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| What Gross Motor Skills Should Your Child Master by the Age of Six? »
Gross motor skills impact bigger muscle groups, like the arms, legs, feet, and torso. They are the first motor skills a child develops.
Mastering gross motor skills helps your child develop a sense of balance and spatial awareness. Good gross motor skills nourish the mind/body connection needed for learning.
Between ages four and five, your child should be able to demonstrate most of the following gross motor skills:
- Ride a tricycle or bike with training wheels
- Walk on a line
- Hop on one foot for ten to fifteen seconds
- Skip
- Run forward easily
- Kick a ball
- Throw a ball
- Catch a bounced or gently thrown ball
- Climb the ladder and ride down a slide
- Walk up and down stairs using alternate feet
Between ages five and six your child should be able to demonstrate most of the following gross motor skills:
- Begin to ride a two-wheel bike without training wheels
- Balance on a low balance beam or street curb
- Skip around objects
- Hop with ease
- Jump with ease
- Jump rope
- Pump a swing
- Be able to do skating and sliding motions
- Run around obstacles
- Run forward and backward easily
- Catch an object while moving or turning
- Do Jumping Jacks
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