Fine motor skills involve using hands and fingers to control smaller objects.

Gross motor skills involve the coordination of larger muscles in the body to make larger movements.

Fine motor skills engage the smaller muscles in the hands and fingers so a child can grasp, hold, grip and pinch

Gross motor (physical) skills are those which require whole body movement and which involve the large (core stabilizing) muscles of the body to perform everyday functions, such as standing and walking, running and jumping, and sitting upright at the table.

They also includes eye-hand coordination skills such as ball skills (throwing, catching, kicking) as well as riding a bike or a scooter and swimming.

Fine motor skills are important. Evidence suggests there's a link between fine motor skills development and language, literacy and brain development.

Gross motor skills are important to enable children to perform every day functions, such as walking and running, playground skills (e.g. climbing) and sporting skills (e.g. catching, throwing and hitting a ball with a bat). However, these are crucial for everyday self care skills like dressing (where you need to be able to stand on one leg to put your leg into a pant leg without falling over) and climbing into and out of a car or even getting into and out of bed.