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Child Development & Early Education vocabulary · Physical and Motor Development

Gross motor skills

Meaning in child development & early education, with examples

nounCore term

In child development & early education, gross motor skills means: Skills that use the large muscles of the arms, legs and body, such as rolling over, sitting, crawling, walking, running, jumping and climbing.

In Turkish: kaba motor beceriler, büyük kas becerileri

How it is used

Used in development checklists, physiotherapy and when planning outdoor activities. People talk about gross motor development, gross motor play and gross motor milestones such as sitting and walking.

Example sentences

  1. The obstacle course helps children practise gross motor skills like balancing and climbing.

  2. We noticed some delay in his gross motor skills, so we talked to his parents about a referral.

Common collocations

  • gross motor development
  • gross motor play
  • gross motor milestones
  • balance and coordination
  • fine motor skillsSkills that use the small muscles of the hands and fingers, often together with the eyes, such as picking up small objects, using a spoon, holding a pencil or cutting with scissors.
  • crawlTo move along on hands and knees, or on the tummy; many babies start to crawl in the second half of their first year.
  • outdoor playPlay that takes place outside, in a garden, playground, park or forest, giving children space to run, climb, dig and explore nature.
  • milestoneA skill that most children learn within a typical age range, such as smiling, sitting without support, walking or saying first words, used to follow a child's progress.

More terms: Physical and Motor Development

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