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Explore a treasure trove of fine motor activities in this blog post, carefully curated for sensory-motor, fine-motor, and visual-perceptual skill development. Uncover a wealth of ideas that not only enhance motor development but also contribute to skill acquisition.
Discover how building a strong pincer grasp and finger strength can significantly impact pencil control and improve handwriting legibility. Access convenient printables available in my TpT store, and gather all necessary materials effortlessly from Amazon.
For just about 10 dollars per child, you can assemble a comprehensive kit containing 15-20 different activities. These activities are designed for repeated use, and all materials neatly fit into a 2-gallon Zip Lock bag, making organization a breeze.
Wondering what goes into these kits? Theraputty and beads, colored pom-poms, and mini erasers to sort into a disposable muffin tin, pony beads to sort into plastic paint pallets with tweezers or on to matching pipe cleaners, Wikki Sticks, pop beads, and colored paperclips to match to card stock. I also made gel bags, sticker sorts, and button sorts.
Encourage children to maintain the kit’s contents in their bag for easy accessibility. Promote functional life skills, thoroughness, and responsibility by encouraging students to open and close containers and ziplock bags.
It’s crucial to note that these kits require adult supervision at all times, as some items pose choking hazards for younger children. Dive into the world of engaging and purposeful fine motor activities, designed to enrich the learning experience with safety and skill development in mind.
Roll it Writing and Drawing Games:
Materials:
- Die
- Paper or whiteboard (this is my new favorite)
- Writing tool
- Roll it PDF laminated for multiple uses
Skills:
- Turn-taking
- Drawing and handwriting
- Visual perceptual
Directions for Roll and Draw:
- Have students or participants take turns rolling and drawing each part of the picture.
- Students must draw the parts in the order that they roll. This works on visual perceptual and executive functioning skills, as they must plan out where each part will go. Challenge them to complete the drawing without erasing.
- Consider drawing a template to use as a model for students with struggling drawing skills.
- If they roll the same number…1. They can roll again. Consider only one extra roll so others don’t have to wait too long. 2. They don’t add to the drawing this turn and the next player goes. 3. Add details to the part they have already rolled. 4. Some students like the idea of making their pictures silly and will add extra arms, head, hat, etc. At the end of the allotted time, allow everyone to finish their drawing even if they did not roll one of the numbers. Play however it works out best for you and the group you have!
For roll and write a sentence activities students roll 3 times to find out what character, situation and setting they will write about.
Roll It Movement Games:
Materials:
- Die
- Enough space to move without bumping into others or furniture
- Roll it PDF laminated for multiple uses
Skills:
- Core stability and control
- Bilateral motor coordination
- Gross motor
- Crossing body midline
- Movement helps to wake up the brain
- Consider doing movement activities before fine motor activities
- Encourage taking sips of water to help energize the brain and body
Directions:
- Decide as a group at the beginning how many repetitions will be completed for each movement rolled. Maybe start with 5 and increasing each week. For example 5 the first week, then 10, then 15, etc.
- Roll the dice, perform the exercise.
- If they roll the same number…They can roll again. Consider only one extra roll so others don’t have to wait too long.
Check out these in My Free Resource Library.
“Spot It” Wheel:
Materials:
- Laminated wheel
Skills:
- Visual Perceptual
Directions:
- Hold the wheel with both hands
- Turn the top wheel to see only two pictures on the bottom wheel, find the two pictures on the top wheel that match the bottom pictures.
- Continue around the wheel
Button Sort:
Materials:
- 8 section laminated template
- Snack-size ziplock of buttons, pre-sorted into 8 categories. All the same color to make it a challenge.
Skills:
- Visual perceptual, attention to detail, find the difference or the same
- Fine motor
Directions:
- Spread out the buttons on a table or desk surface
- Place the template beside the buttons
- Sort the buttons according to size, color and details.
- Some sections may only have 1 button while others may have 4 or 5.
- Talk about the similarities and differences.
- Be sure to put all the buttons back into the ziplock bag.
Sticker Sort:
Materials:
- Stickers
- Sticker template
Skills:
- Visual perceptual
- Fine motor
Directions:
- Place the desired number of stickers on the paper, use a color copier for multiple copies.
- Have the student look at all the stickers and the template.
- Peel off a sticker and match it to the correct box on the template.
- Peel and match one sticker at a time.
Theraputty:
Materials:
- Tub of green Theraputty with beads
Skills:
- Finger and hand strengthening
- Three-finger, pincer, and lateral grasp development
Directions:
- Wash and dry hands thoroughly
- Remove the lid
- Work the beads into the putty, hide all the beads
- Find the beads
- Hold the putty in the non-dominant hand, use a three-finger grasp with the dominant hand to pull apart the putty
- Use a both hands to work the putty back into a ball
- Hold the putty in the non-dominant hand, use a pincer grasp with the dominant hand to pull apart the putty
- Roll the putty into a log and twist back and forth with both hands
- Roll the putty into small balls or logs
- Make shapes, letters or numbers, or spell names or words
- Return to container and seal when done
Paper Clip Color Sort:
Materials:
- Ziplock bag of colored paper clips and corresponding paper
Skills:
- Fine motor coordination
- Eye-hand coordination
- Match to color
- Learn how to use a paperclip
Directions:
- Open the ziplock bag, remove contents.
- Place the colored paper clip onto the corresponding colored paper
- If the student is struggling with this role model. Demonstrate how the small loop of the clip can be slightly pushed to go either behind or infront of the paper.
Bag of Hair Gel:
Materials:
- Bag of hair gel, colored with food coloring and sealed with packing tape.
Skills:
- Sensory motor pre-writing
- Visual perceptual
- Finger isolation and coordination
Directions:
- Wash and dry hands thoroughly
- Place bag of hair gel on top of the white laminated paper on a table or desk surface and smooth out the hair gel throughout the bag.
- Stabilize the bag with the non-dominant hand, draw shapes, letters or numbers with the index finger of the dominant hand
- Draw basic drawings such as a face, person, house, tree
- Play tic-tac-toe
Wikki Stixs:
Materials:
- Snack size ziplock bag of Wikki Stix
- Surface to work on
Skills:
- Fine motor
- Kinesthetic learning
- Visual perceptual
Directions:
- Wiki sticks are made of yarn and a non-toxic food grade wax
- They stick to each other or surface with fingertip pressure
- Some students may feel a bit “tacky” while using them, wipe a way with a dry cloth or paper towel
- Create shapes, numbers, letters and simple drawings
- Use over dot-to-dot in sequence
- Place over drawings or maps
Pop Beads:
Materials:
- Snack size ziplock of snap beads
- Small container or muffin tin
Skills:
- Fine motor
- Finger strength
- Visual perceptual
Directions:
- Open ziplock and put beads into the small container
- Remove a bead with non-dominant hand and hold it at the larger round end with the stick part pointing out
- Select another bead with the dominant hand and by holding the smaller stick side of the bead, snap it onto the other bead
- Repeat
- Make a sequence of two or three color patterns
- Make a sequence of all of the same colors
- Take apart and return to the ziplock bag
Pipe Cleaner or Plastic Paint Pallet Bead Sort:
Materials:
- Snack-size ziplock of beads and matching pipe cleaners
- Plastic paint pallet and beads to sort
Skills:
- Fine motor
- Visual perception
- Proprioception (tweezers and beads)
Directions:
- Open ziplock and put beads into the small container
- Select a pipe cleaner with the non-dominant hand
- Place the corresponding colored bead onto the pipe cleaner
- Continue with other colors or just do one or two colors
- Slide beads off and replace into a ziplock bag
Muffin Tin Sorts:
Materials:
- Muffin tin
- Tweezers
- 6 colors of Pom poms
- 6 styles of mini erasers
- Table or desk surface
Skills:
- Finger strength and coordination
- Fine motor
- Visual perceptual
- Patience
Directions:
- This may be hard for the students and may take practice and role modeling. With practice, they will learn to control the tweezers. As they develop their skill and confidence with the tweezers, be sure they are using the tweezers with their elbows close to their bodies.
- Decide what sort to work on, either erasers or pom-poms
- Open ziplock bag and place either erasers or pom-poms onto the work surface
- Hold the tweezers close to the tip with the dominant hand, the thumb on the side of the tweezers closest to your body, and the index and third finger on the other side of the tweezers.
- Using the tweezers pick up either an eraser or pom-pom then release it into the muffin tin.
- Sort the erasers or pom-poms by color and design
- Be sure to place all items back into the corresponding ziplock bags.
I hope you will design your own kits to encourage creativity and imagination along with developing skills. Have fun, there is no right or wrong way to play. These activities may inspire other activities with everyday items in your home or classroom.
About the Author
I am a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA) and have been working in a public school system for more than 25 years. My resources can be found on TPT, BOOM Learning, Made by Teachers, Classful, and Your Therapy Source. I appreciate your interest wherever you wish to shop.
My mission is to help you find creative ideas to incorporate fine motor, visual perception, gross motor, and social-emotional learning into your lessons.
I hope you consider signing up for my Free Resource Library with your Email. I send out emails about once a week and share resources, tips, and planning ideas for your classroom or occupational therapy needs. Hopefully, these help your students work on building their skills in a fun and engaging way.
