Fine Motor Skills

Click here to sign up for notifications on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.

What are fine motor skills? Fine motor skills are the precise movements of small muscles in the hands (and feet, but here we’ll just focus on hand muscle development). Fine motor skills involve small, coordinated movements of the hand muscles. They require integration of sensory feedback with muscles, joints, and nerves. Muscle strength, dexterity, precision, and hand-eye coordination are precursors of many daily tasks, such as using scissors, holding a pencil, and tying shoes.

The most important supplies to keep on hand for practicing are:

pipe cleaner
tissue paper (for scrunching small pieces)
tweezers (plastic ones that are not sharp)
mini tongs (like for appetizers)
large cooking tongs
cotton balls
pom-poms
cotton swabs

Want to help children develop their fine motor skills? Check out this list of helpful activities.

Haircut Download

Clothespin Passing Game Download

Animal Racing Game Download

Fill two buckets with water. Use a hand towel to collect water from one bucket and wring it out into the other.

Cut paper straws to make a necklace.

Push pipe cleaner through a paper straw.

Move small stones from an egg carton with a baby spoon.

Cover a picture with dot stickers.

Color with crayons on sandpaper.

Use a spoon to transfer water from a shallow bowl to another container.

Make things out of modeling dough.

Press letter blocks into modeling dough.

Make “snakes” out of modeling dough to place onto large prints of letters or onto shapes.

Press pasta into modeling dough.

String buttons onto pipe cleaner.

Have an old button-down shirt that’s destined for the trash? Place a piece of cardboard inside the torso and use a rubberband to pinch back the rest (or, for long-term use, cut away the leftover and sew or glue it onto the cardboard).

Wrap boxes in construction paper or old newspaper.

Place strips of masking tape onto children’s desks. Have them remove the tape. Make it a race to add some fun! Or, when they remove the tape, they can add it to a class tape ball.

Punch several holes into a carboard box with a sharp pencil. Give children a stack of pipe cleaners to push into the box. Cotton swabs can also be used but will not require as much effort or back-and-forth motion of the fingers.