Fine motor skills are important to every child’s development. Here you’ll find convenient methods to help your children with theirs while they play.
Developing fine motor skills can happen naturally for many children as they play in these ways: pretending to cook, play dough, painting, origami, putting together puzzles, playing board games, playing with bath toys, sand and water table activities, building with legos and blocks, and drawing with chalk.
That’s a lot of options. It could seem overwhelming, but each of these activities is actually great for children’s development in many areas. Let’s look at how to incorporate them simply.
Free Play Activities for Fine Motor Skills
By free, I mean using items you have around the house…things you might re-purpose, but you don’t have to buy anything.
- Let your kids play with a colander, mixing bowls, and spatulas. Young children have fantastic imaginations! They’ll “bake you a cake” in no time. 😀
Optional: Add dry rice, beans, or pasta and a play space or a small plastic tote to contain everything.
Personally, I think it’s hard to start young chefs too early. So, as you’re preparing food, look for ways for the kiddos to help. Yes, it’s messier and takes longer. That’s the way it is while they’re little! Embrace it. 🙂
- Origami can be as simple or complex as you make it. If you have paper, you can do this.
Remember making paper snowflakes when you were little? What about paper airplanes? They’re still just as much fun. The folding and the cutting are both helpful for fine motor skills.
- Bath time can be great for developing fine motor skills. Get plastic cups of different sizes from the kitchen, measuring cups and spoons, and plastic bowls. The colander you used earlier could be fun, too.
Pouring, filling, dumping, stacking…all of these are ways your child will develop fine motor skills while playing in the tub.
And, since you’ll be right there with them, why not talk about what they’re doing and develop math and language skills as well?
That’s right, by describing what they’re doing and using words like full/empty and more/less, you’re doing just that!
Low-Cost Play Activities for Fine Motor Skills
I’ll bet you have lots of these at your house already!
- Play dough is a wonderful activity for kids. They can do so many things…and will have a blast without much input from you. This is a great time to let kids take the lead.
By sculpting and pretending with their creations, they’re developing their fine motor skills.
I’ve made play dough from scratch, and it was actually easy! If you’ve read anything on kennedyfamfive.com before, then you know that I’m not at all the homemaker type!
Here’s the recipe:
Combine 1 cup flour, 1 Tablespoon oil, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup salt, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, and food coloring. Cook over medium heat until a ball forms. After it cools enough to work with, knead in a large ziploc for a few minutes. Cool completely and let the kids enjoy.
Cream of tartar is found in the spices section at the grocery store. Like I said, not a homemaker, so I had no idea, haha.
Have fun with this!
Puzzles, board games, and duplos are all wonderful things for kids to play in general, and they’re great for fine motor skills, too!
The links above will take you to a general page on Amazon for these categories. Browse through them to get some ideas about what to look for in these areas.
General tip for choosing board games: the more the game does, the less your child is learning. Let the play time be the entertainment, not the game itself.
- Painting can be a great activity without a huge investment. Just be sure to look for paint that’s non-toxic. For really little ones, you might choose edible finger paint.
{I used to let mine paint with chocolate pudding! It was fun and messy. Bath time immediately followed, lol.}
- Chalk is inexpensive and so much fun for kids (and their parents!). Play tic tac toe on the sidewalk with your kiddos. Have them draw a hopscotch board. Basically, just let them make their own fun.
- A Use that link to get some ideas. You might very well be able to make your own or find one at a garage sale nearby.
One of the best things about these is how much you can customize the play time. Most come with several accessories.
Once those get a little stale, though, feel free to add in others you scout out from around the house, probably some from the kitchen or tub toys.
One fun way is to hide small toys in the sand and have kids use a small shovel to find them.
The best part of ALL of these activities is that your kids will just have a great time being kids! They won’t know that they’re developing skills. And that’s the point.
Even More Fine Motor Skills Resources
Just for you, I’ve done some more exploring and found even more suggestions for helping your little ones.
Sometimes when an older brother or sister is doing school or homework, the little ones want to do something like they are. This is the perfect resource for exactly this situation!
This little placemat is a cute (and free!) printable that you can use with your kiddos.
From the same group, Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards, you can find checklists by age for kids in every developmental area, from birth to 5 years old!
For fine motor skills, you’ll want to click on the purple link, Physical Development and Motor Skills. If you’re a bit nerd-ish like me, you’re going to want to look at all of the areas!
Be sure to remember that kids all reach milestones at different times. And that’s okay!
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) “promotes high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research.”
Their website is an excellent resource if you want to learn even more about the development of young children and fine motor skills specifically.
Finally, if you’re concerned about your child’s development when it comes to fine motor skills, reach out to your pediatrician. Find out if (s)he shares your concerns. If so, they can connect with you an occupational therapist who specializes in children.
I have worked with several occupational therapists over the years and have long been amazed at their work.
Have fun playing!