If working on developing fine motor skills this Fall is something you’re focusing on, these Fall fine motor worksheets are the way to go. Add these printable clip cards use clothes pins or paper clips to develop hand and finger dexterity and grip and pinch strength to a Fall theme. Use these Fall leaves clip cards to several of our favorite Fall fine motor activities for developing hand strength, pinch, grip, and dexterity in the hands.
You’ll love to add these Fall worksheets to more Fall fine motor activities!
Fall Fine Motor Worksheets
These fall fine motor worksheets are clip cards that combine a print and play activity.
It’s easy to set up this Fall fine motor worksheet into an interactive, and hands-on fine motor activity:
- Just print out the Fall leaves worksheets.
- Then laminate or use as a paper form. Cut out each circle.
- Then, kids can clip clothes pins or paper clips onto each circle as they count and match clips to the Fall leaves on the cards.
Why Use Fall Fine Motor Tasks Like this one?
This activity is a powerful hands-on activity because it builds skills in many areas. Clipping clothes pins to paper or cards like this Fall themed activity develops several skill areas:
- Hand strength
- Pinch strength or finger strength
- Bilateral coordination
- Eye-hand coordination
Plus, pinching clothes pins onto paper is a tool to improve several areas:
- tone in the hands/arch development
- increase stability in the thumb and fingers
- develop and define arches of the hands
- improve precision with in-hand manipulation
- improve endurance in hand strength
- address hand separation into a fine motor side and a power side
- Separation of the two sides of the hand allow for more precise use of the thumb. Hand separation starts when a baby bears weight through their arm and ulnar side of the hand while carrying a toy in the radial side. This simple activity developmentally lengthens the muscles of the ulnar side.
- Intrinsic strength-The intrinsic muscles are the muscles in the hand that define the arches of the hands, bend the knuckles, and oppose with the thumbs.
- Arch development: Arch support in the hand is related closely to the separation of the sides of the hand. Refinement of fine motor skills in the hand (the radial side) happens when the power half (the ulnar side) is stabilized.
When kids hold the circle card, they use their non-dominant hand to hold the card, and can use their dominant hand to clip clothes pins onto the cards. Kids can count the number of leaves on each card and attach the same number of clothes pins.
It’s a great activity that is fun and motivating without being rote finger strengthening exercises.
A functional fine motor grasp and manipulation of objects is more accurate when the ring and pinky fingers are flexed (bent) into the palm. This positioning stabilizes the MCP arch and allows for control of the pointer and middle fingers.
You can use this as an intervention when working on manual dexterity goals, too.
This repeated clipping task combines heavy work proprioceptive input through the hands and develops refined strengthening of the arches of the hands. All of this occurs while children count and combine fine motor skills with math.
It’s a great Fall preschool activity or a Fall kindergarten math center where kids are combining math with fine motor skills…and a Fall theme!
Be sure to find out more information on development and when this type of activity is appropriate by reading about fine motor milestones.
Free Fall Worksheets
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Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
