Fine motor or small muscle work is extremely important to build in children. It involves coordinating the finger and hand muscles with the eyes. Developing fine motor skills can help improve strength in hand muscles, which helps prevent children from fatigue when writing and can also help improve handwriting.
I love using toys, games and other fun activities to incorporate fine motor skills. You will find that when you use the “fun stuff” that your students (or your own children) will love it too! I’ve gathered together a few of my favorite things to work on fine motor skills. I don’t have them in a particular order, but I love them all! I’ve also included things that would work well for a variety of ages.
Here’s a little info for everything. They’re in no particular order…I like them all equally lol. You can click the link/pictures to read more info or to purchase on Amazon.
1. Super Duper, Inc. Fine Motor Box – has ideas and activities for fine motor work.
2. Therapy Putty is GREAT for all ages. It’s like play dough and slime combined and comes in a variety of firmness levels.
3. Cat’s Cradle Kit – Great for your older kiddos that need some fine motor work. I remember playing with this as a kid and it is sooo much fun! Who knew I’d grow up and use it as a tool to help children!
4. Mosaic Pegs- These are reusable. Great for younger students. The pegs pop into the matching color and you can pop them out when you’re done.
5. String and Beads – Great for younger children. Students lace the beads onto the string. This one is also reusable. If you want to adapt this for older students, you can get string and pony beads from the craft store and have them make bracelets. My daughter loves doing this!
<br />
6. Magnetic Puzzles – They come with a magnetic wand/pend that is attached to a string. They also come in a variety of learning activities, such as the alphabet, numbers, color sorting, etc. Great for younger students.
7. Sensory and Fine Motor Combined!! – Water beads with scissor style scoopers. Fun for most ages!
8. Lite Brite – Fun fine motor activities created by making pictures that light up! Fun for most ages, but the pieces are very small so younger children will require supervision.
9. Elephant Stretchy – This cute little elephant stretches and strengthens hand muscles.
10. Sticker Mosaics – Similar to the peg mosaics above, but these aren’t reusable. However, they make a cute little craft to keep! Fun for most ages, but better for a little older students vs. the pegs which are best for younger kiddos.
11. Loom Bands – These are super popular with my 9-year old daughter and her friends. They make bracelets like crazy! They best part is that they’re working on fine motor as they create!
12. Learning Resources Tweezers – I love these! I like to use them in sensory bins and when having students count objects. They are great for most ages.
Thanks for reading all the way through! I know it was a longer post than usual, but I wanted to be thorough! I hope you’ve learned a little more about fine motor skills and some fun activities that you can do with your students or your own children to build these important skills.
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
