Fine Motor Skill Milestones for Preschoolers

by Kelly Pfeiffer

Fine motor skills develop in a sequence for typical preschoolers. The development of fine motor skills in the hand begins at birth and progresses throughout the preschool and elementary school years.

Find out if your preschooler is on target by checking your child’s fine motor skills with these age appropriate fine motor skill milestones. If you preschooler hasn’t reached a particular fine motor milestone, ask your child’s doctor for more information on fine motor development or about an evaluation to detect a possible fine motor skill delay. Visit the websites listed at the bottom of this article for photographs of the fine motor milestones.

Birth: Palmar Reflex Fine Motor Milestone

Healthy babies are born with a reflex called the Palmar Reflex. When an object touches the palm of a healthy newborn baby, the baby’s hand will respond with the Palmar Reflex and the fingers will curl around the object. The object may be a parent’s finger, a rattle or any object that is small enough for a baby’s fingers to wrap around.

4-6 Months: Palmar Grasp Fine Motor Milestone

During the first few months of the life, the Palmar Reflex is at work helping a baby’s hands and fingers get ready to develop fine motor skills. Between the ages of four and six months, the Palmar Reflex goes away and is replaced by the Palmar Grasp in healthy babies. The Palmar Grasp looks identical to the Palmar Reflex, but now the baby’s brain and nervous system is at work deciding to wrap the fingers around objects. Since the Palmar Reflex has gone away, babies will not always wrap their fingers around objects placed in their palm. Using the Palmar Grasp, babies can hold objects in their hands for a period of time and can shake rattles, grab a parent’s finger or wrap their hands around a parent’s hair.

12 Months: Pincer Grasp Fine Motor Milestone

If your one year old can pick up round cereal with their thumb and index finger, he or she has mastered a Pincer Grasp. An important milestone in fine motor development, the Pincer Grasp allows a child’s hand to pick up small objects with his or her thumb and index finger. The Pincer Grasp strength will improve during the preschool years and eventually be useful for a variety of fine motor skill activities such as buttoning and zipping clothes.

4 years: Simple Tripod Grasp Fine Motor Milestone

The Simple Tripod Grasp is the beginning stages of the Mature Tripod Grasp. By the age of four, preschoolers should be grasping a pencil, marker or paintbrush with the tips of the fingers instead of in the palm of the hand. Although the “tri” part of Tripod Grasp means “three” s in “three finger grasp”, the Simple Tripod Grasp also may use four fingers or all of the fingers to grasp a writing or a painting utensil.

7 years: Mature Tripod Grasp Fine Motor Milestone

By the age of seven, typical children should be able to hold a pencil or paintbrush in a grasp with three points: the thumb, index finger and middle finger. A Mature Tripod Grasp does not use either the ring finger or pinky finger on the pencil, marker or paintbrush. Seven year olds should have the fine motor strength and ability to grasp a writing tool firmly to write lines, curves and letters on paper.

If your baby or preschooler has not reached any of the milestones above by the ages listed, contact your child’s doctor for an evaluation. When a child does not achieve a fine motor milestone by the typical developmental age listed, it may be a sign that the child has a delay in fine motor developmental delay

Photographs of Fine Motor Skill Milestones

Visit the following links to articles and images of fine motor skill milestones:
Development of Grasp shows nice photographs of the Palmar Grasp, the Pincer Grasp and the Tripod Grasp (referred to as the "Three Jaw Chuck" Grasp).
Pencil Grasp contains photographs of the Palmar Grasp, Simple Tripod grasp (referred to as the "Static Tripod" here) and the Mature Tripod Grasp (referred to as the "Digital Tripod" here).