Utilizing toys for fine motor skills enhancement in children aged 5 and 6

The theoretical part of diploma thesis focuses on the importance of arts and crafts subject in preschool children. We have tried to find a way to include this subject in the curriculum for kindergartens and we observed how technical skills such as screwing, hammering and construction develop fine motor skills in a group of preschool children aged five to six. This diploma thesis is useful for teachers, parents and for everybody who enjoys working with children and finds it important that the children develop their potential by making different products. The aim of this diploma thesis is to warn about the importance of arts and crafts, technical skills in preschool education and consequent development of fine motor skills of children which are essential in a children’s development. We singled out the importance of choosing the right toy for a child and how it influences the child’s development. It is vital that the toy sparks curiosity and pleasure in a child, so that he will play with it again by his own volition. In the empirical part of the thesis, we analyzed and discussed the results of a survey which was distributed among the preschool teachers and teaching assistants. With this survey, we wanted to find out how often and in what way the teachers facilitate the development of fine motor skills in preschool children. The results of the survey have shown the agreement amongst workers that developing fine motor skills in preschool period is important. The survey also showed that the teachers and their assistants use different methods in their groups. We have designed and manufactured wooden toys that we used in various activities in kindergarten. The toys were used as a method of measuring the level of development of fine motor skills in preschool children aged five to six. We have discovered that the level of development is high in all children, because they did not have any major difficulties operating the toys. The diploma thesis proposes different applications of fun toys when developing fine motor skills in children and how to facilitate the proper development of children in other areas as well. After the activity was finished, we analyzed and graded the level of development of fine motor skills and the usefulness of toys. The sample unit was 20 kindergarten children that performed the activities and 42 teachers and teaching assistants that answered the survey. We have reached all our goals and confirmed the hypotheses, which means that the toys have fulfilled their purpose