Using play to have fun developing your child’s fine motor skills.

Play is one of the most effective ways children can learn and practice new skills. There are so many ways to have fun while developing your child’s fine motor skills. Whether you’re a homeschooling mom, or you send your kiddos to school or day care, developing their fine motor skills can feel daunting if your don’t even know where to begin. Here are some great ideas and starting points so this doesn’t have to feel like a chore anymore.

Do your littles enjoy playing with play dough as much as mine do?

Every time we go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house they have a ball! All of the miniature baking utensils come out, including the mini muffin pan and there’s a great deal of “cooking” and “baking” that happens then. And of course, we get to “enjoy” the fruits of their labor with pretend-bite and wild exclamation as to the deliciousness of a very strange-looking cupcake.

Their limitless thinking and creativity always astound me. You know what I mean – how they can come up with something amazing in their minds and not be tied down by the limits of the fact that this is merely a ball of play dough.

But it’s not just creativity our children are developing as they play with something as simple as play dough. Every time they’re using those little hands, exercising those muscles, practicing making those muscles work together to accomplish a task, they’re developing their fine motor skills.

And the best part: They’re having so much FUN doing it!

Why developing your child’s fine motor skills is important

Maybe you’ve heard of “correct pencil grip” or “cutting skills” and you know that this is important. Because obviously, your child is going to need to write one day. But are fine motor skills really that important? And won’t my child just learn how to use their hands for writing and cutting etc, anyway? 

Developing muscles takes work, exercise, practice. Especially if we want those muscles to do something specific. A person who does ballet uses their muscles very differently to someone who plays soccer. And because of this, a workout for a ballerina will be very different to that of a soccer player. But their workouts don’t only include the actual skills of ballet or soccer. They involve conditioning muscles they use for their respective sports. 

Developing your child’s fine motor skills means exercising those muscles that they’re going to use for other activities. So it’s not just about teaching them to hold a pencil, or a pair of scissors correctly. It’s about strengthening the muscles and teaching those muscles to work together in a controlled way, to perform the task of writing or cutting, for example. 

Fine motor skills are not just for toddlers and preschoolers

Making sure your child can do these tasks as a toddler and preschooler is important because they’ll need these skills as they head into primary school and beyond. And I’m not just talking about the skills of actually writing, cutting, coloring, etc.

Having strong fine motor skills can help your child work more neatly, accurately and quicker. Not to mention boost their motivation and confidence. As you can imagine, these are the kinds of things that can make all the difference for your child’s success in school.

Here’s an example: Children with poor fine motor skills have to work very hard to write. Their muscles get tired because they’re holding the pen incorrectly. And their lack of control means they cannot deliver in their writing the way they want to or imagine that they can.

That’s very demotivating!

The fact that their hands get tired, means their work is often untidy and they spend more time than is necessary trying to complete their work. Accuracy is a challenge too, especially when your child needs to keep numbers of a sum in line, for example, or draw a diagram or graph. 

Though it seems that developing these fine motor skills is a “toddler thing”, it’s really important, even for older children to master these skills. It can really influence their success later in school and life. 

Have fun developing your child’s fine motor skills

Whether your child is homeschooled or in a preschool, it can feel really daunting to know how to develop these skills, as a mom. But here’s some good news.

There are so many everyday opportunities to develop fine motor skills

It’s easy if you remember it’s just about giving your child opportunities to use their hands for “small” tasks. The more they have to use their muscles in their hands the stronger they get. And as you do this, your child will gain better control of those muscles and be able to perform more detailed oriented tasks. 

And here’s some more good news. There are a HEAP of everyday activities your child is already doing to develop these skills. If you’re aware of them, you’re likely to be more intentional about letting your child do them. For example: picking up little toys, playing in the sand outside, packing books onto a shelf. Take a look at this article for a bunch more. (This FREE resource will also guide you about which chores you can use to develop specific skills your toddler needs.)

Children learn best when they’re having fun

Besides the everyday activities, there are a load of fun activities you can do with your child or give them to do on their own that will intentionally develop the strength and coordination of their hand muscles. We’re going to go through a few examples shortly. 

But I do want to make this point: Children really do learn best when they’re having fun: When they’re playing and even when they’re connecting with others. This time of intentionally teaching your child these skills may be an opportunity for important connection time between you and your child. 

If you’re homeschooling your child, you have to spend a portion of your day intentionally teaching them these skills anyway. Enjoy it. Have fun with them. If your child goes to preschool, it doesn’t matter that they learn and practice these skills there. Next time you have some focused free time with them, throw in one of these activities and have fun doing it together. 

And take the pressure off – them and yourself.

Remember that as long as they’re using their hands and fingers for these activities, you’re developing these skills and the strength they need. Even if what they create ain’t perfect. (Something this perfectionist-mama has to let go of often. *cringe*)

Fun activities you can do to have fun developing your child’s fine motor skills

You can have fun with your child while developing their fine motor skills. And it doesn’t need to take a lot of preparation, equipment or extra time. 

Playing with play dough

Get those little fingers squishing the play dough. Form it into balls and sausages. Flatten it. Press it down and push cookie-cutters into it. Roll it flat with a rolling pin. Use scissors to cut it up. Eventually your child will be forming figures that actually look like more than a blob.

Peeling off and sticking down stickers

Stickers are so much fun for their colours and textures too. But the act of peeling off a sticker from a sticker page and sticking it down somewhere else uses so many hand muscles and adds the element of hand-eye-coordination too. Eventually, your child can place the stickers along a straight or curved line or on the outline of a shape. 

Playing with stackable objects like wooden blocks

Grasping the block with their fingers develops the strength inside the arch of their hands and palms. Being able to pick it up in a controlled way and then place it down carefully on top of another block is a great way to practice fine motor skills. 

Squeezing clothes pegs

Pegs that you have to squeeze to open are brilliant tools for strengthening little hands. Have your child peg them onto a washline or the edge of a curtain. Check out the resources in this monthly subscription for activities like this one!

Using small objects like fluffy pompoms and cereal loops

There are SO many fun things you can do with things like fluffy pompoms, from sticking them on a picture to decorate it, to pushing them through holes in a box, moving them from one container to another, sorting them into colors and stacking them on a worksheet to count numbers. Use cereal loops in the same way or have your child thread them onto a piece of string.

Tearing up paper and sticking it down.

Print out or draw a simple picture and have your child tear up some colored paper and stick it onto the picture to add color and texture. Tearing paper using the finger tips rather than the whole hand will strengthen the muscles in your child’s fingers. Then coordinating those fingers to be able to pick up and stick down pieces of paper is another valuable exercise they’ll benefit from.

Lacing or threading

This activity is actually great for practicing using both hands in a controlled and coordinated way. It also develops perceptual skills and hand-eye coordination. Print out these fun pictures and use a hole punch to create holes your child can thread a shoelace or piece of string through. Thread cereal loops onto a string or a piece of spaghetti for a bigger challenge. Or thread beads onto a colorful pipe-cleaner and form into a fun shape like a flower or bracelet. 

Cutting with scissors

Your child can use scissors to cut a number of items other than paper (maybe you already experienced that! eek!). Let them cut up play dough, plastic/paper drinking straws, pieces of string, sponge, paper, cardboard, fabric. These objects not only allow your child to use their hands for the skill of cutting but also gives them the opportunity to explore different textures which is great for sensory development. 

Coloring with crayons, pencils and chalk

Let them get creative with various mediums as they color their world. (Or maybe just the paper or sidewalk.) My littles LOVE to draw and color our paving and face-brick exterior walls with chalk. Holding little pieces of chalk as well as crayons, pens and pencils are a great way to get them used to the feeling of holding these writing implements and using them to create.

Get access to dozens of activities so your child can have fun developing your child’s fine motor skills.

Now, I know it can be a lot of work to create pictures and come up with ideas – fresh, fun ideas – that will develop these fine motor skills. But here’s some brilliant news – you and I don’t have to do it all anymore! 

Confident Little Hands Fine Motor Subscription has done it all already! 

Every month you have access to dozens of activities, printables like worksheets, games, play dough mats and more. All you need to do is print out the activities you want to do, find any extra equipment (pegs, play dough, cereal loops, etc) and get going. I like to laminate some of them so I can use them over and over, like the tracing activities or games (matching games, dominoes, etc.) but you don’t have to.

Developing your child’s fine motor skills doesn’t happen in isolation, so I’ve also included gross motor activities and sensory play ideas that will your child’s overall development. And every month you’ll also have access to a vault of training videos to support you as you work with your little one!

I love creating these each month for you and my kiddos love to do the activities!

If you need some fresh ideas and inspiration, some specific activities to do in your homeschool or something fun to connect with your kiddos and keep them busy, you’ll find it all here.

Connect with me

Have you got a new way to play with your child while you have fun developing their fine motor skills – drop a comment to let us know!

Feel free to reach out in the comments or send me an email to connect. It’s my mission to equip and empower you to help your child succeed – you are, after all, the best person for that job, because you are the expert on your child.

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