Fine Motor Fun

We've been focusing more lately on developing fine-motor skills, and I wanted to show case some of the activities we've participated in:

 

Stickers are an easy way to get young children to work on their pincer grasp - they are inviting, appealing and inexpensive.  Plus, they are easy to remove from walls or tables should they wander away from the crafting station.  I find it easiest to just lay a dozen different sheets across the table with colored paper and crayons and let the children explore.  Even the one year old in my care will peel the stickers off the sheet (though he prefers to squish them, instead of sticking them to paper - I let him, its still good use of the pincer grasp).

 

Open ended sticker craft:  We did this for Halloween.  I didn't direct the children on how to construct the pumpkins.  I just let them explore.

The results were beautiful!

I also found this puzzle at a local store - it has a variety of doors held closed by latches and chains and other simple hardware.  My toddlers LOVE dabbling with this, opening and closing each one.  The perfect instant fine motor activity!

Coloring is also a useful fine motor activity.  With older children, encourage proper pencil holding techniques.  And put out a variety of books to choose between.

For school age children, this is a good activity:  Put coloring pages behind tracing paper, and have the children trace the lines with fine point markers.  Then removed the coloring page and let them finish their masterpiece.