28. Hand-Eye Co-ordination

Being able to guide hand movements with your eyes is a vital skill, and not just in sport. Hand-writing, reading, playing with construction toys and making almost anything, requires hand-eye co-ordination. The more you can work on developing this key skill, the more confidence your pre-schooler will have in their own ability to master new tasks such as tying shoe-laces and using scissors. Greater self-belief helps everyone get more out of their school day.

Some games for developing hand-eye co-ordination:

• Play ‘floor-catch’. Sit on the floor, opposite your child, with your legs apart and roll the ball back and forth to each other
• Play object relays, where a few children line up and pass a ball, or any kind of object, to each other. It can be overheard or between the legs. Add a time element and get them to pass a certain number of objects in under a minute.
• When there aren’t any friends to play with, garden ball games like swingball are great. If you don’t have a swingball, just tie a normal ball up in a netting bag and let your child hit it with a bat.
• And don't forget the ultimate hand-eye activities: threading and needlework.