Fine motor skills are important to develop at a young age so children have strong
grasping, strong writing, feeding, and self care skills later. So how can you
encourage fine motor strength in children? Luckily, there are many daily fine motor skills activities you can try that will encourage kids to use those fine motor skills
and continue to strengthen them.
Look below at 20 everyday activities to
encourage fine motor skills in children, so you can be sure you are doing all
you can to help them grow and develop the skills they need!
You might also want to check out our list of more fine motor activities (with photos).
20 Everyday Activities to Encourage Fine Motor Skills in Children
1. Give your child a spray bottle and rag to help wash windows. Just water will work fine. If you wish, you can have them wipe down tables as well. (If you are happy to get more messy try making your own spray paint)
2. Place out a variety of shoes so they can practice tying the laces. Shoes with buckles or even velcro can also be fun.
3. Let them “scrub” the teeth of a doll with a small toothbrush or wash toy animals.
4. Give them a wet sponge and let them “wash” small play dishes. A small bin is helpful and so is a drop of dish soap!
5. Allow them to help fold napkins at lunch and dinner time. Let them get creative and fold the napkins as they wish.
6. Give your child tweezers and have them pick up cotton balls with them. Or, you can try picking up pom poms.
7. Thread tubes of pasta onto straws, pipe cleaners or piece of spaghetti. You could also thread cereal onto spaghetti.
8. Playing cards can be used to build paths, houses, and patterns. Mini playing cards work even better!
9. Let your child stack sugar cubes. Can they make a tall tower or maybe an igloo? Mix it up by making coloured sugar cubes!
10. Use an eye dropper to practice dropping water into small containers. You can colour the water ahead of time if you wish and even try a little colour mixing.
11. Let your child press q-tips, toothpicks or matchsticks into balls of clay or dough. You can make your own dough ahead of time or just buy pre-made.
12. Fill a small bin with dried rice and scoops so kids can pour and play. You can dye the rice first with food colouring or paint if you wish.
13. You can also fill a small bin with water and scoops so the child can practice pouring, scooping, measuring. You can even add food colouring to the water if you wish.
14. Give your child an old keyboard. They can practice pushing the buttons and spelling out their names.
15. Use peel and stick gel decals on windows. Kids will love peeling and sticking away and making their own artistic creations. Why not try and find seasonal ones!
16. Finger paints are always a great way to get little hands active. Put on an apron and let kids get messy creating some hands on fun. Use edible paints with younger children.
17. Let kids help sort small objects such as change, buttons, or beads. Sort them into an old egg carton.
18. Make finger puppets out of felt. Kids will enjoy moving their fingers and putting on a show for their friends.
19. Let kids play with yarn. Let them wrap it around craft sticks, jars, or even sticks. Use a variety of colours and make something fun!
20. Give children dolls with hair they can brush, try to braid, put clips and bows in. etc. These are still fine motor skills and a doll can help children strengthen those little hands.
Are you ready to strengthen those fine motor skills? Give these 20 everyday activities to encourage fine motor skills in children a try. As you can see, they don’t require a great deal of supplies, they are easy and for the most part mess free, and they can all be completed right in the comfort of your home. Give theses fine motor skills activities a try and see what a difference they can make!
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