The beginning of school always gets me thinking to fine motor ideas and I thought I would share some of my favorites. I forget what it’s like to start back when I’m on summer break. I forget that all of that pencil holding makes them say things like “My hand hurrrts!!!”
All of these ideas are extremely inexpensive and will take little to no time.
The first activity is this tennis ball guy.
It is ridiculous how easy it is to put together. All you have to do is use a box cutter to cut a line and hot glue two googly eyes on it.
Voila, you have tennis ball guy.
Then, have the students feed it beans. They use one hand to squeeze the mouth open and one hand to feed it beans. If I had a cute little hand model then I could have demonstrated the last picture better. But, alas, summer is not the time I have little people to show you all of the fun things happening…sigh.
This little feed the tennis ball beans activity will strengthen their little finger muscles and keep them entertained.
Use clothespins to pick up small objects. Have them use both hands and use their thumb and “pincher finger” to hold the end of the clips. They can pick up any kind of object.
Transfer it from one basket to another.
Make a game with it.
Go crazy 🙂
Last idea is the Play-Doh roll. All you need is Play-Doh and a few pennies.
Take out about half of the Play-Doh in the can and roll it out like a “snake”.
Have the student put 4-5 pennies in their hand and one at a time stick it in the Play-Doh using one hand. Then, go back and using that same hand, pick the pennies back up while sliding it back in to their palm {keep fist closed}.
The key is to not drop the pennies. You could do somethingl like this whole group and make it a bit of a competition.
Keep these ideas for your bag of tricks for the beginning of the year. I always have a Fine Motor Station for the first two-four weeks. If I think they need more practice, we will keep it for longer.
I am ALWAYS looking for other ways to strengthen fine motor. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!
Brilliant! I absolutely LOVE the tennis ball guy idea!!! How easy but so much fun for kinders!! Thank you for the great ideas!
Love the tennis ball guy as well!! Since this is my 2nd year in kindergarten, the idea of a fine motor station never crossed my 50 something brain. Thanks for the idea! I’ll also put this in my math stations for counting. Love your blog! Linda G.