Paper is a great medium with many fine motor possibilities. Cutting, coloring,
folding and pasting are all excellent activities.Activities That Aid in the Development of Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor activities involve the use of the small muscles of the hands. Many school activities involve fine motor skills, such as writing, cutting with scissors, and drawing. Working on these skills at home might be quite helpful to children, as so much of what they accomplish in school relates directly to their proficiency at fine motor skills.
Paper is a great medium with many fine motor possibilities. Cutting, coloring,
folding and pasting are all excellent activities.
Playing with jacks and marbles helps a child t learn to control their motor
movements.
Have your child use spring-type clothes pins to clip things together (make index
cards with numbers written on them, the child then clips the correct number of
clothespins to the numbered index card).
Clay and playdough are also great for developing fine motor skills. Add plastic
forks and other utensils for cutting the clay into pieces. A garlic press,
whisk, rolling pin, cookie cutters, even a rolling pizza slicker (with
supervision) can add a new dimension to the same activity.
Sorting small objects such as nails, screws, bolts, paper clips, and rubber
bands into groups.
Use a water mister to mist plants or grass.
Sewing cards require coordination from both hands. They can easily be made from
small shapes cut out of card board with holes poked through them. Stringing
beads, tube macaroni, Cheerios or Fruit Loops are always fun ways to help a
child refine fine motor coordination.
Put coins into a bank, play with wind-up toys, twist bottle caps on and off.
Clothing fasteners such as buttons, zippers, snaps, shoe strings require fine
hand control. Playing Dress up provides a good context for using fastening
skills.
Many commercially available games and toys provide great opportunities for using
the small muscles of the ands. Blocks, puzzles, Lite-Brite, legos tinker toys,
pick-up sticks, pot holder looms and easy to assemble models are all good
activities that involve the use of fine motor skills.
Wall push-outs: Stand with feet about 6-12 inches from the wall. Place palms
flat against the wall, bend at the elbows and bring the face towards the wall,
push out again. Practice counting while doing it.
Screw nuts on to matching bolts. Start with the largest size first and then move
to the next size down.
Use a hole puncher to make "snow" or confetti.