13 Fine Motor Skill Activities for Young Learners

One of the sweetest things about being a parent is marvelling at our child’s developmental progress. We delight as our little ones begin to master the skills necessary for self-care, play and school success. From getting a sip cup to their lips, to drawing their self-portrait, to writing their name for the first time, we celebrate their milestones.

So many of the tasks they must master depend on the development of fine motor skills. Although fine motor skills will develop and improve throughout childhood, we can give our child the necessary support to build these skills.

Why are fine motor skills important?

Fine motor skills involve small muscles that control movements in areas such as the hands, fingers, lips, tongue and eyes. It links the brain to the nervous system and direct muscle control. Babies will swat at an object in an attempt to grasp it and their movements are clumsy and awkward as they have little control over the small muscles. As they grow they will develop strength in those muscles, vital for manipulating objects allowing them to feed and dress themselves or engage in play. Building strength in those small muscles will enable them to do tasks that are important for independence and self-confidence, and are essential for those school years.

If fine motor skills are not sufficiently developed a child will struggle to manipulate an object and perform tasks. They might become frustrated and discouraged and avoid or resist participating in activities. This can impact on their participation and confidence in the classroom. Research shows that fine motor skills are linked to handwriting competency (Feder, 2007) during the school-age years, affecting academic progress (Grissmer, 2010) and self-esteem. To be confident in exploring the world around them, young children need to build their fine motor skills.

A word on gross motor skills.

The research tells us that fine motor skills depend on the development of gross motor skills, the skills that children develop using their whole body. It involves the large muscles of the torso, arms and legs. Efficient control of those larger muscle groups in the neck, shoulders and trunk, underpin the finger and hand stability, essential for manipulating objects. Consider how to develop gross motor skills along side of fine motor skills.

Fun activities to build skills

Below are lots of easy-to-do activities that will not only keep toddlers, preschoolers or kindergarten kids engaged and interested but will steadily build strength without them even knowing it! Many of the activities will be suitable for a variety of ages but match the expectations to your kid’s age. While a two-year-old may spend time poking at the playdough, a five-year-old can create sculptures of animals and people.

You won’t need expensive sensory toys, many of these items are household objects or can be purchased inexpensively. It can be helpful to have a fine motor skills box of bits and pieces on hand ready to pull out at play time.

Free drawing

This is an essential pre-writing skill. It allows children to associate marks on a page with meaning. It also encourages little hands to grasp crayons, pencils, chalk and markers. Drawing exercises the large muscles of the arms and shoulders (gross motor skills) and those of the wrist, hand and fingers. Wild scribbles develop into controlled movements and carefully constructed masterpieces! Offer a variety of materials for a rounded sensory experience.

2. Painting

Painting is a fabulous activity that provides a lot of scope for introducing a range of materials to encourage different muscle groups in hands and fingers. They’ll be exercising their wrists, hands, and fingers. With finger painting a toddler may use all fingers, but an older child may control the pointer finger. A brush requires a whole hand grasp or a pincer grip similar to that required for writing. You can introduce a range of other tools from cotton buds that in-hand muscle control to rollers and sponges.

3. Tearing paper

It takes a lot of coordination to tear paper, holding it in the hands and pulling in opposite directions. This is a task that doesn’t necessarily come easily and needs to be practiced. To make it fun, use different colors and types of paper. Turn the pieces into an art project by pasting the strips on to construction paper. Scrunch the strips in to balls - another way to develop those muscles - before pasting on to paper and creating a 3D picture.

4. Lego

My son was obsessed with Lego. As a very small boy, he would spend hours snapping and fitting pieces into place, pulling them apart and doing it all over again. Initially we had the larger Duplo, easier for little hands but over time we progressed to Lego blocks. Not only was he improving his fine motor skills but using his imagination. You can create almost anything with Lego!

5. Blocks

Blocks are suitable for all age ranges. Little ones can grasp the block in the whole hand, while older children will use fingers to stack or align. Great for hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness and problem solving.

6. Puzzles

Puzzles are a great activity for all ages. It requires quite a lot of practice to hold a piece steady and fit it into place. For toddlers, peg puzzles are easier to slot into position and a good starting point before moving to 4 or 8 piece puzzles. Older children will find the challenge of larger piece puzzles keeps their concentration and focus.

7. Pegs

When my kids were little I would give them pieces of cloth (face washers, handkerchiefs, tea towels, cleaning cloths, socks) a clothing rack and a box of wooden or plastic pegs. They would be happily entertained pegging material to the line and unpegging it again. You can achieve the same result with a makeshift line or even placing pegs along the edge of cardboard or a paper cup.

This is a great pre-writing activity as the pincer grip needed to open the peg is similar to the one needed for writing.

8. Lacing

Lacing cards are great fun and while you can buy them, they are also simple to make. Using a hole punch, punch around the outline of a picture. Make sure the picture is on thick paper or cardboard. Kids can thread wool or strings through the holes.

You can access FREE lacing card printables here

9. Playdough

Playdough is a wonderful sensory material, soft and squishy and easy to manipulate, it is a creative powerhouse. It is a staple of childhood! As your child rolls, pokes, pulls and squishes the playdough they are strengthening the little muscles of the hands and fingers. Introduce rollers, plastic knives, cookie cutters or objects like beads to push into the dough to encourage a broad range of movement.

You can find a quick, no cook recipe here.

10. Threading

Your child will need a lot of concentration and practice for this activity. It’s perfect for developing hand-eye coordination and the pincer grasp. Thread beads, macaroni, buttons or cereals onto wool, string or threading string. Little ones will need chunkier beads and thicker threading material compared to older children who will be able to manipulate smaller pieces and thinner string.

They can have lot of fun turning their work into a piece of jewelery.

11. Sorting Buttons

This activity encourages the pincer grip and thumb opposition, improving dexterity and intrinsic muscle development. Place a variety of buttons of different colors and sizes on a large plate and have your child sort them by color or size into small containers. An older child might be able to sort by the number of button holes. Encourage them to pick up the button by thumb and pointer finger (for pincer grip development) or thumb and each finger on the hand for thumb opposition development.

12. Stickers

What child doesn’t love stickers? Peeling and placing stickers takes practice and hand-eye coordination but is terrific for developing dexterity. Toddlers will benefit from placing the stickers freely on paper, but older children might place them along a line or the outline of a picture.

13. Pompoms

This simple activity only needs a bowl, small tongs and a range of pompoms. Using tongs, have your child pick up the pompoms and place them in the bowl. You can make this task more challenging for older children by placing the pompoms on top of lego or blocks, or by asking them to choosing particular colors. If you don’t have pompoms use a variety of small erasers, lego blocks or even marshmallows or soft candies. This works not only the fine motor skills but visual motor skills.

The Final Word…

This list is not exhaustive. There are plenty of activities that you can offer your child that will help develop fine motor skills. Even household and self-care activities are invaluable!

Ask them to cook with you, holding a spoon or measuring cup, or pressing a cookie cutter into dough will be working both gross and fine motor skills.
Encourage them to help with housework, and get them using a dusting cloth or a small brush and dustpan.
Let them help dress themselves and be patient, it will take a longer to get ready!