Parents as Partners:
Activities for Developing Fine Motor Coordination

Dear Parents:
These are some activities to strengthen small hand muscles.  Please keep these activities fun and integrate them into your daily routine.

• Pick up small objects such as coins, beans, marbles, seeds, buttons, nuts and bolts.  Sort them into containers of varying sizes.
• Pick up objects (blocks, cotton balls, pom-poms, crumpled balls of paper, counters, etc.) using various-sized tongs, tweezers or clothesline hooks.
• Learn to fingerspell the ABC’s using American Sign Language.
• Stack objects (coins, cards, checkers, blocks, etc.).
• Screw and unscrew objects such as nuts and bolts, caps from jars, etc.
• String beads onto a shoelace.
• Play with Lite Brite toy.
• Cut straight and curved lines/shapes drawn on paper, cloth, etc., with scissors.
• Play the piano; do fingerplays.
• Type or keyboard.
• Crumple paper into a small ball and then flick it with the finger (play “soccer” with the paper ball).
• Shuffle cards, deal cards one by one, turn cards over.
• Roll a pencil between thumb and fingers without dropping it.
• Stick small objects into playdough or silly putty for him or her to pull out.
• Wind thread on a spool evenly.
• Put rubber bands around various-sized containers and objects.
• Move spoonfuls of small objects from one bowl to another.
• Do up buttons, zippers, hooks, etc.
• Tie shoelaces.
• Manually sharpen pencils.
• Put keys into locks to open doors.
• Put paper clips onto paper.
• Place clothespins on the edge of a box or container or on a line.
• Use Wikki Stix to form shapes, letters, numbers, and other designs.
• Color using the flat side of a crayon. Put paper over leaves, stencils, and other objects so that the child gets sensory feedback as he colors.
• Use sprayer bottles filled with water and sponges to have the child “clean” a desk or table, then squeeze the excess water into a dishpan.  This is a great pre-scissor skill activity.
• Lace various-sized beads. Using both hands develops bilateral integration.
• Play with dough using words like poke, squeeze, pound, press, and knead.
• Use puzzles with pegs.
• Wave using the “pincer” grasp (two fingers and a thumb).

From Parents as Partners in Kindergarten and Early Literacy: Multiplying our Teaching Effectiveness, by Nellie Edge ©2007