Fine Motor Practice:
Helps us become better writers
Penny in the palm: This is a simple exercise where
your child puts a penny in the palm of their hand
and using only that hand, works the penny up in
between their pointer finger and
thumb.
Using Tweezers: Have your child use tweezers
to pick up anything. Place small items that they
can sort using the tweezers to pick up the items
and sort them into piles.
Tearing Paper Collage Art: Using just their
pointer finger, middle finger and thumbs have
them tear paper to make a collage.
Eye Droppers: This is great activity
that uses their pointer finger and
thumb. Give them two cups and an eye dropper.
Put water in only one cup and have them use the
eye dropper to move the water into the second
cup.
Rolling Play dough balls:
Using only their pointer finger, middle
finger and thumb have them roll a small
amount of play dough into a ball.
Cutting Paper: Give your child a
selection of paper types from newspaper
to card stock to cut. You can make it harder by giving them a
design to cut out.
Sticker Art: Have your child peel off
stickers to put on piece of paper. Make
more challenging by writing their name
and having them use the stickers to
trace their name.
it
Crayon Rubbing: Peel the paper off
broken crayons and place an item
under the piece of paper you are
going to color on. You can place
coins, leafs or stencils underneath.
Have your child pinch the crayon
with it laying on its side and rub the crayon over the paper.
Lacing Beads: Lace beads to make a
necklace or a bracelet. You can also use
this to practice counting skills. Give your
child a pipe cleaner and tell them to lace
10 beads or any number you want onto it.
Q-Tip Painting: Use a Q-tip to paint a picture.
They are dotting to fill in the picture. Make
sure they hold the Q-tip with their pointer
finger, middle finger and thumb only. If needed
cut the Q-tip in half so only those 3 fingers can
be used.
Nuts and Bolts: Screwing nuts onto a bolt with
their pointer finger, middle finger and thumb
helps strengthen those muscles to help us grip our pencil
better. It can also help us learn our directions left to loosen
and right to tighten.