Chopsticks and Rubber Snakes!

I was in the toy store a few weeks ago. I spotted a little boy, no older than three, using chop sticks to lift toy snakes into a bowl. I commented to his mom about his awesome and advanced fine motor skills. She asked why this was important and I mentioned how much fine motor development influences handwriting later on in school. This reminded me of a list I had put together for parents looking to help their children improve their fine motor abilities. Share it with someone you know!

Ways to improve fine motor muscles/skills:

• Painting the house/sidewalk - Give your child a paintbrush & let them paint the house or sidewalk with water. They can paint words & pictures, too. 

• Shine the Silver - Cut the corner off of a sponge. Dip into silver polish, holding with 3 writing fingers, polish away. Rinse and dry. 

• Tong Fun - Using toaster tongs and later tweezers, separate colored large/small paperclips into piles. 

• Squeeze - Take a stress ball and squeeze repeatedly for 2 minutes with one hand. Then switch hands and repeat. 

• Write Away - Jump in the tub fully dressed. Using tub crayons write words or stories on the wall of the tub for someone else to read. 

• Chalk Designs - Make a design with chalk on the sidewalk. Then take a spray bottle and squirt along the lines you just drew. 

• Tanagrams - Use a tanagrams set to make designs.

• Eyedropper Art - Put small pieces of colored tissue paper on a larger piece of paper. Use an eyedropper to drop water onto the tissue. After it dries, blow it off the paper to find a design left behind. 

• Cottonball Soccer - Laying on your stomach, use tape to define goals. Then, flick a “cotton soccer ball” with your thumb and pointer finger on dominant hand. Play soccer!

• Bubble Wrap Maze - On a 10x10 piece of bubblewrap make a path with marker on the flat side. Then, with pincer grasp use both hands to pop bubbles on the maze. 

• Perfection and Jenga - Both of these games use the pincer grasp. Try playing Perfection and Jenga without timer feature first.