10 Fine Motor Activities for Preschoolers
Certain physical benchmarks are indicators of healthy development in children. Fine motor skills, defined as the small, precise movements we make with our hands, fingers, feet and toes (that) involve the complex coordination of muscles, joints and nerves, are examples of those physical benchmarks.
While all little ones hit milestones at their own pace, preschool-aged children are generally expected to begin doing tasks like cutting with scissors and drawing circles with increased ease and regularity. Fine motor skills like these are the foundation of a child’s progression into a more independent life both academically and personally.
According to NAPA (Neurological and Physical Abilitation), fine motor skills are “important for supporting independence with dressing, feeding, eating, and performance in school.” In fact, the National Library of Medicine notes that by kindergarten, “fine motor tasks are better predictors of success of reading achievement than gross motor skills.” Furthermore, they state that children with strong fine motor skills “demonstrate better mathematics performance at kindergarten entry and make greater mathematics gains over the year.”
All this is to say: mastery of fine motor skills is essential to a child’s personal and academic success. What better place to begin practicing them than in the preschool classroom! Here are ten activities perfect for refining preschoolers’ fine motor skills:
- String beads or food. NAPA suggests initially stringing items like large beads or colorful O-shaped cereal onto something that keeps its shape, such as a piece of uncooked spaghetti. As children improve, swap out the spaghetti for a piece of string. The hand-eye coordination required for this activity mimics the movements students will use with a zipper.
- Stack blocks. Make a tower at least nine blocks high, requiring kids to use both hands. Their dominant hand does the stacking, while their non-dominant hand acts as a stabilizing support.
- Paint with cotton swabs. Children practice how to properly grasp their pencils and crayons with this activity, transitioning into the ability to trace shapes and letters.
- Pick up with tweezers or tongs. Perfecting the pincer grasp needed to wield a pair of tweezers or tongs teaches children the fine motor skills to do things such as put the cap back on a tube of toothpaste.
- Draw with sidewalk chalk. Drawing with sidewalk chalk is a great way to strengthen little hands and fingers. With that strength comes improved coordination and dexterity.
- Sort small objects. Combine coins and beads in a bowl and have children use their fingers to remove them one at a time. Then, based on a certain criterion, children sort them by color, size, or by separating coins from beads.
- Practice zippers and buttons. Allow children adequate zipping and buttoning practice with fine motor skill toys such as this Button! Snap! Zip! book. Different versions of these toys exist, but each serves the same purpose: to make practicing necessary life skills feel like a game!
- Create with play dough. New Horizon Academy encourages preschoolers to “roll, squeeze, pinch, pat, pound, and use rolling pins, cookie cutters, and other utensils as they play with play dough. Play dough is a powerful tool that aids in the development of fine motor skills.”
- Rip paper: According to NAPA, ripping paper into small pieces is a “bimanual activity (that) works on strengthening the small muscles of the hand and promotes the…grasp similar to what is required to unsnap the snaps of a jacket.” NAPA also suggests using the ripped and wrinkled pieces of paper to create a mosaic to make art instead of waste!
- Play games. Fine motor skill games abound on store shelves and likely already grace most early-education classrooms. Preschool appropriate toys like colorful plastic stacking bricks or games that include objects like pinching tools, marbles, or wooden sticks are perfect for practicing skills like grasping, manipulating, and stabilizing. Plus, they’re a ton of fun!
From buttoning and snapping to improving reading and mathematics abilities, these preschool level fine motor skills activities aid in children’s development. Refining skills like hand-eye coordination and object manipulation becomes increasingly important as children continue to grow and learn.
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About the Author:
Stephanie Jankowski is an educator and author who lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When she's not teaching or writing, she's spending time with her children, Brady, Ella, and Lyla, and marveling at just how short the years really are.