Evaluating practitioners' experiences of developing fine motor skills for emergent writing

The authors were subcontracted by Teamworks, a group of teaching schools based in Calderdale, to evaluate practitioners' experiences of participating in a project to develop young children's fine motor skills. Practitioners from ten PVI settings implemented a ten week programme of play dough activities to develop children's fine motor skills to support emergent writing. The report authors conducted three focus groups with the practitioners' to explore their experiences of the project.
The findings suggest that the project did improve the children's fine motor skills and in addition the practitioners gained confidence and knowledge of children's physical development. Significantly involvement in the project also had a positive impact on other practitioners within the settings, who were more confident in planning and implementing activities to support physical development.