As a teacher in the primary classroom, you likely have a scope and sequence that is packed with foundational skills and concepts you need to teach your students. But one thing is almost always omitted from this list. . . fine motor skills. With an already full teaching calendar, is it really necessary to work on fine motor skills? Is it even possible? I’m tackling the answers to these questions and more.
What are Fine Motor Skills?
Motor skills are any physical action that we do that requires the use of our muscles. So, almost everything! Motor actions are divided into two main types – gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor actions are those physical actions that use our larger muscles or large muscle groups. Think “big” movements like walking, running, jumping, climbing, rolling, twisting, and bending. On the other hand, fine motor actions are those things that use some of the smallest muscles, usually those in the hand and wrist. Grasping, pinching, and picking up small items are all examples of fine motor actions.
When you think about how often fine motor actions are part of our everyday life, their importance becomes very clear. Activities like buttoning a shirt, using utensils to eat, and turning a door knob are all fine motor actions that we use every day.
There’s no shortage of classroom activities that use fine motor actions. Writing and coloring, cutting, and using a glue bottle are all fine motor activities. When we help our students develop their fine motor skills we aren’t just helping academically, we are helping them in all areas of their life.
Making Time for Fine Motor Skills
I get it – it’s hard to think of adding one.more.thing to your classroom to-do list! But if you are working with kids between the ages of 3 and 7, you can’t afford not to. The great thing about building fine motor skills is that the activities that build those hand and wrist muscles can be easily connected with other academic skills and concepts. So instead of making time for something new – we only need to begin looking for ways to add a fine motor component to activities we are already doing! And this is easier than you may think!
In the primary classroom, morning tubs, learning centers, and early finisher stations are the perfect place to tie fine motor skills to academic skills. So many of the activities that our students love are also great for building hand strength and developing stronger fine motor skills. Check out this list of kid-approved activities:
- Rolling, pinching, and manipulating playdough
- Opening and closing clothespins and tweezers
- Using a hole punch
- Coloring
- Cutting
- Threading and lacing
- Putting together puzzle pieces
- Ripping and crumpling paper
- Stacking small objects, like blocks
- Crafting
The key to making time for fine motor skills is to connect one or more of these activities with an academic skill or concept that your students need to practice. By doing this with a few of the activities that your students are already doing, you can build a strong fine motor “workout” without changing anything else in your schedule.
My Favorite Centers that Build Fine Motor Skills
If you’ve made it this far, then, chances are, we are on the same page – using classroom activities to build fine motor skills is important. I’m sharing my favorite activities so you can see just how easy it is to connect fine motor building activities with academic skills practice.
1. Playdough Mats
If you want an engaging classroom activity, just pull out the playdough! Kids love it and there’s nothing quite like it when it comes to giving those small hand muscles a workout. The pinching, tearing, flattening, rolling, and manipulating that happens is just what we are looking for when it comes to building fine motor skills.
While there is nothing wrong with some “free play” playdough time, you can also use playdough to get your students excited about the skills they are learning. Playdough mats are designed to get your students interacting with academic skills using playdough. For example, in my Numbers to 10 Playdough Mats resource, students will work on number formation, number recognition, and number sense in one mat. I also use Alphabet Playdough Mats and Sight Word Playdough Mats to work on letter and word recognition, letter formation, and reading skills.
By changing out the mats to reflect the skill or concept your students are practicing, you can have a year-long playdough center. Check out all the fun playdough mat sets that you can use for reading, math, and writing.
2. Pom Pom Mystery Pictures
When it comes to fun learning, pom pom pictures are at the top of the list! Think of these like a color-by-code activity, but instead of coloring, students use colored pom poms to build the picture. To make this a stellar fine motor activity, add a pair of kid-friendly tweezers like these. As students decide what color pom pom needs to fill each space, they use the tweezers to pick up and move the pom pom. This simple addition turns this into a great center activity.
Inside each of my Pom Pom Mystery Picture sets you will have picture mats that will help your students work on number identification, letter identification, beginning sounds, and subitizing. You can put all the seasonal or holiday mats and let students choose, or pull the mats that line up with the specific skill you want students to practice.
3. Snap Cube Pictures
Similar to the Pom Pom Mystery Pictures, Snap Cube Pictures engage your students in building a picture with snap cubes. Each set of themed pictures comes with multiple mats that help target both math and phonics skills.
To give this activity a fine motor boost, I teach students to pick up the snap cube, turn it, and lay it on the mat so that all the snap cubes are facing in the same direction. Once they have completed the picture, I have them connect the snap cubes in each row. This simple extra step gets them working that pincer grasp as well as strengthening those hands as they snap the cubes together.
When it is time to clean up, students know that they need to separate all the cubes so that the activity is ready for the next person. Both the snapping together and the unsnapping of the cubes will build those hand muscles that we are targeting with fine motor work.
4. Pattern Block Puzzles
Pattern block puzzles are a great way to build fine motor skills while students also work on identifying shapes and critical thinking skills. In my store, I have a variety of pattern block puzzle mats that students can use. Sometimes I grab the Spin & Match games that have students spinning to find out which shape they will add to the puzzle. Other times I use the Roll & Match games that use a dice instead of a spinner.
In both games, students must use visual discrimination skills as they match the target shape to the key and then to the mat. As students place their pattern block pieces onto the mat they are tapping into those fine motor skills and using lots of hand-eye coordination to get the piece in the right place.
These pattern block puzzles are a fun and easy way to connect your center to other learning you are doing. In my TPT store, you will find a variety of themed pattern block puzzle math games that your students will love. Here are a few that are student favorites year after year:
Additional Resources
Whether you are reaching for the playdough, pom poms, or pattern blocks, you can be confident knowing that you are adding important fine motor skills development to your centers. For more tips and ideas on weaving fine motor skills into your classroom activities, check out these blog posts.
- Targeting Fine Motor Skills with Playdough
- 12 Fun Fine Motor Alphabet Activities for Kindergarten
- 5 January Fine Motor Activities for Winter Learning
Save These Fine Motor Tips and Ideas
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