In a previous post I shared a few fine motor activities we were working on in the classroom. Since we have been tracking our progress with fine motor skills for our data team, we have been exploring SO many new fine motor activities! I thought I'd share a few more with you!
Here is our current sensory table. We have added cotton balls, smaller pom poms, clothespins, tongs, scoops, buckets and baskets. (Basically, everything but the kitchen sink is in that sensory table! :) ... oh, I forgot, I also added those mirrors I found at the Dollar Store under the cotton balls! What better surprise could there be than to find your own smiling face at the bottom of the cotton balls!
When we set up this sensory table, not one of the children was able to successfully squeeze and clip a clothespin to a basket or use the clothespin or tongs to pick up the cotton balls. Now we have several children who are VERY successful with clothespins!
That just MIGHT be the reason why I couldn't get a good photo
of this little girl clipping the clothespins on the basket...she's just too darn
quick! Cost of sensory table= less than $8.00.
This is one of
the children's current favorite fine motor activities: Putting pipe cleaners into the small holes of a Parmesan
cheese container! This is super simple to set up and provides at least 10-15 minutes of focused fine motor fun for a child! (We found these Parmesan cheese containers at the Dollar Store. They are glass- so we just provide one on one supervision to make sure it isn't dropped.) We also feel obligated to sing "Happy Birthday" many times for the children who think they look like birthday candles when it is all decorated! Cost= $2.00
This is a toy I found discarded by another teacher :) Not only does it work on fine motor control, but the children also need to sequence the weights of the small inserts. The child removes all the
tiny inserts, then judges where each goes by the weight as well as the length of
each. The kids just love it! Cost=Free :)
Pushing pom poms is another classroom favorite! We set up the "game" by putting pom poms halfway through the holes in the basket. The child then needs to push each pom pom with his/her index finger through the hole! When they are all pushed through, we usually collect all of them and begin again! This is a Dollar Store basket and pom poms. Cost=$2.00
We are just beginning to work on weaving. This is pretty challenging for most of my kids, but a few have really enjoyed the challenge! This is a Dollar Store basket and leftover ribbon to weave through the holes. Cost=$1.00
Hope this gives you a few more ideas for fine motor work! I have to say, I was not prepared when we began this journey to see the amount of progress the children have shown with fine motor control! These activities have all been simply fun and enjoyable for the children...but it is amazing to see all the progress they each have made!
