Improving Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills are those skills that allow you to develop the ability to do such things as write and manipulate small objects.
Painting
- Alternate between large, stubby brushes and smaller, finer brushes. The smaller the brush is, the more control they need over their hands.
- Paint with cotton swabs. This affords some really fine work and allows them to develop their pincer grip needed for learning how to write
- Fingerpaint
- Create a Handprint and Footprint Calendar
Puzzles
- Start with large peg puzzles. The large knobs allow the child to gain more control over their finger movement.
- Puzzles are also great for helping a child recognize shapes. Shape learning is a prerequisite to learning letters and numbers.
Playdough
- Add some extra equipment such as rollers and cookie cutters.
Cutting
- Teaching Your Child How to Use Scissors
- Cut playdoh or clay.
- Cut up old magazines and junk mail. This process will make a mess but can easily be cleaned up with a broom and dustpan. Sometimes learning is messy!!
- Practice cutting different shapes
- Help the child draw around their hand and let them cut it out
Glue and Paste
- Cotton balls, paper, tissue, wax paper
Threading & Beading
- Buy some beads to thread or use some colored pasta and string. This activity requires a lot of control and a steady hand.
Paper Dolls
- Free Paper Doll Printables @ Activity Village
- Nick Jr's Max and Ruby Paper Dolls with great suggestions at Preschool to Pre-K and More
Blocks
- Start out with larger blocks (Duplo Legos
Games
- Board games with pieces and parts to pick up and move are ideal for developing fine motor coordination.
- Jenga
- Battleship
Water
- Our kids love to play with squirt bottles. Fun during bathtime or to help in cleaning!
- Pour water between containers.
- Squeeze a sponge full of water.
Drawing & Writing
- Children learn to draw by copying. Start with lines and progress to simple shapes.
- Use a Stetro Grip to help with holding a pencil correctly
- Dot-to-Dot worksheets help in pencil control
- Play “Draw What I Draw” – have your child draw what you draw and then reverse. Keep shapes very simple.
- Give your child different shaped objects to draw around. You can also make these out of cardboard.
- Highlights Puzzle Buzz
Bubbles
- Blow bubbles outside and have your child try and catch or pop the bubbles. For more difficulty, have your child try and catch a bubble on a bubble wand.
- Blow bubbles during bathtub, in the tub. It keeps all of the sticky mess in the tub and is a delight for the little ones! Thanks, Rhonda.
