Fine Motor Ideas

We have a lot of activities available to help the children build their fine motor skills.  These activities are very popular.

First is the bouncy balls and the ice cube trays.  I found these round ice cube trays that the ball fit into perfectly.  I've included a melon baller for them to scoop.  The tricky part is to get the ball out of the ice cube tray.  They need a good grip with their thumb and index finger to lift them.

Next activity is with marbles, strawberry haulers and the suction cup shapes for your tub.  When you turn the shapes upside down the suction cups are the right size to hold a marble.  Plus they come in many different shapes; frog, fish, whale, octopus are a few that we have.

Then there is the dyed popcorn kernels that we used yesterday at the art table.  With what was left I put in an empty lettuce container and added these cute little egg cups and spoons. The only downfall is that the kernels do end up all over the place.

A fourth activity is sand printing.  You could also use flour or sugar or cornstarch.  This boy won't write his name using a pencil and his mom was concerned so I asked him to try writing it in the sand.  No problem.  He picked out the magnet letters and then wrote each letter.  I suggested to mom that she encourage him to try other activities that use the pincher grasp to build his confidence.

Lastly we have spinning tops.  It's a tough activity for the little ones but they love watching them and slowly figure out how to give them a little twist to make them go.

All of the materials for these activities are inexpensive and usually found at the thrift store or the dollar store.  Making it affordable for families to repeat at home.