What Are Motor Skills?
Motor skills begin to develop right from birth and continue to progress up through early childhood. Gross motor skills are actions using large muscle groups, like those muscles found in arms, legs and feet. Running and jumping are examples of large motor skills. Fine motor skills are actions using small muscle groups like those found in hands and fingers, often in coordination with the eyes. Picking something up is an example of a fine motor skill.
Why Are Fine Motor Skills Important?
The development of fine motor skills is very important, as they allow children to become increasingly independent. Fine motor skills lead to other important life skills, such as cutting, zipping, buttoning, gluing, holding a crayon or pencil, and tying shoes.
If fine motor skills do not develop as they should, this can lead to developmental delays in children such as:
- Lack of hand and finger strength
- Delayed self-care skills (zipping, buttoning, tying, feeding, etc.)
- Delayed ability to manipulate small objects
- Poor academic achievement
- Feelings of frustration
- Possible behavioral difficulties
When it comes to learning, I am a huge fan of multi-sensory, engaging tasks! At the same time children are strengthening fine motor skills, they can also be learning other valuable skills, such as letter or number recognition. Not only does this help strengthen those little hand muscles, but using different modalities (rather than just pencil and paper) allows children the creativity to foster a more meaningful and memorable learning experience!
Here are 8 fun ways you can strengthen your little one’s fine motor skills and alphabet skills at the same time!
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View the video version of this post here:
1. Salt/sand tray
I LOVE SALT/SAND TRAYS! They are so much fun and can be used in a variety of ways that appeal to all children, especially kinesthetic learners, or children who learn best through movement. You can use any shallow container to hold your sand or salt (I bought this one from a dollar store). The key is to put a THIN layer of salt or sand in the tray. If the layer is too thick, the letter or number your child is forming will not be easily seen. As a frame of reference, your child’s finger should easily touch the bottom of the tray and the sand should clear from the area your child runs their finger through, allowing you to see the bottom of the tray.
You can change up the materials in the tray that you use for a different sensory experience! Some items you can use are:
- Sprinkles
- Salt
- Sand
- Beads
- Sequins
- Textured paper (place at the bottom of the tray so they feel the texture through the sand when writing)
2. Shaving Cream
Oh, how I love this beautifully messy medium! Stick a smock on your child and squirt a little bit of shaving cream directly on a plastic table. (If you don’t want to put it directly on the table, I have used disposable aluminum trays for this activity instead.) Show your child a picture of the letter, or name the letter or sound you want them to write! They LOVE this activity!
3. Alphabet mats
Alphabet mats with outlined letters make for a super fun fine motor letter activity! There are so many ways to use these! (Click here to sign up for access to my FREE Early Childhood Resource Library where you can download a copy of my Fine Motor Alphabet Mats!)
Some ways you can use these are:
4. Finger Tracing Cards
Tracing letters with a pencil can be very difficult for children first learning how to write. These tracing cards are a great way for children to get the motions of each letter down with their fingers BEFORE they write them! Click HERE to get a free set!
5. Clothespins Letters
A simple, yet fun alphabet matching game! Simply write upper or lowercase letters on a set of clothespins. Children then pick a clothespin and clip it to the correct matching letter! Click HERE to download my Alphabet Wheel Freebie!
6. Alphabet Punch Cards
Alphabet punch cards are a great way to strengthen hand muscles while working on letters! You definitely have to be careful about the tool you choose for these. The first hole punch I tried to use with my preschool friends took way too much force to punch a hole. I found these little ones on Amazon that are PERFECT for little hands and punch very easily!
You can also use different tools to mark the letters on these cards. I like to use dot markers and stickers to switch things up!
Click here to get my set of Alphabet Punch Cards!
7. Find and Spray Alphabet Game
It’s always fun to change up the scenery and take learning outside! Grab some sidewalk chalk and write an assortment of letters (uppercase, lowercase, or both) on a wooden fence or pavement. Give your child a spray bottle filled with water. Call out a letter or sound and have the child identify the letter or sound by spraying it with the spray bottle!
8. Wikki Sticks
To be honest, I always forget about these gems! I recently picked a pack up and rekindled my love for them! Wikki Sticks are awesome for fine motor work and expressing creativity! You can twist and mold them into anything and they stick to most surfaces and are reusable over and over again! I love having kids form letters out of these. You can find them on Amazon here!
I hope you enjoyed these activities! Do you have a favorite fine motor alphabet activity? Leave it in the comments below!
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