We collect the 20 best activities for fine motor skills development.

What are fine motor skills?

These days the development of fine motor skills has become a burning issue every parent is worried about. But what are actually fine motor skills? To start with, this group of skills is responsible for an ability of a person to make movements that include our hand and wrists’ small muscles’ usage. We need fine motor skills to do schoolwork or work-related tasks, such as writing an essay or a report. Usually, we don’t think about these small hands’ movements as they come so easily and naturally. Still, the nature of these skills is quite complex as it involves brain and muscle coordination.

Why is it crucial to develop fine motor skills?

Every child should develop fine motor skills every day as it influences a person’s abilities to accomplish basic tasks, such as writing, playing, and following self-care. Throughout time, the child progresses, reaching fine motor milestones, among which are activities such as the ability to dress, eat or assemble the simplest puzzle independently. All of those are vital skills to learn to live independently in the future.

How can a child develop fine motor skills?

As mentioned above, fine motor skills involve small hand muscle activity. Thus, any kind of game or task that implies the hands’ muscles functioning positively impacts fine motor skills. And here are some examples of activities that develop a child’s fine motor skills:

• Drawing and painting
• My teeth are bruising. It may be especially efficient if a child brushes their teeth using a different hand every time. For example, in the morning, one can use the left hand while brushing their teeth and, in the evening, –the right one. This positively affects the development of different brain parts responsible for the activity of different hands.
• Closing a zipper

20 activities that boost fine motor skills development

Here you may find 20 fine motor skills activities suitable for toddlers and preschoolers.

Puzzles

It was decided to put puzzle activity on the top of the chart as it not only develops fine motor skills but also positively influences cognitive development, retention of attention, and visual perception. It will take a kid a lot of practice before they can finally hold a piece of the puzzle steady and join one another in the right way.

Playdough

There are no doubts every child just loves play dough. Moreover, it has so many advantages if a child plays quite often with it. Toddlers not only develop fine motor skills during this game, but it also implies imagination skills training. To make a game even more fascinating, a parent may add different materials into the playdough, for example, buttons and beads. This activity provides a child with a sensory and fine motor experience.

Blocks

Besides fine motor skills, playing with blocks improves a child’s cognitive understanding, early number concepts, problem-solving skills, gross motor development, and much more. It would be better to choose blocks made from natural materials, like wood.

Drawing

Drawing is one of the most important fine motor activities as it is usually a preparation before a child starts learning writing skills; that is why it’s called a ‘pre-writing activity. Drawing is the first experience of working with a pencil or a pen. Thus, a child may gain experience controlling a pencil and turning hand movement into visible results on paper. You may also use markers, oil pastels, or chalk.

Painting

There is a wide range of different painting techniques that are fun and good for developing fine motor skills. That is why you may do it every day and never get tired of painting. In the painting, there’s only one rule, and it’s for parents: a child should be allowed to create art freely without being much guided. Here are some of the painting activities you may try: stamp painting, finger painting, leaf painting, spray painting, and much more!

Self-care tasks

Self-care activities are essential for a child to become an independent person. These tasks are also giving children a sense of personal achievement. That’s why it’s crucial to let your kid do such activities as eating, washing hands, brushing teeth, and getting dressed alone.

Fingerplays

Do you remember some of the fingers play from your childhood? It’s time to teach your kid some of them, for example, Two Little Dickie Birds or Tommy Thumb. These fun games are great exercises to develop finger coordination and control. Furthermore, it positively influences a child’s concentration, speaking, and listening skills.

Construction play

We’ve already discussed the benefits of playing blocks. At the same time, blocks are just one of the numerous types of construction play. So, if your child is not really into blocks, try to play with Lego. This game develops the same range of skill blocks.

Threading

Threading is a great exercise to build eye-hand coordination. Moreover, it develops concentration skills. You may start teaching your child threading with something simple and not very time-consuming; for example, try to make a necklace together.

Cutting and pasting

Cutting and pasting is a very creative process of art production, which means you should give your child freedom of action to create whatever they want to. Moreover, this activity boosts motor control and hand-eye coordination. Do not forget that in art, the process matters, not the final result.

Lacing

This activity also serves the purpose of developing concentration and coordination skills. The key idea of lacing is moving a lace in and out of holes, the same as lacing up your shoes. You may create differently shaped lacing places.

Playing with loose parts.

The organization of this activity is quite easy to manage. You don’t have to buy specific games to start playing it; all you need is to use all the ice cream sticks, buttons, shells, beads, pieces of wood, and anything else you may find interesting to use in the art creation process. Children may group items and create wonderful compositions.

Paper tearing

Paper tearing is not an obvious activity that trains fine motor skills but needs to be developed. It positively influences the hand muscles as it takes a lot of effort for a child to tear a paper. Moreover, it would be nice to give your child a chance to tear different types of paper to feel different textures and explore sensory perception. Once the activity is done, you may prolong the game and suggest your kid make a collage of the pieces of paper they’ve made.

Woodwork

Woodwork is a type of role-playing. In this game, a kid may try themselves as a professional repairman. The child may use special toy sets to hammer nails into wood safely.

Paper folding

Paper folding is one of the most important fine motor skills a child should acquire before going to school. It boosts creativity skills at the same time, improves hand coordination. A child may try not to follow your guidance but to create a self-made masterpiece; it will also involve problem-solving skills if something isn’t folded well for the first time.

Cards and games

Card games are always fun! Choose the theme and type of game your child is interested in. These games are great tools to train fine motor skills, memory, and logic.

Cooking activities

Cooking activities have a positive effect on a kid, as it develops fine motor skills, affect many muscles, and also help a child become familiar with foods and the process of preparing them. Children can develop sensory perceptions by touching different textures, shapes, and foods taste. Moreover, it is always a good idea to include joint activities of a child with a parent.

Gardening and planting

This type of activity is great if you want to develop both: fine and gross motor skills. It is also very important to teach your child to take care of plants; gardening will help with this. Moreover, this game has a stress-releasing effect.

Things I Like

For this activity, you will need groups of things, for example, stickers. Stick all the stickers on a piece of paper and talk to a child, asking them to circle the pictures they like and cross out the ones that do not attract them.

Toddler Roads

Does your child love to play with cars? Then use masking tape to create a real track for them! The child will be happy, and you will find time for yourself.