6 Activities To Help Kids Improve Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills are important for children to learn, and they start learning these skills at a very young age. Without proper development of fine motor skills, children find it difficult to have an understanding of spatial awareness and begin to fall behind in their developmental age.

Fortunately, there are lots of ways to help children to improve their fine motor skills, and starting early is a great way to ensure that your child will hit all of their developmental milestones. Here are six activities that are designed to improve fine motor skills at every age level.

Painting

Painting pictures is something that children usually start doing from a very early age, perhaps even pre-schooling age around 12 months old. To help build fine motor skills, you can take it one step further and get colouring books and paint by numbers activities, as these help children to learn to paint within the lines and hold a paintbrush correctly for the best possible results.

Model Building

For older children who prefer hands-on activities, building models is a great way to help them improve their fine motor skills, patients, and focus. Get models that the children will be engaged with. For some, this might be 3D models of buildings, woodworking models, or the classic kits of model planes. As an added bonus, building models can also be a great opportunity for older kids to engage with history, as well as learning to paint and glue in a delicate way.

Sculpting

Sculpting comes in many different forms depending on the age and maturity of your child. Two of the most popular sculpting materials are play-dough and air drying clay. Both of these materials can be used as part of an open-ended play scenario, and there are lots of additional tools such as cutters and stamps that kids can use now to create anything their heart desires!

Gardening

There are lots of fine motor activities when it comes to gardening, especially pouring water, caring for and transporting delicate seedlings, picking up tiny seeds, and even pulling vegetables from the ground. Gardening is also a great activity to help children understand their place in the world and learn to care for something else.

Pouring and Transfer Activities

Popular in Montessori education spaces, pouring and transferring activities are especially good for toddlers who are still developing their fine motor skills. These activities are easy to set up and can be either a dry or a wet activity. For dry activities, use plastic or wooden kid-size tweezers with materials like dry beans and pom-poms. For wet activities, coloured water and oils with jars and cups make great alternatives.

Looking After Pets

An age-appropriate activity that requires supervision, but pet care can be an excellent way for children to learn about their own bodies. Start with simple activities such as gently brushing compliant pets like dogs, and gradually build up to more care-based activities that are right for their age and maturity level.

Whatever your child ends up doing, make sure to never force an activity onto them, as you want them to enjoy doing it while improving these fine motor skills, so always help them find an activity that speaks to them. There is nothing wrong with a little bit of trial and error here.