Fine motor development is an important component of all preschool programs. The following activities will help you in supporting your children to develop their fine motor skills.
Lacing Letter Beads
Large beads with the letters of the alphabet printed on them are fun and educational tools for helping your children practice fine motor skills. You can find these beads at most educational stores and in the toy or craft departments of some department stores. Give your children an alphabet bead for each letter in their names. Have them use a lace and to string the beads in proper order. When they have finished talking about the letters and the sounds they make. Have them remove the beads and lace new letters and words.
Placing Pom Poms
Soft pom poms in a variety of colors will capture the attention of young children. Add an ice cube tray and some tweezers and you have a fun activity. Have your child pick up each of the pom poms with the tweezers and place them into the individual spaces in the tray. See if your child can sort them by color within the tray.
Eye Dropper Water Play
By combining water, food coloring, small cups, and eye droppers you can create a fun fine motor activity to share with your children. Pour water halfway into six small clear cups. Add a drop or two of food coloring to each of the cups so that you have a rainbow of colored water to use. Give your children an eye dropper and some empty cups. They use the droppers to move colored water into the empty cups creating a variety of color combinations.
Consider using clear water to explore how water can magnify an image. Place a page from a magazine into a clear zipped plastic bag. Have your child place drops of water one by one over onto the plastic. Notice what happens to the size of the image or text under the water drops.
Hide and Seek Play Dough
Play dough is a wonderful hands-on material that children love to manipulate. You can purchase it form a store or make your own at home. Take some large buttons or other plastic items and hide them inside the play dough. Have your children play with the dough and predict what might be hidden. Then have them dig the objects out of the dough and see if their predictions were correct.
For more information on fine motor development in McKinney, Preschool Programs contact the Heritage Learning Center at 972-782-4464 today!
Heritage Learning Center | McKinney Preschool Programs | (972)-782-4464
