Motor Skills Matter

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Motor Skills Matter

Tara Liddle, Catherine Andrasko
Board-Certified Pediatric Physical Therapists
Developmental Experts

07/10/2025

Summers should be about sunshine, family, and fun-not stress over therapy logistics.

At Motor Skills Matter we’re dedicated to making your child’s therapy experience as smooth and supportive as possible.

Share with anyone who needs positive supportive care!

Visit www.motorskillsmatter.com to learn more about our services

10/04/2022

Milestone Monday!

Using imaginative play to get the week started…
This little one enjoys her music class so much she decided to create her own group at home!

Imaginative play generally begins anywhere between 18 months to 2.5 years.

🪘Imaginative play is wonderful for:
🪘Cognitive skills
Language
🪘Motor skills
🪘Problem solving
🪘Creativity

Let’s not forget the benefits of music for children:
🤩Connecting the mind and the body
🤩Can be used for calming or excitement
🤩A wonderful way to learn sounds and words-creating language and communication
🤩Enhances concentration
🤩Can be uplifting
🤩Creates a fun way to move

Does your little one enjoy imaginative play and music??
Please share!

Remember: motor skills matter

09/08/2022

Attentive-Incentive Thursday

Queen Elizabeth ll
April 21, 1926-September 8, 2022
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

05/12/2022

Attentive-Incentive Thursday!

Perseverance….success will follow!

05/03/2022

Tip Tuesday!
Mini-motor-milestone:
Foot play‼️

Babies typically begin playing with their feet between 4-6 months

There is more to foot play than cuteness:
🦶Body awareness
Core activation and strengthening (prepping for later skills)
🦶Midline play and crossing midline
🦶Visual gaze-bringing eyes down and together to focus on an object (or a foot)
🦶Helps babies to roll-as they lift the feet up higher they ‘fall’ over-if they like the way it feels they will practice it over and over again

Ways to encourage foot play:
🦶Place a small towel under the tush-to help tip the hips upward
🦶Use your hands to assist bringing the feet up so baby can see them
🦶Use small rattles or bells on the feet to encourage play

Has your baby mastered this mini-motor-milestone?

04/21/2022

Attentive-Incentive Thursdays!!!

Please share fun activities you like to do with your little ones!

04/20/2022

Wellness Wednesday‼️

✂️There is a lot of prep work that needs to occur before a preschooler can begin to use scissors:
💪Strengthening the shoulder muscles (all that crawling we keep talking about, pushing and pulling activities, animal walks, wheel barrow walks, etc)
💪Strengthening the hand and finger muscles:
Using tongs to pick up small objects
Tearing paper
Squirting bottles
Clothes pins
Play-doh
👏Bilateral skills (one hand needs to hold the paper while the other hand is cutting)
This skills begins early when infants begin playing with there feet while lying on their back-crossing midline both hands to one foot.
Banging blocks together
Stringing beads
Playing with pop-beads
Playing catch
Dressing
(Children who have difficulties with bilateral coordination will have difficulty with many life skills including dressing, fine motor activities, and even reading books)
👀One also needs good sitting balance and eye-hand coordination.

✂️What fun things has your little created or destroyed with scissors?

04/14/2022

Attentive-Incentive Thursdays!

Hoping we can spread a little love as we head into the holiday weekend!
Happy Easter and Happy Passover!

04/12/2022

Tip Tuesday!

As parents we all want our babies to be in a safe space for short periods of time.

😍We suggest an alternative to exersaucers, infant walkers, and jumpers:

⭐️The ‘Play-Safe’ area

The following are reasons we recommend play spaces:

👍Your baby is safe
👍They can play in developmentally appropriate positions (tummy time, sitting, crawling, pulling to stand, and cruising).
👍They are free to move
👍They can explore various toys and objects within the space
👍They are not in a standing device before they are developmentally ready to support themselves in standing

Visit www.motorskillsmatter, MSM picks, for play-space ideas

03/15/2022

Toy Tuesday‼️

Benefits of pop up toys:

☸️early cause and effect
☸️some infants can begin using pop up toys as early as 4 to 5 months and may continue to have interest beyond one year of age.
The center push button is the easiest.
☸️fine motor skills-twisting k***s or pulling and pushing
☸️problem solving when figuring out how to operate the k***s
☸️great toy to entertain infants during tummy time play!
☸️they are not expensive

02/10/2022

Attentive-Incentive Thursdays!

What’s your possible???

02/08/2022

As pediatric PT’s one of the most commonly asked questions is “when can my baby start tummy time?”

🌟The answer is simple: Day 1, as soon as they’re born.🌟

Skin-to-skin on Mom or Dad’s chest is the perfect newborn tummy time activity. You can start this right away and continue to do it for several times a day.

Once baby’s umbilical cord has fallen off then tummy time on the floor can begin.

Some tips for newborn tummy time:
🧸 baby’s face should be turned to one side, not face down
🧸talk or sing to baby to engage with them while they’re awake to make tummy time more exciting
🧸 keep tummy time to short increments several times a day
🧸 No crying! Once baby gets fussy, it’s time to change positions

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Manhattan, NY

Website

http://motorskillsmatter.com/

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