Crawling and Fine Motor

Crawling and Child Development

• Development of palmar arches: There are 3 main palmar arches in our hands, and they are responsible for allowing for separation of hands (fine motor side and power side) as well as
  precise fine motor movements. Weight bearing through hands via crawling helps these
  arches to develop and get stronger for improved fine motor skills later in life.

• Sensory: Weight bearing through the upper extremities provides input to the proprioceptive
  system through the joints which allows individuals to have body awareness or know where
  their body is at in space. Crawling also allows for development of the vestibular and visual
  systems by allowing a child to explore their environment with changes in head position and
  visual scanning.
• Bilateral coordination: By crawling, your child is using both sides of their body to move at
  once. This allows them to form connections between the two sides of the brain for activities
  that require coordination of both sides of the body (also known as bilateral coordination) as
  they develop: cutting, writing, buttoning, dressing, and self-feeding all rely on these skills.

Ways to promote crawling:

• Crawling through a tunnel
• Create obstacle courses: crawl over surfaces, crawl under obstacles
• Build forts (under furniture or even with a big cardboard box): similarly to a tunnel, building a
  fort under lower items requires your child to get on all fours and crawl to participate in
• Have your child to be an animal that crawls on all four legs (dog, cat, etc)
• Incorporate crawling into a game like Simon Says, Follow the Leader, or even go on a “bear”
  hunt

Other ways to promote weight bearing through UE:

• Wheelbarrow walks
• Animal walks- bear crawls, crab walk
• Pressing into play doh- make “cookies”, rolling them out
• Propping over a ball/raised surface- if on a ball, walk in and out to retrieve items
• Tummy time
• Pushing against heavy objects with flat hands (wall push ups, moving furniture)

When picking activities to do, try to make them fun or into games and don’t be afraid to get
involved in the play too!

References:

https://www.theottoolbox.com/development-of-hand-arches/:~:text=The%20longitudinal%20arch%20runs%20proximally,of%20the%20hand%20work%20together.

https://playonpediatric.com/2023/02/13/why-is-proper-crawling-an-important-milestone-forbabies/

https://babysparks.com/2017/04/24/crawling-a-key-step-for-sensory-motor-integration-finemotor-
skills-oral-motor-development/

Delaney Clements, OTR/L