fine motor skills

Fine Motor Activities with Playing Cards

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Working on fine motor skills with kids doesn’t need to require the same old items every day. Recently, we’ve been sharing creating ways to promote fine motor skills with everyday items. Today, you’ll find fun fine motor activities with playing cards. We all have a deck of cards in a drawer or game closet…here are creative ways to use those cards to build the skills kids need for functional tasks like pencil grasp.

For more fine motor activities with everyday objects, try these fine motor activities using craft pom poms.

Work on fine motor skills using fine motor activities with playing cards to improve the functional grasp for pencil control and handwriting.

Fine Motor Activities with Playing Cards

Working on fine motor skills? Here are just a few ways that a simple item like l=playing cards can be used to promote fine motor areas like bilateral coordination, finger isolation, in-hand manipulation, arch development and intrinsic hand strength, and other areas.

Add a deck of playing cards to your STEM fine motor kit, too.

Playing with cards can be a great way to increase several fine motor skill areas:

Separation of the two sides of the hand- When holding the string, it is useful for the ring and pinkie fingers to bend into a fist in order to stabilize the hand.  This positioning is effective for a functional grasp on the pencil when writing. In this way, lacing cards boost fine motor skills as a pre-writing tool. 

Check out these easy ideas to address motoric separation of the hand.

Visual Motor Skills- Coordinating visual information with motor movements of the hands is essential for handwriting, cutting with scissors, and many other tasks.  Manipulating lacing cards is an excellent way to address these needs. 

Read more about visual motor skills.

Motor Planning- A motor plan is functional execution of a task which is viewed with the eyes and carried out with the hands in order to complete tasks, such as mazes, walking around obstacles, cutting along a line, and writing within a space on a form.  Visual motor skills can be difficult for children with visual processing difficulties.  Identifying and organizing information is in a motor plan works on problem solving skills.  

Read more about motor planning activities for kids.

Pincer Grasp:  Manipulating cards with a pad-to-pad grasp is a fine motor skill children need for many functional tasks.  Picking up small items like coins, beads, seeds, etc require a pincer grasp.

Eye-Hand Coordination: Eye-hand coordination is using the information received through the vision system to coordinate the hands with control, in order to complete a task, such as handwriting or catching a ball. Find more hand eye coordination ideas here.

FUn Fine Motor activities with playing cards

  • Clip clothes pins onto match numbers
  • Make the cards into mini lacing cards with a hole punch and some string.
  • Sort cards by color
  • Sort cards by number
  • Write words on cards and math to handwriting tasks
  • Create a coping strategies deck
  • Invent yoga moves for each card or suit in the deck. Use as a movement break activity
  • Slide paper clips onto cards, match the number of clips to the number on the card
  • Work on holding the cards and spanning them out in the hands
  • Encourage picking up one card as you can. Make it a card race! Pick up a single card as fast as you can. This is a great team activity
  • Play minute to win it games 
  • Turn the cards into crafts
  • Fold cards and crease to work on pinch strength
  • Use play dough to create a house of cards. Roll balls of play dough and stick cards into the dough
  • Teach kids to sort the deck as in beginning a card game
  • Work on mixing the deck with two hands
  • Pinch a single card between the thumb and pointer finger. Toss the cards into a target such as a basket

More fine motor activities

Love using regular, everyday items to boost the skills kids need? Here are a few more ideas you will love:

Print off some of these free cursive alphabet cards to work on fine motor skills AND cursive letter handwriting.

Make your own lacing cards to really boost up the fine motor work!

Fine Motor Activities with Craft Pom Poms

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There is a new series here on The OT Toolbox! We’re talking all things fine motor activities wand the fine motor skills needed for functional tasks. These are fine motor activities for preschoolers and fine motor activities for toddlers to help kids develop the skills they need. These fine motor ideas are easy and quick ways to boost fine motor abilities using an item that is probably already in your craft supply bin or therapy bag. Craft Pom Poms are a great tool for fine motor development while improving dexterity and the motor skills kids need. Read on for fun and easy ways to use craft pom poms in fine motor play!

These fine motor activities with craft pom poms can help kids Work on fine motor skills to improve fine motor skills.

Kids need more FIne MOtor Activities

You may have heard stories about how kids are lacking in fine motor skills more and more. THere are several reasons for this problem. It’s very concerning! Kids have less outdoor time and more scheduled activities, allowing for less free-play. Kids need fine motor skills for school and play. When fine motor skills are impaired, there may be challenges with pencil grasp, functional tasks like scissor use, clothing fasteners, and tasks like manipulating materials.

Easy Fine Motor Activities with craft pom poms

Adding more fine motor activities into a child’s day can be a struggle. So having an easy list ready to go makes recommending fine motor activities a no-brainer. Use these activity ideas in fine motor home programs or in the classroom for fine motor centers. Adding them to math centers would be easy…craft pom poms are fun to sort, count, and manipulate!

Why Use Craft Pom Poms in FIne Motor Activities?

Craft pom poms are so versatile! There’s a reason why every OT has them in their therapy bag of tricks! Craft pom poms are a great way to work on various fine motor skills including:

Separation of the sides of the hand– Pom poms make a great item to hold in the palm while encouraging movement and precision with the pointer finger, middle finger, and thumb.

Pincer grasp– Craft pom poms make a powerful means of promoting the precision grasp between the thumb and pointer finger.

In-hand manipulation– Craft pom poms can be used as a manipulative item for transfering from the palm to the finger tips or vice versa. This is an essential skill needed in pencil grasp.

Finger isolation– Craft pom poms can be used in various ways to promote finger isolation needed for fine motor dexterity and functional tasks.

Eye-hand coordination– This skills is an essential fine motor precision skill needed for so many functional tasks. Craft pom poms can be a powerful way to work on this skill area.

Work on fine skills with craft pom poms.

Craft Pom Pom Activities

Here is a big list of activity ideas for using craft pom poms to work on fine motor skills. What would you add to this list? To start, here are more fine motor activities that use craft pom poms. Using this craft item in fine motor development requires easy set-up with activities like the ones listed below. You’ll see using a water bottle to work on fine motor skills in the list. Here’s a better description of how to make that craft pom pom fine motor activity work.

  • Drop craft pom poms into an empty water bottle
  • Use tweezers to place craft pom poms into an ice cube tray
  • Pinch them with tongs or tweezers
  • Pinch them with clothes pins
  • Poke toothpicks into craft pom poms
  • Pound a golf tee into a craft pom pom, using a hammer and a cardboard box
  • Press them onto double sided tape
  • Squeeze craft pom poms with color coded fingers. Use color-coded hair bands to mark fingers
  • Hide them in the palm of the hand and drop into color coded spice containers
  • Fill containers by sorting the pom poms by color
  • Create a color by number picture with craft pom poms
  • Press them into paint and dot paint by squeezing and swiping pom poms onto paper 
  • Place a certain number of pom poms onto number cards or playing cards
  • Fill number puzzle by placing pom poms into the open spaces one-by-one
  • Use craft pom poms to form numbers and letters
  • Press them onto contact paper
  • Create texture mazes with clear packing tape
  • Create a fine motor ninja course using craft pom poms to hop fingers over and around
  • Make a Simon game board by using craft pom poms to form “buttons”
  • Make crafts! This fine motor craft is just one idea.
  • Create a twister board for fingers using the craft pom poms for color spots

More Fine Motor Activities

Looking for more ways to build fine motor skills? Try some of these ideas from The OT Toolbox archives:

Work on scooping and pouring with refined fine motor skills using small objects like beads.

Improve thumb opposition using small items like paper clips.

Add visual perceptual work to fine motor activities with fine motor color sorting activities for improved eye-hand coordination.

Fall Fine Motor Activities

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Fall fine motor activities for kids to develop fine motor skills.

As the leaves begin to change colors and fall, and the pumpkin spice everything is in the air, it’s a great time of year to add some fall themed activities to your therapy toolbox or even just add to play! Try a few of these fall fine motor activities to encourage and strengthen fine motor skills, a tripod grasp, fall fine motor activities for preschoolers, fall ideas for toddlers, or fall occupational therapy activities!

Be sure to check out our free Fall Sensory Activities booklet. It’s full of family-friendly sensory activities that celebrate the season AND promote motor skills through sensory experiences. The activities in this free booklet are a fun way to encourage fine motor and gross motor movement and development through fall activities. Scroll to the bottom of this blog post to grab your copy!

 

 
Use these fall fine motor activities to help kids to improve fine motor skills like tripod grasp, bilateral coordination, in-hand manipulation, separation of the sides of the hands, dexterity and other fine motor skills kids need.

 

Fall Fine Motor Activities

These fall fine motor activities are ones that boost the skills kids need for tasks like pencil grasp, managing clothing buttons and other fasteners, manipulating small items, opening containers and so many other fine motor tasks! Enjoy the season of Fall with a fine motor twist!

 

Crunch leaves– This is a seriously satisfying activity, according to my kids! Read more about using the season’s finest splendour in a Fall Leaves occupational therapy activity that can be used to work on auditory processing, sensory play, bilateral coordination, crossing midline, and fine motor skills like arch development, grasp strength, separation of the sides of the hand, and more. 
 
Add fall fun to play dough with this Fall Fine Motor with Play Dough. It’s an easy way to encourage small hands to develop the strength needed in the intrinsic muscles of the hands as they manipulate play dough with a few extras from the season. Use a fall scented play dough to add to the activity.
 
Cut Leaves with Scissors. If you live in an area with colorful fall foliage, use those leaves to work on scissor skills! Kids will love to cut leaves into small pieces or snip shapes from leaves. Make art with the leaves by glueing them onto paper or just snip and cut! We worked on line awareness by adding lines to our leaves, but you could just work on snipping leaves in half or cutting around the edges. If you are in an area without colorful leaves that fall this time of year, just use paper leaves or whatever you’ve got in your area.
 
Use Fall Leaves to work on Pre-Writing Lines and Visual Motor Skills. This is a fun way to work on visual motor skills needed for pre-writing tasks like forming and copying shapes and letters. Kids can work on crossing midline and the eye-hand coordination needed for writing, all using colorful fall leaves. This activity would work with acorns, seeds, or other small seasonal items too.
 
This Fall Leaves Craft uses leaf shapes to work on bilateral coordination, tripod grasp, eye-hand coordination, and more as kids create a seasonal fall craft. This fall craft may be better for older kids, but it’s a great introduction to sewing too.
 
There is just something about punching holes in leaves! Really boost that hand strength by Punching Holes in Leaves with a Hole Puncher. This activity uses fall leaves to strengthen the gross grasp of the hand while creating leaf confetti. Kids can pick up and manipulate the leaf holes to really work that pincer grasp. Glue the small circles onto a paper to along a line to promote more eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills.
 
This Pumpkin Stamp Art is an old craft our our website that really boosts fine motor skills with a fall pumpkin theme! Kids can create stamp art with a paper towel tube or toilet paper tube while working on skills like grasp and precision of grasp, crossing midline, and arch development. This is a great craft for a small group or for a therapy caseload to complete with various graded components based on individual needs.
 
Fall Fine Motor Apple Tree Activity– This is another fall fine motor activity that uses a hole puncher to really boost hand strength and gross grasp. Punching holes with a hole puncher allows kids to strengthen their hand strength while encouraging skills like bilateral coordination and eye-hand coordination. 
 
A Fall Fine Motor Apple Seed Activity can be just the thing for toddlers to practice eye-hand coordination needed to scoop and pour objects. This activity encourages pincer grasp, in-hand manipulation, separation of the sides of the hand and other fine motor skills like precision of grasp. What fun!

 

Kids will love these fine motor activities with a fall theme that help kids with the fine motor skills they need for so many tasks like pencil grasp, handwriting and other fine motor skills, all with fall fine motor activities that are fun and fabulous!

 

MORE Fall Fine Motor Activities Kids will LOVE…

 
A fall fine motor craft like this Thumbprint Pumpkin Craft can be a powerful tool to promote separation of the sides of the hand, finger isolation, as well as strength and dexterity of the radial or precision side of the hand. This precision of the thumb that occurs in thumbprint fine motor crafts is especially important as distal thumb flexion can be helpful in dexterity in a tripod grasp when holding a pencil. 
 
Ahhh, sunflower seeds are a tool that can be used in so many fall fine motor activities for kids! From the pincer grasp needed to hold them to the in-hand manipulation necessary to manipulate them within the palm, sunflower seeds are a creative and fall festive way to encourage fine motor strengthening and development this season! Kids can make this Fall fine motor Sunflower Craft and really boost those fine motor skills with a fall craft that will look great hanging on the wall!
 
There’s another seed this season that plays a big part in the development and strengthening of fine motor skills! Pumpkin Seeds! Pumpkin seeds can be used to improve dexterity, grasp precision, in-hand manipulation, arch development, grasp strength, and so many other areas. Use food coloring or liquid watercolors to dye pumpkin seeds after they’ve been scooped out of a pumpkin. (Get the kids in on that fine motor task, too!)  The, use those colored pumpkin seeds to scoop, sort, drop, pinch, and play while building fine motor skills. You can find the directions to color pumpkin seeds and read all about why and how this activity helps kids build fine motor skills in our Fall Fine Motor Activity with Colorful Pumpkin Seeds activity.
 
THEN, use those colored pumpkin seeds to extend the fine motor fun even more by creating a Fine motor Fall Suncatcher that kids can make and hang on a window. Let the kiddos get in on hanging the suncatchers because working on a vertical plane is an awesome way to strengthen the core and proximal shoulder/shoulder girdle which is oh, so important for fine motor tasks!
 
One more way to address fine motor needs this fall is to save up those bread ties. The plastic bread ties that you find on loaves of bread or items like bagels are great for manipulating and strengthening fine motor skills. Kids will love this Bread Tie Ghosts Fall Fine Motor Activity where kids can manipulate and manage bread ties while strengthening fine motor skills this fall!

 

What are your favorite fall fine motor activities for kids?

Get the kids building fine motor skills with these fall fine motor activities like fall leaves, fall crafts and other fall fine motor ideas!

Fall Activities for Motor SKills and Sensory Needs

Work on fine motor skills this Fall AND address sensory needs while experiencing all that the Fall season has to offer! Grab your free copy of the Fall Sensory Experiences Booklet to create sensory diet activities that meet the needs of individuals in a Fall-themed way! Enter your email address below and you will find the Fall Sensory Experiences Booklet delivered right to your inbox. Enjoy!

Toy Theme Play Dough Mat

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toy theme play dough mat

This toy theme play dough mat may be just the incentive kids need to build hand strength! Kids can improve hand strength in fun ways when play dough is added to the mix. We’ve been sharing a variety of free play dough mats based on several different themes. These are free printable playdough mats that kids can use to increase hand strength, specially strength of the intrinsic muscles of the hands.

The fact is that using a printable mat in play dough activities for fine motor skills is fun, innovative, and creative. Kids love them!

Use this free printable toy theme play dough mat to boost fine motor skills and hand strength that kids need for fine motor tasks, perfect for those kids that love play dough activities!


Toy Theme PlayDough Mat

Kids love toys, right? I haven’t met a child who isn’t captivated by a new toy. This toy theme play dough mat builds on the fundamental “job” that kids have…play!


You can print off this printable play dough mat that focuses on toys and an toy theme and use it to work on fine motor skills and the intrinsic muscle strengthening that kids need to complete many functional tasks…and even play!

Toy Themed Play Dough Mat for Fine Motor Skills

Show your child how to use the finger tips and thumb of one hand to roll a small ball of play dough. By using just one hand, they can develop and define the arches of the hand, while strengthening the other muscles of the intrinsic muscle groups at the same time.   

Then, ask the child to place and press the play dough on the circles on the toy play dough mat. They may need to pull off a bit of dough to make the play dough ball fit into the circles. This is a great activity for boosting visual perceptual skills too!  

Looking for more ways to use play dough to increase fine motor skills? Add these play dough activities to your therapy toolbox!

Gold, Silver, & Bronze Metallic Crayon Play Dough

Patriotic Crayon Salt Dough Recipe

Crayon Salt Dough Recipe

Crayon Floam Dough Recipe

Crayon Shaving Art

Shades of Red Crayon Play Dough

Harold and the Purple Crayon Play Dough

Here are more free play dough mats:

Free Ice Cream Play Dough Mat

Free Bird Play Dough Mat

Free Toys Play Dough Mat

Free Astronaut Play Dough Mat

Free City Skyline Play Dough Mat

Enter your email in the form below and access your free printable play dough mat. Then, pull out the play dough!   

Grab this FREE printable Toy themed play dough mat to help kids strengthen the intrinsic muscles of the hands!

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    Kids will love this free playdough mat with a toy theme while building the hand strength and fine motor skills.
     

    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.

    Christmas Fine Motor Activities

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    Christmas Fine Motor activities

    If you work with kids, you might be thinking about Christmas activity ideas that promote the development of fine motor skills. These Christmas Fine Motor Activities are creative ideas that boost dexterity, build fine motor strength, promote precision of grasp, enhance separation of the two sides of the hand, and enhance tripod grasp with a Christmas theme. 

    Christmas Fine Motor Activities

    These fine motor activities can be used in the classroom as a Christmas craft that doubles also develops the underlying fine motor skills that are needed for so many functional tasks.


    Go through the activities below and find your favorite way to play and develop fine motor skills this holiday season!

    Use these Christmas fine motor activities to develop skills like hand strength, grasp, endurance, prehension, bilateral coordination, visual motor skills, and more in order to help kids with pencil grasp, handwriting, scissor use, and more.


    Christmas theme fine motor activities

    When kids make crafts or holiday decorations, they are using and developing many skills. Manipulating tools such as scissors, glue, hole punches, tape, glitter, etc, kids experience various tactile experiences.


    Creating with paper or other material requires visual motor skills (eye-hand coordination), fine motor manipulation and strength, dexterity,  bimanual coordination, visual perceptual skills, visual attention, prehension, midline crossing, and visual spatial awareness.


    By using tools such as scissors or a hole punch, children can gain proprioceptive input that can be calming within the classroom environment. 


    Here are Christmas themed Fine Motor Activities that can be used in the classroom, home, or clinic this holiday season:

    Use this Christmas Tree Hole Punch activity to develop strength in the hands and more. This activity uses a hole punch to create lights for each Christmas tree. The bonus with this craft is the learning and math component. Add a colorful twist by adding colored tissue paper to the backs of the trees with glue. 
     
    Make a fine motor Christmas card that kids can make too, while working on hand strength, coordination, and eye-hand coordination skills…with a fun Christmas card that kids can make and gift to friends or family!


    Use crumbled tissue paper to create this Fine Motor Christmas Tree from Crafts on Sea. Crumbling paper develops the arches and builds strength in the hands. 

    Kids will love this Christmas Jingle Bell Sort activity and won’t even realize they are building skills they need for development. This activity can be used all season long to help kids develop in-hand manipulation and separation of the two sides of the hands as kids sort colored jingle bells.


    Make these Fine Motor Lacing Christmas Trees from Happy Hooligans to develop skills like visual motor integration, bilateral coordination, tripod grasp, and more. 

    Creating this Snowman Fine Motor Craft is a fun way to develop skills like bilateral coordination, pincer grasp and more. This craft is one that builds fine motor strength and precision while creating a fun holiday decoration. 


    Boost fine motor skills like grasp, strength, and more when making these Craft Stick Christmas Trees from Easy Peasy and Fun. 

    This Fine Motor Christmas Tree Craft addresses many skills needed for development and function. This craft has been very popular here on The OT Toolbox. It’s a way to recycle egg cartons while working on various skills: bilateral coordination, fine motor strength, visual attention, spatial awareness, arch development, wrist extension and stability, and more. 


    These Fine Motor Christmas Trees from Stir the Wonder are fun decorations that promote bilateral coordination skills. 

    Use recycled bottle caps to make this Bottle Cap Fine Motor Christmas Tree Craft. This fine motor activity can be a holiday decoration that boosts fine motor skills such as precision, in-hand manipulation, tip-to-tip pincer grasp, rotation and dexterity of the fingers needed for in-hand manipulation, and bilateral coordination.


    You can find more Christmas themed play and fine motor crafts and activities here on this 25 days of Christmas Play series that we shared a few years back. 

     

    Christmas Handwriting Activities

    Writing out that Christmas wish list is a difficult task that brings out tears instead of holiday excitement.  I’ve got a solution for your kiddo with handwriting difficulties: a packet of modified paper for all of the Christmas handwriting tasks that come up each year.  Use this handwriting pack to help kids who struggle with handwriting to participate in holiday traditions while even working on and developing their handwriting skills!


    Working on handwriting with kids this Christmas season? Grab your copy of the Christmas Modified Handwriting Packet. It’s got three types of adapted paper that kids can use to write letters to Santa, Thank You notes, holiday bucket lists and much more…all while working on handwriting skills in a motivating and fun way! Read more about the adapted Christmas Paper here. 






    Use these Christmas fine motor activities to develop skills like hand strength, grasp, endurance, prehension, bilateral coordination, visual motor skills, and more in order to help kids with pencil grasp, handwriting, scissor use, and more.

     

    Christmas Theme Handwriting

    For more Christmas fine motor work, try paringin the activities in this post with Christmas handwriting. Use the modified paper to work on areas such as line awareness, spacing, letter size, and legibility with bold lines, highlighted lines, and color-coded lines.

    Looking for done-for you therapy activities this holiday season?

    This print-and-go Christmas Therapy Kit includes no-prep, fine motor, gross motor, self-regulation, visual perceptual activities…and much more… to help kids develop functional grasp, dexterity, strength, and endurance. Use fun, Christmas-themed, motor activities so you can help children develop the skills they need.

    This 100 page no-prep packet includes everything you need to guide fine motor skills in face-to-face AND virtual learning. You’ll find Christmas-themed activities for hand strength, pinch and grip, dexterity, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, endurance, finger isolation, and more. 

    Click here to grab the Christmas Therapy Kit.

    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.

    Fine Motor Feather Burlap Weaving

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    burlap feathers lacing activity
    Fine motor feather burlap weaving activity is a creative way to build many fine motor skills  needed for functional tasks.  This creative weaving activity uses a few materials you might have in your craft area or can be easily found in craft stores.  Grab some feathers and get ready to work on those fine motor skills! If you re looking for easy ways to sneak in bilateral coordination skills, we’ve got a ton to share! 
     
    For another fun fine motor activity with feathers, be sure to check out this beaded feather activity. 
     
     
    Fine motor feather burlap weaving activity to build fine motor skills
     

    Burlap Weaving Activity

     
    This post contains affiliate links.
     
    This fine motor activity was last minute project that used feathers and burlap ribbon in a couple different colors.  
     
    Weaving colorful feathers and colored burlap fine motor activity
     
    To work on fine motor skills with this weaving activity, cut the burlap ribbon into squares.  Then, start weaving the feathers through the holes of the burlap material.  There is no right or wrong way to complete this activity.  It’s a true process art activity that works on so many fine motor skills.
     
    Overlap pieces of burlap ribbon for a colorful collage art that is hands-on and multi-textural.
     
    Feather and burlap fine motor activity for kids
     
     
     


     
    Neat Pincer Grasp Fine Motor Activity Buttoning Tips and Tricks http://www.sugaraunts.com/2015/11/benefits-of-playing-with-stickers-occupational-therapy.html
     
     
     
     
     
     

    Try “racing” one feather against another in a piece of burlap ribbon.  This is a great way to build spatial and positional awareness as well as eye-hand coordination.  

    Weaving Burlap Fine Motor Skills

    When weaving burlap, there are many fine motor skills that are addressed.

    So, what exactly are you working on when completing this project?

    Threading the feathers through the holes of the burlap ribbon is a fun way to work on many skills needed for skills like pencil grasp, handwriting, manipulating clothing fasteners, and tying shoes.  

    Click on each of the links above to read more about that skill area as well as additional creative activities designed to build that particular area.  

    Weave feathers through burlap for a fine motor activity.

    Looking for more easy fine motor activities?  Try these: 

    You’ll find more bilateral coordination and fine motor activities in our Fine Motor Kits:

    Working on fine motor skills, visual perception, visual motor skills, sensory tolerance, handwriting, or scissor skills? Our Fine Motor Kits cover all of these areas and more.

    Check out the seasonal Fine Motor Kits that kids love:

    Letters Fine Motor Kit
    Kit de motricidad fina de verano
    Summer Fine Motor Kit
    Outer Space Fine Motor Kit
    Space Fine Motor Kit
    Spring fine motor kit
    Valentines Day fine motor kit
    winter fine motor kit
    Winter Fine Motor Kit

    Or, grab one of our themed Fine Motor Kits to target skills with fun themes:

    Want access to all of these kits…and more being added each month? Join The OT Toolbox Member’s Club!

    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.

    Hand Strengthening Activity with an Egg Carton

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    bilateral coordination activity with an egg carton
    This hand strengthening activity with an egg carton is an easy way to use a recycled egg carton to work on fine motor skills, hand strength, pincer grasp, tripod grasp development, intrinsic hand strength, eye-hand coordination, and other fine motor hand strength skills.
     

    Fine Motor Activity with an Egg Carton

     
    Recently, I shared how intrinsic muscle strength benefits handwriting and specifically a functional grasp on the pencil.  Today, I’ve got a super easy way to work on endurance with the lumbrical muscles that are used in maintaining a nice pencil grasp.  
     
    This will enable a child to write at appropriate speeds and lengths of time without fatiguing and allow a child to color in a picture without stopping because their hands are tired.
     
    The bonus to today’s activity is that the strengthening tool is very easy to re-create and (almost) completely free.
     
    This would be an awesome compliment to our recent 31 Days of Occupational Therapy activities using Free or Almost Free Materials!

     

     

     

     

    Work on pencil grasp by strengthening the intrinsic muscles of the hands including the lumbricals using a recycled egg carton and straws!

     

    Intrinsic Muscles of the Hands Lumbricals Strengthening Exercise

    This is a great finger strength exercise…and it only uses an egg carton and straws. The reason it’s such a great strength activity has to do with the lumbrical muscles in the hand.

    This post contains affiliate links.
     
    For this activity, we used a recycled egg carton, a wooden skewer (Amazon affiliate links), and cut pieces of straws.
     
    Use the top of the egg carton and poke holes using the wooden skewer.  Wiggle the skewer until the holes are larger.  Cut the straws into one inch sized pieces, and you are ready to go!

    Work on pencil grasp by strengthening the intrinsic muscles of the hands including the lumbricals using a recycled egg carton and straws!

     

    Show your kiddo how to poke the straw pieces into the holes.  We used both sides of the egg carton, but using the inside of the egg carton sections especially works on the lumbrical muscles in the hand.  
     
    Holding the small straw sections requires a tripod grasp and when the child is required to push the straw through the hole in the section of the egg carton, they are positioning their hand in an Intrinsic Plus Position.  


    Ask your child to hold several straw pieces in their hand at once to address in-hand manipulation. This skill is needed to manipulate the pencil and rotate the pencil during handwriting tasks.


    We cut off the lid of our egg carton for this activity.  It was a good way to work on bilateral hand coordination which is necessary for holding the paper and pencil with two different hands during a hand writing task. 


    Once the straws are partially in the holes of the egg carton, your child can press them the rest of the way through the hole, utilizing finger isolation.  Then, turn the egg carton over and use a tripod grasp to pull the straws the rest of the way through the holes.

     

    Work on pencil grasp by strengthening the intrinsic muscles of the hands including the lumbricals using a recycled egg carton and straws!

     

    Read about how and why this is great for handwriting here.
     

    Need another activity with an egg carton?

    Looking for more ways to recycle an egg carton?  Try these: 
     
     egg cartons 
    Egg Carton Mache Molds by Teach me Mommy 
    Flowers by The Gingerbread House 
    Daffodils by Nemscok Farms 
    Space Station by Peakle Pie 

    Spring Fine Motor Kit

    Score Fine Motor Tools and resources and help kids build the skills they need to thrive!

    Developing hand strength, dexterity, dexterity, precision skills, and eye-hand coordination skills that kids need for holding and writing with a pencil, coloring, and manipulating small objects in every day task doesn’t need to be difficult. The Spring Fine Motor Kit includes 100 pages of fine motor activities, worksheets, crafts, and more:

    Spring fine motor kit set of printable fine motor skills worksheets for kids.
    • Lacing cards
    • Sensory bin cards
    • Hole punch activities
    • Pencil control worksheets
    • Play dough mats
    • Write the Room cards
    • Modified paper
    • Sticker activities
    • MUCH MORE

    Click here to add this resource set to your therapy toolbox.

    Spring Fine Motor Kit
    Spring Fine Motor Kit: TONS of resources and tools to build stronger hands.

    Grab your copy of the Spring Fine Motor Kit and build coordination, strength, and endurance in fun and creative activities. Click here to add this resource set to your therapy toolbox.

    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.

    Rainbow Chain Toddler activity

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    Color sorting activity

    This rainbow color sorting activity is one of the oldest ones we have on this website, because we love using this classic occupational therapy activity. It’s a great tool for supporting color recognition skills in kids, fine motor skills, eye hand coordination, and more.

    Chain Link Activity in Occupational Therapy

    This rainbow chain can be used in a toddler activity to teach colors and color matching in a creative, hands-on approach to teaching toddlers colors. This is an activity that I’ve used over and over again with my own toddlers. Older siblings can make and build the plastic chain links to make a rainbow chain…and younger siblings can sort the colors of the chain links. This is a chain link activity that builds so many skills!
     
    Today’s learning with manipulatives activity uses something that I LOVE.  I had these plastic chain links in my therapy bag for years, and used them daily in school based and outpatient occupational therapy treatment.  Now, I get to play with my kids using these plastic rainbow chain links. Today, we used them with my toddler to practice color sorting. 
     
    And, here’s a little preview for you: We went a little crazy with playing with these chain links.  I’ve got a bunch of fun chain link ideas coming your way, soon!
     
    Color sorting activity for toddlers using rainbow plastic chain links for learning and fine motor skills. This is an Occupational Therapists recommended tool for so many skills: bilateral hand coordination, tripod grasp, intrinsic hand strength, open thumb web space, extended wrist, and so many more.
     
     

    Rainbow Chain

    This post contains affiliate links.
     
    Chain links are completely awesome for find motor skills in kids.  Linking the chains together and pulling them apart requires intrinsic muscle strength, bilateral hand coordination, tripod grasp, and pronation/supination of an extended wrist.  
     
    These chain links are tools that can used to work on so many goal areas.  From using two hands together, to a functional pencil grasp, to using spoons and forks with an appropriate write positioning, to holding a zipper with the right wrists angle…these little guys are great skill builders!
     
    Linking the chains together requires a bit of muscle oomph, so for preschoolers and school-aged kids, building chains are a great strengthening activity.  
     
    Color sorting activity for toddlers using rainbow plastic chain links for learning and fine motor skills. This is an Occupational Therapists recommended tool for so many skills: bilateral hand coordination, tripod grasp, intrinsic hand strength, open thumb web space, extended wrist, and so many more.

     

    Rainbow Chain Link Activity

    Color sorting activity for toddlers using rainbow plastic chain links for learning and fine motor skills. This is an Occupational Therapists recommended tool for so many skills: bilateral hand coordination, tripod grasp, intrinsic hand strength, open thumb web space, extended wrist, and so many more.
     
    For this activity, we used our Learning Resources Link n Learn Links.
     
    (This set comes in a big bucket of 500, so you’ve got plenty for multiple kids playing at the same time, or different age-appropriate activities happening with the chain links)
     
    You’ll also need colored card stock in matching colors.
     
     I cut squares of equal sizes and placed them out on the table. I figured this would be a great activity for older toddlers, but my 19 month old completely surprised my by correctly placing the colored links
    on the matching paper squares.  I had a few links in place to show her what to do and she was able to put them on the correct squares.  
     
    I even put an incorrect colored link on a different colored square and she was able to fix the mistake.  It was a proud mama moment!
     
    Color sorting activity for toddlers using rainbow plastic chain links for learning and fine motor skills. This is an Occupational Therapists recommended tool for so many skills: bilateral hand coordination, tripod grasp, intrinsic hand strength, open thumb web space, extended wrist, and so many more.
     
    Color sorting activity for toddlers using rainbow plastic chain links for learning and fine motor skills. This is an Occupational Therapists recommended tool for so many skills: bilateral hand coordination, tripod grasp, intrinsic hand strength, open thumb web space, extended wrist, and so many more.
     
     
    Looking for more learning activities using rainbow manipulatives?  Stop by our Learning With Manipulatives team to see what they’ve come up with:
    AND, be sure to stop by Instagram and check out the #toolsforlearning hashtag to see them all.  Tag your hands-on learning ideas using rainbow manipulatives, too! We would love to see them!
    Graphing with Rainbow Bears from Still Playing School 
    Color and Size Sorting with Rainbow Counters from Line Upon Line Learning
    Alphabet Formation Compare Bears from Adventures of Adam
    Size and Color Sorting {Learning with Rainbow Bears} from Squiggles and Bubbles 
    Animal Counters Sensory Bin & Color Sort from Raising Little Superheroes 
    Color Graphing with Rainbow Bears from Schooltime Snippets 
    Rainbow Bears Sensory Bin from Something 2 Offer  
    Rainbow Bears Addition Cards from The Kindergarten Connection 
    Measuring with Rainbow Bears from Mom Inspired Life 
     
     
     
    More fine motor activities you will LOVE:
     
     
     
    Colors Handwriting Kit

    Rainbow Handwriting Kit– This resource pack includes handwriting sheets, write the room cards, color worksheets, visual motor activities, and so much more. The handwriting kit includes:

    • Write the Room, Color Names: Lowercase Letters
    • Write the Room, Color Names: Uppercase Letters
    • Write the Room, Color Names: Cursive Writing
    • Copy/Draw/Color/Cut Color Worksheets
    • Colors Roll & Write Page
    • Color Names Letter Size Puzzle Pages
    • Flip and Fill A-Z Letter Pages
    • Colors Pre-Writing Lines Pencil Control Mazes
    • This handwriting kit now includes a bonus pack of pencil control worksheets, 1-10 fine motor clip cards, visual discrimination maze for directionality, handwriting sheets, and working memory/direction following sheet! Valued at $5, this bonus kit triples the goal areas you can work on in each therapy session or home program.

    Click here to get your copy of the Colors Handwriting Kit.

    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.

    Pegboard Occupational Therapy Ideas at Home

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    homemade pegboards for bilateral coordination

    Here you will find pegboard occupational therapy ideas using materials you might have at home. These homemade pegboard ideas are perfect for helping kids develop and refine fine motor skills at home. When I worked as an Occupational Therapist in the schools and in homes, one of my favorite tools in my OT treatment bag was a pegboard.  The treatment techniques for a simple pegboard is vast when it comes to many treatment goals in the OT setting.  Try adding these pegboard activities to your therapy toolbox!


    From fine motor skills and all that they entail (in-hand manipulation, pincer grasp, tripod grasp, grasp and release, separation of the two sides of the hand, arch development, open thumb web space, thumb opposition, bilateral hand coordination) to visual perceptual skills (form copying, eye-hand coordination, visual discrimination, visual motor planning, copying on various planes, and letter and number formation)…pegs and pegboards are an Occupational Therapist’s secret weapon!


    Today in the 31 Days of Occupational Therapy series, I’ve got homemade pegboard ideas for you.  Yep, you can make your own pegboard on the cheap for creative fun and learning, all the while, working on more skills than you can count!


    Homemade Peg board activities and ideas for kids from an Occupational Therapist.

    (Affiliate links are included in this post.)

    Homemade Pegboard Ideas for Occupational Therapy Activities

    Now. There are a ton of geoboard activities out there on the webs.  Search around for Geoboards and you’ll find tons of fine motor activities where kids can manipulate and work strings, rubber bands, ribbons, and more on geoboards.  They are so great for many fine motor skills, however, I wanted to share with you all of the awesomeness that a pegboard provides by picking up a small peg, manipulating it within the hand, and placing it into a board while copying forms and shapes.  It’s such an amazing workout for little hands!    

    Use perler beads to make your own pegboard and work on precision as well as other fine motor skills. Making the pegboard is part of the fine motor experience.

    Use a recycled shoe box like No Time for Flashcards mad a simple geoboard.  You can make one as simple or as complex as you like.  Punch holes in the shoe box and  use small peg-like items: Toothpicks, lollipop sticks, or skewers.

    While this activity uses bands to connect the pushpins, I really love the idea of using a shoebox to make your own pegboard.  This is something we did with letter stickers.   

    Create a x-large pegboard using screws and nuts like Crayon Box Chronicles did.  You can make yours into a geoboard like they did, or just use it as a fine motor workout by allowing the kids to manipulate the screws and bolts.  This activity is another “geoboard” activity, however, the use of the screws and bolts are unique in that the kiddos can manipulate them in a pegboard-like fashion to work on many developmental skills.  

    Make your own Lite Brite on the light table like And Next Comes L did.  This looks like a fun way to relive your childhood (Did you love your Lite Brite as a kid???) and work on peg board fine motor and visual perceptual skills, too!   Use a recycled egg carton and golf tees to make your own simple peg board on the cheap.  Push the golf tee pegs in the holes again and again for continued play.  

    Why Use pegboards in Fine Motor and Visual Perceptual Skill Development? 

    You read all of the awesome areas that a child can develop by using a pegboard.  So, how exactly does a pegboard work on these areas?    

    Let’s think about a simple pegboard and an assortment of small pegs, like this one.  So a child sees the pegboard sitting in front of him and grabs a handful of pegs from the table.  Right there, he is working on pick up and grasp release of small items.  How does the child pick up the pegs?  In a raking manner or one by one?  

    Depending on the child’s age, this might be an area that you can work on with the student. Encourage your kiddo to use the tips of his finger and thumb to pick up the pegs one at a time.  Then pick up one and tuck more into his palm.  Have him pick up all of one color and then all of another color for more fine motor work.  

    Then, to push the pegs into the holes of the pegboard, the child uses in-hand manipulation to work the pegs from the palm of their hand to the tips of the finger.  The kiddo can work on their tripod grasp as they push the peg into the holes.  

    This is a strengthening activity, depending on how much effort they need to exert on the pegs.  You can encourage the child to oppose their thumb to any of the fingers by holding the peg with the tips of different fingers.  

    Holding the peg between the thumb and the middle finger or ring finger, for example, works on arch development.    

    A small peg like a tooth pick is a great way to work on a neat pincer grasp with the tips of the pointer finger and the thumb.  It also helps with an open thumb web space for use in functional tasks.  

    Now, the child can push the pegs into the pegboard randomly.  Or they can work on a little visual perceptual function by copying shapes and forms from an example sheet.  Position the paper right nest to and above the pegboard for easiest copying.  For more difficulty you can move the example further away or place it on a vertical plane.    

    By copying shapes and letters with the pegboard, kids can work on visual spatial relations, visual discrimination as they find different colored pegs, visual discrimination as they note differences, and figure ground as they look for a specific color peg in a pile of pegs.  

    Best Pegboards for Fine Motor Skills and Visual Perceptual Skills

    Homemade Peg board activities and ideas for kids from an Occupational Therapist.

    These are some of my favorite pegboard products out there.  

    Amazon affiliate links are included below.

    A Lite-Brite is a big OT recommendation. The slanted surface allows for functional and effective wrist position, and the small pegs are perfect for manipulating. 

     This Peg Board is perfect for color identification and fine motor work with it’s small pegs in bright colors. 

    Cribbage is a great game to play with kids that works on fine motor skills. It’s travel size is perfect, too!

    You could also try these Wooden Peg Game Assortment for many different pegboard games.

    You’ve played Classic Trouble Board Game, right? It’s a peg board game that all kids will love. Occupational Therapists love it for it’s fine motor workout!

    You can make a pattern card for any pegboard activity, but this Peg Board Set is nice with it’s prefabricated pattern cards and bigger sized pegs for small hands.