This week for the Get Ready for K Through Play Series we are talking about fine motor skills.
Fine motor skills are essential. Kids need to have them before they learn handwriting. They help them have proper pencil grasp and control of writing utensils. Fine motor skills relate to the small muscles of the body that help kids with tasks such as writing, grasping small objects, and fastening clothing. They involve strength, fine motor control, and dexterity.
This post shares several Toddler Approved activities we've shared over the past few years that help kids develop their fine motor skills. My favorite tools to use for fine motor skills development are tongs, stickers, scissors, and clothespins.
Here are a just a few activities you can try with your kids...
- Create a sticker book
- Do some Paint strip color matching
- Make Jumbo thumbtack Shapes
- Do a Lion Puppet Craftivity
- Make a Colorful Bead Paper Plate Rainbow
- Making words with tongs
- Decorate Sparkly Leaves
- Make a Colorful Ribbon Flower Craft
- Cut and paste a purple people eater
- Create some Stringing Stars
- Make a Handprint Penguin Craft
- Use clothespins to make a Name Stegosaurus
- Use tongs to make an Octopus
- String heart doilies
- Do some Ladybug Sticker Counting
- Make an Acorn collage
- Create a Textured Letter Owl
- Put together a Rocket Shape collage
- Snip some name ornaments
- Cut some shape spiders
- Rip and snip some scrap paper rainbows
I also love this list of 50 Fine Motor Skills Activities from Love Play and Learn.
Thank you to My Cute Graphics for the use of the superhero kids graphic.
This post is part 6 of an 8 week series being hosted on 6 blogs to help kids Get Ready for K Through Play!
Be sure to read this week's posts shared by my series co-hosts:
55 Ways to Make Handwriting Practice Fun for Kids
(by Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas)
Scissor Practice Tips for Preschoolers
(by Coffee Cups and Crayons)
Playful Ways to Develop Fine Motor Skills
(by Mama Smiles)
Fine Motor Practice with Straws
(by Mess for Less)
(by Rainy Day Mum)
and be sure to follow our Get Ready for K Through Play Pinterest Board for lots of awesome Kindergarten Readiness resources, ideas and activities.
These are NOT good toddler activities. Too many chocking hazards. Also, 1-year-olds are just not able to do most of this stuff. These would be great activities for pre-school age.
Hi Anonymous, these are not toddler activities. As mentioned in the post, there are Fine Motor Skills for Kids and are part of our "Get Ready for K Through Play" series, focusing on preschool and pre-k kids who are getting ready for kindergarten. As shared in the description of our blog, Toddler Approved shares activity ideas for kids ages 0-6. Our Get Ready for K Through Play series was not for toddlers. Several of these ideas could easily be adapted for toddlers though (which I consider to include children ages 14/15 months to 3 years old). As always, parents get to determine what they feel comfortable doing with their children and all children develop at different paces, so what is not appropriate for one child at a specific age could be appropriate for another.