Gross Motor Skills: Whole-Body Movement and Learning

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-12

What gross motor skills are

Big movements of the whole body are one kind of motor skill. You may hear them called gross motor skills.

On our pages, the name describes a skill. It is not a diagnosis, and not a type of child.

Our guide to writing and handwriting covers where the writing gets stuck. Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it.

What movement is shown to build

One review pooled 106 studies of training the body's sense of position and movement (Seo and colleagues, 2023). Training aimed at that sense improved it more than other training or none. Every study in it was of adults. The reviewers found no study that trained one such task and tested a different one.

Movement builds movement, and on its own it has not been shown to build reading or writing.

In our view, movement and coordination are worth working on for their own sake. Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it.

Movement and thinking

One review pooled 37 studies of children and teens (Bao and colleagues, 2024). Better motor skill went with slightly better executive function. Most of the studies looked at one point in time. Its authors say the few experiments limit what it can show about cause.

As we describe it, executive function is a set of everyday jobs. They get work started and keep it on track.

One large trial assigned the classes of 856 children at random (Meijer and colleagues, 2021; online 2020). The children did aerobic exercise or thinking-heavy exercise four times a week for 14 weeks. Other classes had ordinary physical education. The trial measured executive function. It found no differences on any of its measures.

Our page on what studies found about movement and coordination has more. Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it.

Movement and handwriting

One small trial gave some children sensory-motor work (Denton and colleagues, 2006). They got better at some sensory-motor skills. Their handwriting got worse. A practice group in the same trial improved. The children had handwriting trouble but no identified school need. We could read only its summary.

In another trial, a sensory-motor program improved about as much as a task-based one (Weintraub and colleagues, 2009). Both were called handwriting programs. That trial's summary does not say what practice each held.

To us, balance and a steady trunk are worth having for their own sake. Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it. Keep any movement work alongside handwriting practice, not in place of it.

Some children slump or hunch at the desk. In our view, watch the writing, not only the posture. Our page on writing posture covers hunching and the hooked wrist.

When movement looks hard

Some children trip, fall or drop things a lot. That is a behavior. The behavior alone does not tell you why.

The NHS describes how a child with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) may appear (NHS, 2023). It says they may bump into things, drop things and fall over a lot. The NHS adds that this alone is not necessarily a sign of DCD.

Our rule is to describe patterns on these pages. We do not put a name on a child. We explain the words DCD and dyspraxia on a page of their own. Our page on a child who seems clumsy has more. Our page on a child who bumps into everything has more.

In our view, if coordination worries you, raise it with your child's doctor. Experts from many countries wrote joint advice on DCD (Blank and colleagues, 2019). That advice says the medical check looks at the senses, including vision. Ask whether your child's eyes have been checked recently.

Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it.

Who can help

If movement or coordination worries you, talk to your child's doctor or the school. A therapist, such as an occupational therapist, can assess movement. A doctor rules out other causes. An international guideline on coordination trouble describes both routes (Blank and colleagues, 2019).

In our view, if movement worries you as well as writing, tell the teacher and your child's doctor. If only the writing worries you, start with the teacher. Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it.

Movement for its own sake

In our view, find movement your child enjoys. To us, enjoyment keeps a child coming back.

Our page on a child who can't sit still covers movement breaks. Our page on crossing the midline has 20 activities to try as play.

This page makes no claim for any program. Keep any movement work alongside handwriting practice, not in place of it. Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it.

If a skill has gone

Some children could do something and now cannot. That is different from a child who has not built the skill yet. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Writing well below your child's other schoolwork.
• A teacher who raises a concern about writing.
• Extreme upset about writing.
• Complete avoidance of writing.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

If no skill has gone, start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.