Fine motor skills (or dexterity) refer to one’s ability to coordinate small muscles in movements that occur in the wrists, hands, fingers, feet and toes. They involve the synchronization of hands and fingers with the eyes and include actions such as picking up objects between the thumb and finger, writing carefully and even blinking.

These skills provide coordination, aid in the growth of intelligence and continue adapting throughout the stages of human development. Activities such as creating stop motion videos with HUE Animation Studio offers children numerous opportunities to develop their fine motor skills.

The physical, hands-on drawing of storyboards, painting backgrounds and making puppets and sets from LEGO®, clay and craft supplies helps children to gain skills in manipulating materials with different properties and builds confidence when carefully cutting, sticking and shaping small details.

Animating puppets ‘frame by frame’ requires steady hands and a delicate touch. Moving a puppet too much while animating results in the animation playing back too quickly, so children quickly learn they must move the puppet in small, controlled amounts. The HUE Animation software’s ‘Onion Skin’ feature helps students to see how much they have moved their puppet each frame, aiding hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness.

Finally, while using the HUE Animation software, children will improve their digital dexterity while pressing keys on computer keyboards and using mice and laptop trackpads.

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