Fostering and developing fine motor skills in toddlers and preschoolers is a significant precursor to kindergarten. Strength and dexterity in the hand, fingers, and wrist are essential in manipulating learning tools with ease and confidence. There are numerous ways to promote fine motor development through everyday activities and play. Here are just a handful of activities I have done with M and B:
Play Dough
squeezing, rolling, flattening, stamping… the pliability of play dough makes it a perfect fine motor manipulative.
Buttons, Clasps, Zippers
Buttoning shirts and zipping up zippers are a good way to develop muscles in the hand. I made a button snake for M to help him practice.
Sorting
Sorting small manipulatives such as: buttons, money, candy, Lego, pom-poms, etc., using just their hands (pincer grasp), or different tools (ie. tweezers, spoons, chopsticks) is another effective way to develop fine motor function.
Here’s M sorting pom-poms by colour, using a tweezer
Bottle Caps
Tightening and loosening caps onto bottles, jars, and jugs is a good way to exercise the wrist and hands.
Threading, and Fitting Objects into Small Openings
For this activity I lay out a colander, pipecleaners, pom-poms, beads, drinking straws, and bottles (you can also use ribbon, string or shoelaces to make it more advanced) and have the boys experiment on their own. This works great when I’m trying to get dinner ready and I need to keep them occupied!
M, busy threading pipecleaners through the holes of the colander, and beads through the pipecleaners
sticking straws through the colander holes
B, pushing pom-poms through a spout
Cutting with Scissors
M, cutting a fringe around a piece of card stock
Playing with Stickers
Picking and peeling off stickers, and positioning them onto a piece of paper, is another of the boys’ favourite fine motor activities. I like to use the foam stickers from the dollar store so M has to peel the paper from the back of each one 🙂
Oversized Dot-to-Dots
I did this with M on a flat (table) and vertical surface (wall). When asked to connect the dots when the paper was fastened to the wall, M was able to make a pretty decent pencil grip (although, in the picture below he is connecting the numbers rather than the dots, haha!). When writing on a flat surface, he required reminders as to which way his wrist should be turned. I haven’t put too much emphasis on attaining a proper pencil grip at this point, because I don’t want to frustrate him, but M is definitely headed in the right direction.
Everyday Play
Building with Lego’s and blocks, driving toy cars along a track, painting, colouring, tearing paper, glueing, stamping etc.
These are just some of the things I’ve been doing to keep my bugs busy, while simultaneously building their fine motor skills as well!
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