Fine motot skills exercises?

Question

What are some exercises I can do with my 4 year old son to help him with his fine motor skills?

Answer 1

These are all ideas I use in my classroom:

Stringing cheerios, fruit loops, small and large beads, noodles etc.
Playing with playdoh. Put some beads in the playdoh and allow him to pick out the beads
Squeezing glue during projects
Practice cutting (starting with snipping)
Coloring
Use tongs to pick up various sized/shaped items
Cutting playdoh with scissors
Lacing cards
Scrunching up paper using one hand
Tearing paper
Peg boards
Painting using eye droppers
Tracing stencils
Using a magna doodle

Check out this site for more fun ideas for all areas of development:
http://www.shrewsbury-ma.gov/schools/beal/readiness/finemotoractivities.html

Answer 2

Have him string larger sized beads of various shapes.

Create a zipper board with a variety of zipper sizes for him to zip and unzip.

With the beads mentioned above...if you get several different colors, you can also have him sort the beads by color (or shape) and then drop each one into a plastic container.

You could also buy or make some sewing cards where your son can thread the yarn through the holes. Or use a pair of your old tennis shoes and let him lace them up and such.

Work with your son on buttoning, too. Use an adult sized coat that has larger buttons to begin with and work your way up to buttoning a child sized coat or shirt.

Coloring is also a great way to help with fine motor skill development. Encourage your son to color inside the lines. Start with pictures that don't have great detail and work your way up to pictures that do have more detail.

Hope these suggestions work!

Answer 3

As you know, if you don't make it fun, he won't do it after a while.

I learned this from student teaching in a Kindergarten classroom:

My cooperating teacher LOVED tear art.
Let's say you want to make a pumpkin, or a jack o lantern. So get orange construction paper and cut a piece in half. You take a half, and he takes a half and you show him how to tear the paper into small pieces (like 1 inch all around, roughly). the tearing of the paper is great for fine muscle development of the hands.
then he has a bottle of glue and you have a bottle of glue, or take turns sharing the bottle, and you squeeze out a drop of glue on your white construction paper (or black or brown) and you glue that pumpkin onto the background construction paper sheet.
So your child tears and squeezes, and KIDS LOVE THIS. Your pumpkin will of course be like a bunch of dots shaped in a rough circle with spaces between the paper pieces.

Your kid should love it. There was, howver, one boy in the class who groaned whenever we did this. I don't think he liked working with his hands at all, though. the rest of the class was thrilled to do it. Do this like 3 times a week, you don't want to burn out your kid. Or maybe less often, just watch how your kid acts.

then there is coloring, teaching him to write his first and last name, crafts are just all-round great for fine muscle development, etc.

Make it fun, and he will get all the exercise you want him to have.

Answer 4

These are all good ideas. Here's just a few more: play with play dough and clay to develop fine motor strength. Use scissors to develop strength and control. Play with Legos or any kind of small snap together building toys. Do finger plays with him. Here's a fun web site for songs and fingerplays:
http://www.preschooleducation.com/
Click on Music & Songs.

Answer 5

Sorting small items that require the use of the thumb and index finger.

String beads on plastic string.

Using small tongs, pick up soft items. (I use ice cube trays with cotton balls, and have the children use the tongs to move the cotton balls from one tray to another. This develops the muscles in the forearm as well.)

Pouring, best in the bathtub. Give him a variety of cups and measuring cups to hold onto and pour. This will help refine his small motor coordination.

Lots of coloring. Provide a variety of sizes and types of writing materials, such as thick markers, regular pencils and pens, and crayons. Color with him, and guide him in holding them correctly. (Lying on his tummy while drawing will also help brain development).

Answer 6

At our center we keep a fine motor kit that we send home with the children. We have a great article in it along with the materials to do the activities. The article is at this site:
http://www.shrewsbury-ma.gov/schools/beal/readiness/finemotoractivities.html#fine

This is the best list of fine motor activities I have come across.

Answer 7

try letting him color with crayons or those bath tub crayons! that seems to help alot! also try to get some kind of pop up book where he has to open the little door or pull down a window to see whats on the other side!

Answer 8

I like all the suggestions, but a happy hint is to break all his crayons. He has to grip the crayon closer and with better concentration.