I’m just sitting around thinking about the beginning of the year skills that are always beneficial to focus on, and that got me to thinking about fine motor skills and how they are necessary for the classroom. Fine motor skills are an important part of student learning that is often overlooked.
So, what are fine motor skills? Fine motor skills are when the small muscles of the hands, wrists, and fingers coordinate together in conjunction with the eyes. It affects the ability of your students to write, color, cut, snap, button, buckle, zip, tie shoes, and the list could go on and on!
So today I’m here to share with you guys some fine motor activities that are easy to prep, simple to implement in your classroom, and cheap to boot.
1. Shoestrings and Letter Beads
Shoestrings can be found pretty much anyplace, and I’ve found that it’s best to get shoestrings like the ones in the pictures, rather than the average string like in your sneakers. Average strings are rather wide, and students may not be able to move the beads as easily. These alphabet beads can be found at your local Michael’s.
2. Fuzzy Sticks & Buttons
My kiddos really love this activity (and so do I, it’s a great stress reliever, lol)! Sometimes after they have placed buttons onto the pipe cleaners, they love to twist the ends and make bracelets and rings out of them! These supplies can easily be found at your local Wal-Mart.
3. Lacing Cards
We’ve all seen the lacing cards that you can purchase for fine motor practice. However, there is an alternative and cheaper route! You can use a pack of accents from the teacher store, or you can even print out pictures from the computer. Laminate them, punch some holes and voila!
4. Hole Punches
For some reason, students love to punch holes in things, especially if they can make different shapes out of them! I try to get a variety of them, from either Wal-Mart or Michael’s. Add some paper, and they’re ready to go!
5. Fine Motor Tweezers, Pom-Poms & Ice Cube Trays
I usually buy a ton of pom-poms, of differing sizes, from Wal-Mart’s craft section, and then I just dump them into a large bin. I pass out the fine motor tongs, and the ice cube trays, and I just let them go to work!
6. Play Dough Mats
I think besides the sensory table, our word work center is a kid-approved center. They LOVE playing with play dough! I like that it gives them continued fine motor practice throughout the school year as we move towards mastery of the standards. You can find them here!
These are just some of my favorite fine motor activities to use in a primary classroom. For even more, you can check out the next post on more fine motor activities!
