Fun and easy ways to integrate fine motor activities that will build hand strength, coordination and pencil grip in your preschool students
This week’s Bam Radio show is titled, “Fine Motor Skills: What Are They, Why Are They Too Important to Overlook?” and before you go any further, take a minute to listen to what the experts have to say! You can view the show and listen here or here!
Rae Pica with Dr. Christy Isbell, Allison Sampish, Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed.
“The development of fine motor skills are often a casualty of the rush to get young children up to academic speed. In this segment, our guests explain why fine motor skills are a critical building block for higher learning and should never be overlooked” (Bam Radio)
Pick Up Sticks
Sorting and Transferring Objects
I am always exploring new ways I can promote the use of fine motor skills in my classroom…
I may set out something like picking up and sorting pom poms with tweezers or chopsticks into colorful bags…
Whether the children use my homemade straw tweezers or they use their hands to pick up, manipulate, and move the pom poms – they are using their fine motor skills in the process.
Building Pre-Writing Skills
Promoting the use of fine motor skills is an important part of preparing young children to write, catch and throw a ball, type on a computer, open a door, and the list goes on. As young children develop the muscles in their hands, they develop the strength they need to complete fine motor processes that will play a valuable part in higher level learning.
Developing Proper Pencil Grip
Promoting Fine Motor Development
There are lots of ways to promote fine motor skills and help children build fine motor strength including cutting with scissors…
Squeezing, manipulating, pinching, and rolling playdough…
Weaving, lacing, and sewing…
Peeling and sticking stickers…
Scooping, pouring, mixing and the list goes on…
There are opportunities all throughout the preschool classroom to promote fine motor development!
How to Make Homemade Tweezers
I made 2 different versions of homemade tweezers from straws. This isn’t a perfect solution to real tweezers but it does provide a new experience for preschoolers to try out. The straws I used were very nice and sturdy from Meijer…
Version 1: Cut one long straw in half. Hot glue a skinnier piece of straw inside the end of each bigger straw.
Version 2: Bend the straw in half – add tape to hold
Straws, tape
If you have a fun idea that promotes fine motor skills in young children, I invite you to add your idea in the comments section below!
Links to Grow on…
Pencil Grasp Development by OT Mom
Kindergarten Hand Exercises by OT MOM
Handwriting: Pre-K Pages
Fine Motor Development by School Sparks
30 Kids Activities and Materials for Promoting Fine Motor Skills from Hands on: as we grow
How to Help Your Toddler Develop Fine Motor Skills by Smart Parent Advice
Fine motor skill activities are so much fun, and they don’t have to be complicated. We spend much of the day doing activities that promote fine motor. We also love gross motor, but don’t all children
That’s what I think I like the most – is that fine motor play doesn’t have to be complicated:)
Great ideas, Deborah … I love your pom pom activities and homemade tweezers! Thanks for the linky! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by today Deb!
Love those homemade tweezers!
They are not quite as good as real ones – but we have been having fun trying to find ways to use them:)
love the tweezers… thanks for the inspiration on this. made me realize that i don’t have many activities with the fine motor skill focus. time to start brainstorming!
You found a good place to start!
And please don’t forget the outdoors and nature!! Picking up tiny insects, worms, and picking wild flowers, to name just a few thing that the outdoors offers for using those fine motor and eye hand coordination skills.
Great reminder Judi!! Absolutely, we can take fine motor play into the outdoors too!!
Great linky – I love fine motor play!
BTW I got my tweezers here – https://www.wizkidz.ca/category.aspx?q=tweezers
Thanks for the tip!!
I LOVE this post! You know I am always finding ways to work the fine motor muscles in most everything we do, all over the classroom. It was hard for me to choose which post to link to! 🙂 Thank you for sharing this!
You do so many wonderful thing Sheryl – I can’t imagine trying to choose!
My oldest had/has a fine motor delay. He was very active and more interested in gross motor activity when he was a preschooler. Do you have any suggestions for incorporating fine motor into gross motor play with kids that are less willing to sit for a fine motor activity?
Fine motor play doesn’t have to be a sit still activity:) Anything that invites children to use their hands and fingers will work like painting with water outside on a wall or dipping sponges in water in one bucket then wringing them out in another bucket. Sometimes we get the impression that it should be an activity with high levels of concentration and although some of the fine motor work can be, it can also be about just strengthening those fine muscles until children are ready to stay more focused on something more tedious or complex.
Other ideas would include reaching up high to try and grab a helium balloon string or seeing how many beanbags or other objects you can hold and carry from one place to another. Essentially, getting children to use their hands to control an object while participating in a movement activity.
Does this help?
Great post! We’ve had a lot of fun this week with fine motor activities. We played with tooth picks and playdoh, putting coffee stirers in small holes, scooping beans, and chop sticks with pom poms. My little man loves these types of hands-on activities.
The tweezers are a great idea! I’m defineately going to be making some right away. The kiddos are always losing the tweezers. Thanks for sharing.
Love all those colorful pom poms & bags to sort them into!
The bright colors and the softness of the pompoms makes a wonderful textural and color experience…