Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Craft Activities (Finger Painting and Origami) to Improve Fine Motor Skills in Children with Developmental Delay

Background: Fine motor skills are essential for tasks like writing, drawing, and self-care, and are crucial for cognitive and social development. These skills may develop more slowly in children with developmental delays, affecting academic performance and daily functioning.  Aim and Objective: To find the effectiveness of craft activities in improving fine motor skills in children with developmental delay.  Materials and Methods: A quasi-experimental (pre-test and post-test) design was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of craft-based activities in improving fine motor skills in children with developmental delays. The study included 15 children aged 2-5 years diagnosed with developmental delay. Participants underwent a 6-week intervention with 5 sessions in a week, each lasting 45 minutes, involving finger painting and origami. Fine motor skills were assessed using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scale-2 (PDMS-2), administered both before and after the intervention to evaluate improvements in grasping and visual-motor integration.  Results: Data analysis using the SPSS software showed significant results, with a p-value of 0.001 for the Peabody Developmental Motor Scale-2 (PDMS-2). This is considered statistically significant as the p-value is less than 0.05.  Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that the craft activity has a significant positive impact on fine motor skills in children with developmental delays, as the mean score increased from 61.20 in the pre-test to 65.40 in the post-test, with a t-value of - 7.359 and a p-value of 0.001, indicating the effectiveness of the intervention.