Fine Motor Skills

52 Fine Motor Development Skills and Activities for Kids Why are fine motor skills are so important when it come to a child’s development? When a pre k child or young child engages in an activity which encourages the use of their fine motor abilities, they are utilizing their brain, hands, and eyes to develop hand-eye coordination to help them manipulate objects. This is very important for learning self-help skills, becoming ready for many academic tasks in the future, as well as becoming proficient in writing skills. It is a good idea to provide a variety of fine motor skills and fine motor activities for children to practice. Some motor activities may require more effort on the part of some pre k children, where other fine motor activities can be mastered with only minimal effort, but they are all important in the growth and development of young children during their early years. Below are 52 fine motor activities to keep you going for the entire year, plus 6 bonus activities to mix things up when you need it. These activities are a combination of art materials, manipulative toys, and more to give the preschoolers and young children a variety of fine motor activities at various difficulty levels.You can use these fine motor activities however you like with the pre k children in your care. We recommend providing one fine motor skills activity per week so preschoolers & toddlers have time to master that skill. Some pre k children and toddlers may need longer, some children may need less time. It is important to make sure each child gets the time they need to practice before moving onto the next activity. If you feel some preschoolers or young children are ready to move on but some need a bit more time, you can have both fine motor skills activities out at the same time. 52 Fine Motor Activities for the Classroom (plus 6 bonus activities) Molding and rolling play dough into large round balls using the palms of hands. Using large tweezers to pick up various sized objects (pom poms, cotton balls, etc.) Providing finger puppets for playing games or action songs. Placing a hole punch on the art shelf with construction paper. Using chop-sticks to pick up small objects. (The children don’t have to master the proper use of the chopsticks but the practice is great for fine motor development.) Create a make-shift clothes line and have the children use clothes pegs to hang up dolls clothing and blankets. Cutting a variety of paper using child safe scissors. (Calendars, card stock, construction paper, magazines paper, etc.) Stretching rubber bands around different sized bottles and containers. Put objects in a bowl and have the children move the objects to another bowl using a spoon. Stringing beads on shoelaces, string, or pipe cleaners. Using different sized chalk on chalk boards or construction paper. Ripping up news paper into pieces. Crumple up the pieces into balls. Using stickers or self sticking shapes in the art […]