10 SUGGESTIONS FOR FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
1. CLOTHES PINS: Use clothes pins to put pairs of items together: socks, mittens, picture matching
2. TURKEY BASTER: During bath time, let your child play with a turkey baster. Then try eyedroppers.
These items help to strengthen the same muscles that operate pencils and scissors.
3. COINS: Push coins through a tight slit in a coffee can.
4. GOLF TEES: Push golf tees into Styrofoam.
5. LET ‘R RIP: Let your child rip pieces of paper with fingers and then paste or glue to a larger piece of
paper to make a collage.
6. SCISSORS: Cut stiff paper such as cards from a magazine or collect holiday cards that you receive that
your child can cut. Cut leaves for the dinosaurs to eat…. Draw a dinosaur face or put a dino tattoo on
your child’s hand and pretend the scissors are the dino’s teeth chewing through the forest.
7. TONGS: Use small tongs to pick up toys, sticks, beads, and other manipulatives.
8. TREASURE BOX: Create a treasure box of fine motor tools. Your child can help paint the box and
decorate it. Put “treasured” objects in the box such as: scissors, glue stick, paper punches, pencils,
crayons…. And specialty papers. This box can be used to create.
9. PAPER PUNCHES: Like clothes pins, paper punches strengthen hand muscles necessary for scissor and
pencil activities.
10. CRAYONS: Just a word about crayons. Encourage the use of crayons instead of markers. Crayons
require a child to use firmer pressure on paper, while markers only need a light touch. The pressure
needed to make marks with crayons helps to strengthen muscles in little hands.