Read on for ideas for improving fine motor skills and fine motor activities for kids.
Fine motor skills are necessary for every task that a child completes. From play, to handwriting, to managing clothing fasteners, and coloring; Fine Motor Skills are needed and an area of defect for many children. Motor skills like pincer grasp and hand strength are essential for a child’s development and ability to use their hands in small motor movements.
Fine Motor Skills
The fine motor skills that we share in the creative activities below are some of our favorite ways to play! This page is a huge resource of fun ways to play and learn while working on fine motor skills. Most activities here are easy prep and use recycled materials or items you might find around the home. Occupational Therapists can use these activities in treatment and parents can do these projects at home for quiet time or developmental skill-building. Almost every activity you see here contains developmental information and explanations of what skills your child will be working on with the activities. I love to discuss the basics of playful activities and why it helps with developmental skills and functional tasks like handwriting, scissor skills, dressing, and shoe tying. All of these tasks require a child’s fine motor skills. Skills such as bilateral hand coordination, wrist extension, gross grasp strength, pincer grasp, open thumb web space, and separation of the sides of the hand, are just a few examples of fine motor skills that are essential for functional development and effective manipulation of tools.
Add these activities to your therapy tool box:
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Fine Motor Skills Activities for Kids
Cotton Swab Letters | Learn with Legos | Bubble Wrap Maze | Sensory Cursive Handwriting
Foam Workout | Water Bead Sensory Box | Handwriting With Cookie Cutters | Cursive Lines Fizzy Dough
Handwriting on Resistive Foam Trays | Mini Rhythm Sticks| Push Pin Can Letters | Marble Run Water Table
Scissor Skills Flowers | Caterpillar Math | Folded Paper Animals | Block Sculptures
Baby Shaker Bottles | Chain Link Activities | Toys to Help With Pencil Grasp | Activities to Improve Pencil Grasp
More Fine Motor Activities
Even More Fine Motor Activities:
Create Your Own Race Track
Spring Sensory Seek and Find
Sensory Soup with Fine Motor Sorting
Fine Motor Strengthening with Color Match
Cereal Box Fine Motor Coordination Activity
DIY Lacing Cards
Manipulating Coins Fine Motor Skills
Best Fine Motor Play Ideas for Kids
Tripod Grasp with Pipe Cleaners
Textured Shaving Cream Play Finger Isolation
Pom Pom Snowflake Line Awareness Craft
Sight Word Scooping
Golf Tee Hammering
Honey Bee Pinch Pins
Invitation to Scoop and Pour
Spring Themed Play Dough Press
Indoor Snow Painting, scooping, mixing
Paint Baggie Letter Formation
Light Bright Fun
Need some specifics? Fine motor skills are essential for independence in handwriting and scissor skills.
Handwriting and Fine Motor Skills
Read more about fine motor skills and how they impact handwriting.
Fine motor skills are essential in the classroom, and they can impact learning. For more information, check out this resource on fine motor skills needed in the classroom.
Here is a resource on cursive writing, much of which requires pencil control, in-hand manipulation, and motor planning of fine motor movements in order to form letters. While there is evidence of cursive handwriting being a more efficient and functional form of written work in the child with dysgraphia or other handwriting concerns, there is a component of fine motor dexterity needed for cursive writing.
Scissor Skills and Handwriting
As an occupational therapist, working on scissor skills with kids is one of my favorite goal areas. There are so many ways to get creative with modifications to paper, lines, and scissors. The fine motor activities that work on the muscles and dexterity needed for scissor use are fun, too! Stop back soon as we add new activities all the time.
