Activities to Develop Fine Motor Skills

Young children learn through Sensory/Motor Integration which means exploring and discovering using their five senses and movement. They enjoy manipulating interesting objects, textures and materials. Encouragement and praise will also lengthen time children spend on activities.This Fine Motor Skills video was generously offered to me by Katie from Mommy with Selective Memory.

Activities to Develop Fine Motor Skills:

• Pouring sand, water, salt, sugar, rice, or beans using bowls, funnels, spoons, cups, tubes, rolls, colander.
• Sorting small objects with interesting textures like cotton balls, pom poms, pastas, Legos, dominoes and shells, placing them into egg cartons or bowls.
• Pushing objects through a slot like pennies or buttons into a Piggy Bank or container with a slit in lid; pushing pegs into a board like golf tees into Styrofoam.
• Picking up marbles, pennies, or buttons and putting them in a jar . For variety and exercise, have child stand up and toss small objects into a box or sack.
• Building with blocks, Lincoln logs, Legos.
• Lacing with lacing cards – poking string through holes and pushing and pulling.
• Grasping wooden puzzles pieces and maneuvering into correct position.
• Picking stickers off page and successfully placing onto paper.
• Playing with Playdough and clay:  Pulling, pressing, stretching, rolling, pounding, squeezing, twisting, pinching.
• Squeezing glue bottles, water guns, sponges, large plastic tweezers.
• Beading necklaces made with pinwheel or tubular pasta or use large beads.
• Pushing pipe cleaners into holes in colanders or weave through baking cooling racks.
• Marking with fat pencils, crayons, markers, and sidewalk chalk.
• Cutting with child safety scissors. Opening and closing the scissors, as well as cutting, increases hand strength.
•  Arranging rocks, shells, leaves, sticks, cards, M&Ms, pasta, or whatever interests a child. Children enjoy sorting, then making a collection which can be labeled for a reading/writing connection. 
 

Children will sort objects with no encouragement because they are natural pattern seekers - trying to make sense of their ever expanding world. Sorting and Patterning give children a sense of stability and consistency as well as helps them develop reading, math and science skills.

To view the other Fine Motor Skills Videos, click 

Pouring Sand Video  and Playing with Pennies

 

For a glimpse into Kindergarten see my book. Would you like inexpensive ideas, activities, and games to teach your child through play? Mommy with Selective Memory and I can help save your sanity, one project at a time, with The Happy Mommy Handbook: The Ultimate How-to Guide on Keeping Your Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy, Out of Trouble and Motivated to Learn. Both have been number 1 bestsellers.    

Playing with Pennies: Developing Fine Motor Skills

My four year old daughter was receiving Occupational Therapy for the development of fine motor skills due to her delays (premie). One day she saw colorful gum in a gumball machine. I put money in the machine and a little ball of gum dropped. Sarah delicately picked up the gum and stuck it in her mouth. I thought: She has enough fine motor skills to get what she wants! I couldn’t wait to tell her therapist who mildly chuckled and gave me many suggestions for fine motor skill development to do at home, none of which involved chewing gum.

But I learned the key to development: Children learn by doing things that are interesting and relevant to them to reach a desired goal—or just for pure sensory integration fun. Sensory/Motor Integration means uses the five senses and movement to explore and discover. Children learn through playful activities that are age appropriate and attainable. Opportunity, praise, and encouragement will help your child develop skills.

Mommy with Selective Memory offered me this sweet video of her 18-month-old son putting pennies in a salt container. How cheap is this for an activity to develop fine motor skills? Little Buddy is 18 months and I am impressed with his dexterity and length of time spent on this project. But Katie is determined that her children learn through play. This activity lasted long enough for Katie to enjoy some time cleaning the kitchen.Whoppeee! But that is better than a child sitting in front of the television or hanging on your leg. A little breathing room is good for mommy and Buddy is developing a sense of independence.Of course, Buddy understands not to put the coins in his mouth. Little children still exploring objects with their mouth must be supervised. Children learn by exploring with their five senses, after all.



Other objects to put in a container could include beans, pasta, marbles, rocks, cotton balls, fluffy craft balls, little cards, or tokens from a favorite game - anything of interest to a child.  You notice that Buddy is doing this activity in the kitchen and mom is also in the kitchen in case anything goes into his mouth.

TREASURE BOX 
A child could sort the objects before, and after, putting them in the container. You could also use plastic jars or shoe boxes with a slit in the lid for variation. Children love to decorate their personal boxes with stickers, washable paint, and their name so that Big Sis knows exactly whose treasure box it belongs to. Print their name on the box and guide them tracing over the letters with scented markers. Use different colors of crayons in tracing for a Rainbow effect. Only print the first letter of their name in a capital letter to help the kindergarten teacher. It is best to teach young children the lower case letters before upper case because reading is mostly in lower case.

Good activities give children a sense of accomplishment, make them happy, and build self-esteem, thus fewer behavior problems occur. Children have short attention spans but will play/learn longer with objects that are interesting to them, fun to do, and with lots of praise or rewards.

For more information on Fine Motor Skills and video click
Pouring Sand Video

or for a list of activities and skills click Mommy with Selective Memory

You might enjoy my book which is a No. 1 Bestseller on Amazon Kindle in PreK/K and Homeschooling categories: Kindergarten: Tattle-Tales, Tools, Tactics, Triumphs and Tasty Treats for Teachers and Parents. Newly released and already in top in Motherhood and Preschool categories: The Happy Mommy Handbook: The Ultimate How-to Guide on Keeping Your Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy, Out of Trouble and Motivated to Learn. I will visit and follow if you leave me a comment.

Pouring Sand Video - Fine Motor Series (1)

My friend Katie from MommywithSelectiveMemory has generously offered me a video of her daughter enjoying pouring sand. Sounds simple? Yes, but it gave Katie 45 minutes of mom time while Little Munchkin enjoyed the sensory/ integration experience of sand and developed her fine motor skills. 

Katie and I are going to be featuring a series of videos to give parents ideas to help their children develop fine motor skills. Children learn by doing things that are interesting and relevant to them to reach a desired goal—or just for pure fun. They are children, after all. Children learn through playful activities that are age appropriate and attainable. Opportunity, praise, and encouragement will help your child develop skills.

What is Fine Motor Skill? 
It is the ability to use fingers, hands, and arms together to reach, grasp, and manipulate small objects and use tools like forks, spoons, crayons, and scissors. It is the coordination of small muscle movements, especially the fingers with vision, to accomplish a task and prepare a child to eat with utensils, turn pages in a book, turn knobs, pinch objects, transfer objects from one hand to another, use writing tools, use a computer, and dress themselves using buttons, zippers and tying shoes.

Young children are ambidextrous and need to develop the crossover of mid-section. They need to be able to transfer objects from one hand to the other before dominating one hand usage. Around age three to four, children will begin to demonstrate hand dominance.

Little Munchkin loves playing in sand. She is 3 1/3 years old and would have stayed with this task longer but mom had 45 minutes of glorious time to prepare a favorite dinner. To extend this activity, a plastic tablecloth could be put on table with a little sand and Munchkin could trace her fingers around in the sand feeling the texture as she builds her small muscles tracing her name or drawing a unique picture.

 OTHER IDEAS OF POURING include using water, salt, sugar, rice, popcorn, or beans. Of course, children who are still exploring with their mouth need supervision. Utensils or learning tools can be bowls, measuring cups, funnels, spoons, colanders and an assortment of tubes including toilet paper, paper towel and wrapping paper tubes. Children love using "grown up" things such as measuring cups, spoons, and pans.

Read what motivated Katie to find more
Fine Motor Skill Activities on her post

How to Develop Fine Motor Skills with Your Preschooler

Here is the 2nd in Video Series on

Fine Motor Skills

LET CHILDREN EXPERIENCE CHILDHOOD.