Fine Motor Activities for Spring
Spring is in the air, and it’s a perfect time to practice fine motor skills with your students! Fine motor skills are so important since they strengthen finger control and muscles in the hands, develop hand-eye coordination, and help students learn how to manipulate objects. These skills lead to student mastery of gripping a pencil, holding scissors, and manipulating small objects confidently. Our students need time to practice fine motor skills in lots of different ways throughout the day. Here are 5 ways you can start incorporating fine motor skills into your day using items you likely have on hand!
Using Beads to Develop Finger Control
Finger control is important because it prepares children to manipulate small objects with confidence. Beads are an excellent tool for working on finger control since they are engaging for students, help to strengthen the small muscles in student hands, and you can incorporate academic skills, too! Students can make patterns, count and match numerals, string letters together, and so much more… You can have students use pipe cleaners, string, uncooked noodles, or even silly straws to work on beading. The possibilities are endless!
Using Tweezers to Build Hand Muscles
Tweezers are another tool I love using to build hand muscles and develop the strength and stamina to hold a pencil correctly. There are lots of different kinds of kid-friendly tweezers available and you can incorporate them into all subject areas. Even household items, like kitchen tongs, will engage your students. Once students have developed those hand muscles, they will be more confident in school activities such as writing, cutting with scissors, and even playing on the monkey bars!
If you want to learn more about how to get started planning fine motor activities for your little ones, download my FREE guide to learn everything you need to know about planning fine motor activities and more!
Developing Scissor Skills
Learning to safely cut with scissors is another important skill for young students, and can be tricky at first. When beginning with scissors, children need to be taught a proper grip. Then, they can work to build strong muscles in their hands. It takes time and practice for children to use scissors confidently, so the more practice you can incorporate into your day, the better! I love having a variety of scissor practice pages on hand with varying difficulty levels to really target the skill level that my students need. You can grab these scissor skills strips for every season in in my Seasonal Fine Motor Activities Bundle.
Using Clothespins to Develop Finger Strength
It takes lots of practice in different ways to strengthen and build the muscles in a young child’s hands. Clothespins are an engaging and effective way to help give students more experience building strength and coordination in their hands. I also love how easy it is to pair a clothespin with a task card for a quick and easy center or morning work activity.
Tracing to Develop Prewriting Skills
Gripping a pencil correctly and having strength in the hands will help students with writing endurance and confidence. The more practice students have with tracing lines, the more confident they will become with their writing skills. Tracing various lines styles helps to prepare students to write a variety of straight lines and curved lines in letters.
If you are looking for quick and easy ways to practice fine motor with your students, make sure to check out my Seasonal Fine Motor Activities Bundle. All printables are included so all you have to do is print and grab a few materials to begin building fine motor skills!
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Written on February 14th, 2022 by Laurin Brainard