Which of the following is an example of a gross motor skill in children?

Concept

Motor skills are movements controlled by muscles and the nervous system. Gross motor skills use large muscle groups of the legs, arms, and trunk for whole-body movement, balance, and coordination.

Fine motor skills use smaller muscles, especially those of the hands and fingers, for precise manipulation. Sensory or receptive processes are not motor actions by themselves.

Application

Jumping requires the child to bend and extend the legs, stabilize the trunk, propel the whole body, and control the landing. It therefore depends mainly on large-muscle coordination.

Contrast

• Listening is an auditory receptive process rather than a muscular movement skill.

• Buttoning a shirt depends on precise finger and hand control, so it is a fine motor activity.

• Drawing also depends on precise hand and finger control, so it is a fine motor activity.

Cross-check

A quick classification test is to ask whether the task mainly moves the whole body through large muscles or manipulates a small object through fine finger control. Jumping falls in the first group.

Therefore, the example of a gross motor skill is jumping.