Fine motor skills are vital to the academic and workaday worlds. Developing legible handwriting, lining up numbers in mathematical equations, tying shoes, eating with utensils, playing most instruments, sewing, and learning efficient keyboarding skills all require varying levels of fine motor maturity. For this reason, teachers have an obligation to encourage students to develop the finger strength and dexterity necessary to succeed.
Here are some fun activities that help students to develop these important skills:
- Sculpt flowers or other shapes with play dough or clay.
- Lace cards
- Make mosaics with dried beans, pasta, tissue paper or small scraps of paper
- Make paper mache beads around a pencil
- Mix paper mache glue
- Make paper mache pinatas or other sculptures
- String plastic, ceramic, pasta, or paper mache beads to make jewelry
- Sew with yarn to make felt hand puppets or pillows
- Make marshmallow with water (to make marshmallows sticky) or toothpicks
- Weave placemats with craft foam or construction paper
- Cut out "body parts" from magazine pictures to create funny new collage people
- Make leaf or bark rubbings
- Make eye dropper or straw paintings
- Use stampers to make pictures
- Carve stampers from potatoes or other vegetables
- Make musical finger cymbals from small jar or can lids and make music
- Finger paint
- Make daisy chains out of real or craft foam flowers
- Fold paper fans
- Cut out snow flakes
- Cut out spirals
- Make pom-pons or God's eyes out of yarn
- Make tissue paper flowers
- Check out a library book and learn to make origami animals
- Play a ball-in-cup game
- Make a sugar cube igloo or pyramid
- Paint with cotton swabs or cotton balls
- Peel broken crayons, place them in foil tins of different shapes, and melt them into new rainbow colors
- Make critters out student finger prints
- Mix batter and use cookie cutters to make sugar cookies
- Use a spray bottle and food dye to create snow art
- Tear construction paper and make pictures from the shapes
- Draw with chalk on a board, slate, or sidewalk
- Check out a library book and learn new string games (cat's cradle, Jacob's ladder, etc.)
- Make a picture by rolling a marble on a paper covered in tempera paint
- Make handprint flags or animals
- Make old-fashioned tin can lanterns with a hammer and nail
- Use stickers to create rebus stories
- Make peanut butter and birdseed feeders using pine cone and string
- Cross stitch an image using yarn on burlap fabric
- Use cold, cooked spaghetti dipped in paint to create abstract paintings
- Paint with sponges or block prints
- Fold paper hats to celebrate a special occasions
- Make paper chains as decorations or to document student reading
- Make gum wrapper chains
- Fold and cut paper lanterns
- Play jacks
- Play pick-up-sticks
- Use chop sticks for eating or art
- Make domino buildings or obstacle courses
Your students will enjoy these lessons whether or not they are aware of their purpose!
Susan Hyde - I am a college English instructor, freelance writer, and homeschool mom to two wonderful boys, ages nine and eleven. After graduating from ...
