Motor Skills Needed to Copy a Line

Fine-motor control requires coordination of the muscles, bones, and nerves in the hands and fingers that allow small, precise movements to take place, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Picking up a pencil, crayon or other small object with the thumb and index finger and scribbling on paper is an example of rudimentary fine motor control. Enhanced fine-motor aptitude helps bring out the budding artist in a young child.

  1. Practice

    • One day your 15-month-old is holding and curiously examining a crayon or pencil -- perhaps sticking it in his mouth -- and before you know it he̵7;s making random marks on paper. Giving young toddlers over-sized crayons or markers helps them get the hang of clutching these tools that will inspire their imagination as fine-motor skills become more refined. A young toddler's first masterpiece may be little more than a wavy line, circular strokes or a few dots. He'll position his thumb on one side of a marker and his fingers on the other, then clumsily try in earnest to lower his middle finger toward the point of the marker.

    Progress

    • Kids ages 2 and older often have favorite designs that they love to draw repeatedly; curvy, horizontal and vertical lines are at the top of the list. As your toddler gets closer to 3 years of age, improved control in the hand and finger muscles allows your little doodler's scribbles to become more focused and controlled. Once your child begins to purposefully draw images, she's become proficient at symbolic thinking, which means she realizes that simple lines on paper can represent a person, animal, flower, house or any number of objects.

    Copying Shapes

    • Copying a line should come easily to the average 3- to 5-year old. Preschoolers enjoy making up their own letters by copying recognizable letter shapes. Most 3-year-olds have no problem drawing a circle, a stick person with three body parts and copying square shapes. Most 4-year-olds have the fine-motors skills needed to draw a square, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.

    Outlook

    • More precise fine-motor skills permit kids on the cusp of starting kindergarten to become competent at using small materials such as holding and opening a small tube of nontoxic school glue and squeezing it over a drawing then opening a tiny glitter bottle to sprinkle atop the glue. Older preschoolers continue to gain increased control over the use of their hands and fingers as they learn to dip a paint brush into paint and use pens and pencils to write numbers and the alphabet.

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