Fine motor skills require small movements involving small muscles in the hand. Parents, daycare providers, and preschool teachers should introduce these concepts to kids from a young age to ensure they'll have the skills they'll need for everyday tasks as they get older.
But most of all, these activities should be open-ended and fun for the child so that they'll want to do them again and again. Choose a few of these fine motor activities to try with your child this week. You'll find that most of these activities are super simple to set up using materials you already have in your home.
Related posts:
Fine Motor Activities from Messy Little Monster
We have lots of fine motor activities for your little ones to explore right here, from the baby stage through toddler and preschooler ages. These activities use materials that you probably already have on hand, so you can get started right away!Pasta Play
Using dried pasta is a great, low-mess way to practice fine motor skills with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. This Pasta Play Activity involves pushing pasta through the holes in a colander, but your kids will find all sorts of fun ways to play with the pasta. The great thing about this activity is that pasta is so inexpensive, so you can do this as often as they'd like.
Rainbow Threading Craft
Our Rainbow Craft for Toddlers and Preschoolers is a fun and tasty project that the kids will have so much fun making. They'll work on their fine motor skills as they thread the cereal on the string. It's also an excellent activity for grouping and sorting by colours.
Peeling Tape Fine Motor Baby Activity
If you're looking for a simple way to engage your baby with some fine motor fun, try this Peeling Tape Activity. It encourages babies to use their thumb and forefinger in a pinching motion and helps develop hand-eye coordination.
Pasta Threading Activity
You probably have everything you need in the kitchen to set this Pasta Threading Activity up for the kids. All you need is dried pasta, Cheerios (or another loop cereal), and playdough. The kids can race to see who can complete their Cheerio tower the fastest!
Cheerios Bird Feeder
Work on fine motor skills while making this Cheerios Bird Feeder for your feathered friends outside! Kids will thread Cheerios on pipe cleaners with this activity, and they'll be shaped into a heart to hang on a tree branch.
Fine Motor Activity using Tweezers
Strengthen your child's hands by using tweezers to grasp objects. This hand-strengthening work is important for getting kids' hands ready for writing. Try this Christmas Fine Motor Skills Activity or set up something similar for any other theme.
Bead Caterpillars
Use pony beads and pipe cleaners to make Bead Caterpillars! Threading is a great fine motor activity. Kids who are old enough can also practice using a hole punch to create holes in the leaves for the caterpillars to move through.
Giant Droppers
Using giant droppers is great for working on hand strength. Use them with watercolour paint to make colourful art work or add them to a tray of water. This is a great activity for learning about colours and colour mixing.
Tugging Box
Making a tugging box for babies and toddlers is great for working on their fine motor skills. They will love trying to pull the ribbons from one side of the box to the other with this homemade toy. Its a great work out for their little hands.
Painting with Q Tips
Instead of painting with a paintbrush or doing finger painting try painting with Q sticks. Not only is this a fun way to paint, it is great for encouraging children to use their pincer grip.
Stickers Fine Motor Activity
Kids love stickers! The good news is that as well as keeping the kids busy, using stickers is also a great fine motor activity. Peeling stickers takes a lot of concentration and works on hand eye co-ordination. Make a snail (as seen in image) using our printable or make up your own shapes or pictures. Try making letters or even your child's name out of stickers.
Zoo Animal Tape Rescue Fine Motor Activity
Zoo animal tape rescue is a really easy fine motor activity to set up and it's perfect for younger children. Tape zoo animals to a hard surface and then invite your toddler or preschooler to 'rescue' the animals by peeling the tape.
More Fine Motor Activities
Here are even more amazing fine motor activities to try with your baby, toddler, or preschooler.
Scissor Skills
This Scissor Skills Activity from Days with Grey helps kids improve fine motor skills by cutting cooked spaghetti. They'll have fun cutting something with a new texture, and it's a great way to work on the proper way to hold scissors.
Kitchen Whisk Baby Fine Motor Activity
This Kitchen Whisk Activity from Hello, Wonderful is a fun way for babies to practice fine motor hand coordination. It's an easy craft to set up! You'll need some pom poms and a silicone whisk. You can also try this activity with pipe cleaners, sponges, and other materials suggested here as well.
Dinosaur Colour Matching Mats
Practice colour sorting and matching as well as grasping with this colourful Dinosaur Colour Matching Activity from Craft Play Learn. Kids can pick up their pom poms with their fingers (pinching) or use tweezers.
Wash the Socks
Kids can use their imagination to pretend play doing laundry and work on fine motor skills at the same time. They'll use tongs to transfer socks from the counter to the "washer," strengthening their grasping skills with this Wash the Socks Activity from Days with Grey.
Taped Toys Fine Motor Activity
You can't get much simpler than grabbing a few of your toddler or preschooler's toys and a roll of masking tape to set up this Taped Toys Activity from Laughing Kids Learn. Vary how challenging the activity is by changing the size and thickness of the toys you tape down.
Bobbing for Apples Fine Motor Activity
What could be more fun than this Bobbing for Apples Activity from Fantastic Fun and Learning? But instead of using your teeth, kids will use tongs to grasp the apples and pull them out of the bowl full of water.
Mini Clothespins Busy Bag
Use mini clothespins and craft sticks to create this fun Fine Motor Activity Busy Bag by Powerful Mothering. Kids can practice colour matching and counting at the same time!
Winter Fine Motor Mats with LEGO Bricks
LEGO-loving kids will enjoy these Winter Fine Motor Mats from Life Over C's. Kids also work on colour matching, sorting, counting, and more with this fine motor activity.
Farm Themed Fine Motor Activity
Fall is a fun time of year for fine motor activities, like this one from Stay at Home Educator, where kids practice Scooping and Pouring Corn Kernels. Kids will learn how to turn their wrists to scoop and pour and will practice pinching the kernels between their fingers to pick them up individually.
Water Transfer Activity
This Water Transfer Activity from Teaching 2 and 3-Year-Olds strengthens fine motor skills as kids transfer water from containers to ice cube trays using pipettes or droppers. It's a great activity for the home or classroom.
Fine Motor Play with Lids
Another simple activity that you can set up in no time is Lemon Lime Adventures' Fine Motor Play with Lids using recycled lids and a box. Use large lids, as shown in the pictures, when doing this activity with toddlers.
Bubble Wrap Activity
Practice letters or colours with this fine motor Bubble Wrap Activity by Nurture Store. Teach kids how to pop the bubble wrap, and call out letters, colours, etc. for them to pop. Close supervision is required for this activity.
Alphabet Fine Motor Activity
Work on letter recognition and awareness while improving finger strength with a fun Alphabet Fine Motor Activity from Childhood 101. You could do a version of this every week using different materials as you and your toddler or preschooler work through the entire alphabet.
Bug Game and Fine Motor Activity
Perfect for spring, the kids will ask to play this Bug Game from Preschool Inspirations again and again. Kids use tweezers to grab the bugs out of the Easter grass. You can also use this activity for bug identification, spelling, etc.
Fine Motor Activity Using Straws and Cardboard Tubes
This Straw and Cardboard Tube Activity from Laughing Kids Learn is easy and inexpensive. You can use paper straws instead of plastic, if you prefer, or even use pipe cleaners instead of the straws.
Paper Plate Heart Beginner Sewing Activity
Preschool age is a great time to practice beginner sewing skills with simple crafts, like this Paper Plate Heart from Natural Beach Living.
Wow! There are so many fun and engaging fine motor activities to choose from! Which of these fine motor skills activities will you try first with your kids?
Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube or Subscribe for free email updates!
No comments