Eye-Hand Coordination: A fundamental cognitive skill for everyday life

Eye-hand coordination is the ability to do activities that require the simultaneous use of our hands and eyes, and is crucial for development.

Activities that use information received by our eyes to guide our hands into performing a movement utilize eye-hand coordination. Activities where eye-hand coordination is required include grasping a toy, tying shoelaces, writing words, brushing hair, catching a ball etc.

Why is hand-eye coordination important for your child?

Most activities that we do in our daily life use some degree of eye-hand coordination which is why it is important to ensure that it is developed as efficiently as possible. As for kids, good eye-hand coordination can help your child in many areas of life. Some of them include:

• Sports: It can help your kid catch or throw a ball, hit a ball with a racket or a bat and gradually to move to more challenging activities

• Handwriting: Visual-motor integration, which forms a base to writing, is enabled by eye-hand coordination. Here, the eyes need to direct the movement of the hand to form letters, increase or decrease the size and stay within the lines.

• Reading: Following text on a page to read uses eye-tracking skills. This skill can be developed by activities that use hand-eye coordination.

• Play: Things like stacking blocks, building Lego, drawing, painting are among various other activities that utilize eye-hand coordination wherein an object needs to be seen and then moved appropriately.

How can you identify eye-hand coordination problems in your child?

These problems are initially noted as lack of skill in drawing or writing. Drawing could show inappropriate orientation of paper and the child would be unable to stay within the lines in a coloring book. Another indicator could be if the child frequently tends to depend on his/her hand for observing and exploring different toys. Mismatch in eye-hand coordination could also stem from vision issues, movement difficulties or coordination problems. Additionally, lookout for clumsiness, frustration or holding objects very close to eyes.

How can you improve your child’s hand eye coordination?

These games and activities are quick and easy, and they help exercise the brain to coordinate between your child’s hands and eyes simultaneously.

1. Throwing and catching a ball: The child will have to watch the ball carefully and coordinate their hands to stop the ball before it hits their body or the ground. Different sized balls can be used as smaller balls require advanced coordination.

2. Threading with beads and lacing shoelaces: You can use chunky beads and laces if the child is struggling. This activity increases concentration and controlled movements can be practiced. Here, the child will have to coordinate eyes and fingers to thread and lace.

3. Puzzles: Doing puzzles improves fine motor coordination, shape recognition, problem solving and attention as pieces need to be fit in the appropriate position. Puzzles of different sizes and materials can be used (e.g. wooden puzzles are sturdier).

4. Cutting and sticking: Giving your child different types of paper like newspaper, tissue paper, cardboard to cut into different shapes and then stick with different types of glue can improve focus and hand movement.

5. Playing with toys in a sandpit: Filling containers of different sizes and making different objects with sand can help increase coordination and develop hand muscles.

6. Drawing or painting: This basic activity requires the simultaneous use of eyes and fingers, and provides a good sensory experience. Different mediums can be given for efficient development of eye-hand coordination (paper, cardboard, pencils, crayons, paint etc.)

7. Construction toys: Using Lego or building blocks, which involve linking and joining pieces of different sizes, are great for improving concentration and coordination.

8. Skipping rope: This activity, though a little difficult, needs the child to coordinate both sides of the body to move the rope and watch that they jump at the right time.

Assessing your child’s eye-hand coordination, recognizing deficiency (if any) and consistently performing aforementioned activities can consequently help in fine motor development.

As most hand movements in daily life require visual input and given the fact that a large part of this learning takes place by the first 4 years of a child's life, early stimulation is essential!