SUMMARY
Motor development is very important in the preschool period. That is why it is key to attach great importance to the development of fine motor skills. If children are encouraged to actively develop fine motor skills in their early years, this will help them in their later development of literacy. In this diploma thesis, we presented a play mat, the purpose of which is to encourage even the youngest children to actively develop fine motor skills.
In the central part of the diploma thesis, we presented the development of a child, the importance of fine motor skills development in the preschool period, play as a central activity of a child, and technical education, which plays an important role in the development of fine motor skills.
The empirical part of the diploma thesis includes the analysis and presentation of the answers to the survey questionnaire. We designed the questionnaire with the help of the 1KA website, which was then sent to professional workers in several kindergartens across Slovenia. The survey questionnaire was completed by 114 professional workers, who notice a large proportion of children in their groups who have problems with fine motor skills.
The practical part of the thesis involves the usage of the play mat in a group of children aged 2–3 years. The play mat was offered to the children as a means of play and their fine motor skills development was monitored by using a checklist over a period of one month.
Using a questionnaire, we found out that many children in the preschool period have problems with fine motor skills, which provided us with a good starting point for observing the progress of children in the field of fine motor skills. After one month of observing the children while playing with the created play mat, we could see that the children had progressed in acquiring fine motor skills over the course of four weeks, which is an excellent indicator that the play mat is well designed and promotes the development of fine motor skills.
The thesis brings direct and useful implications for the target group of kindergarten teachers and professionals. The created play mat has proven to be a simple, feasible and effective tool for developing fine motor skills that can be included in everyday activities (individually or in small groups) without special preparation. It allows for timely adjustment of the complexity of tasks, and facilitates early identification of children with greater challenges in the area of fine motor skills. The mat also represents a bridge between motor development and literacy.
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