out sports activities during adolescence, coinciding with the time when people notice a better dexterity as far as their locomotive capacity is concerned.

However, since everything that goes up has to come down, after a few years, especially when you approach 30, there begins to be a decline in gross motor skills. As a result, people of this age see how their movements become slower and more difficult to perform. To prevent this motor decline from occurring early and quickly, it is advisable to do physical exercise at any age and frequently.

2. Fine motor skills

In terms of fine motor skills, unlike its counterpart small muscle groups are involved, which are mostly found in the hands, especially in the wrists and fingers . This capacity is remarkable in the human species, given that it possesses a high level of control over the movements of the fingers, allowing them to grasp objects, write, play the piano or make gestures.

Fine skills are developed throughout the individual’s life, and can be improved and new movements learned at virtually any age of the person, as long as there are no physical or brain injuries.

However, especially in childhood, there are significant changes in the development of these capacities, which go hand in hand with the improvement of certain skills fostered by the education system.

2.1. First months of life

The first fine movements that can be seen in an infant are reflexes, which are apparent from the moment the baby is born. However, as the few weeks pass, many of these disappear.

At eight weeks, the baby is able to make some movements with his fingers, being able to pick up, although in a clumsy way, things.

Between two and five months, the baby is already able to coordinate the look with the movement of his own hands, which is a decisive point in his ability to explore the outside world.

Between seven and twelve months the most remarkable point is the baby’s fine motor skills, with an improvement in the ability to grasp objects, point with the index finger, pass objects from one hand to the other and, very importantly, clamp with the hand.

By the time the baby is one year old, he has enough fine motor skills to handle objects voluntarily and more safely.

Thanks to this, you can take the objects you want and explore them to get to know them better, learning both physically and through stimuli. Thus, learning aspects such as size, weight and shape.

2.2. Preschool

This stage would comprise between two and five years of age. At this age, the child is able to close and open the hand by making different combinations with the fingers.

So the child can learn to use scissors, paint with pencils, button his shirt and pick up objects more accurately.

In addition, they learn about their environment and the stimuli they receive from it, effectively coordinating their movements to go and explore it.

2.3. School stage

Between the ages of five and seven, fine motor skills are already remarkably developed, although there is always room for improvement. Arms and legs are better synchronized.

It is at this age that children learn to write and read. The first writing essays, although awkward, are the demonstration of them, while reading is characterized by using the fingers to direct their gaze to the line they have to read.

Bibliographic references:

  • Guthrie, E.R. (1957). “The psychology of learning”. Harper et Brothers, New York (ed.)
  • Sparrow, W.A. (July 1, 1983). “The efficiency of skilled performance”. Journal of Motor Behavior. 15 (3): 237-261