Fine motor coordination refers to the coordination between limbs and eyes that allow a person to perform coordinated activities such as writing, drawing, cutting, tying shoe-laces, etc. It is obvious why we need our children to be proficient in this area; the question now is what sort of things can we do to help our children develop these skills? Below is a list of games and activities that you can try to strengthen fine-motor coordination in a fun way, for you and your children!

Younger children

• Invest in a shape sorter, or make your own by cutting geometrical shapes out of box and cutting matching shapes from sponge (or use the pieces you cut off the box) and encourage your child to put the shapes into the correct holes.
• Scribble with wax crayons or buy some of those large pavement chalks and encourage them to scribble on the driveway (it washes off with plain water!)
• Threading large beads onto shoelaces is always fun, especially when the result is made into a necklace and worn by mom or dad!
• Play with play dough, as they need to use their fine motor skills to squeeze it, roll it, cut it out etc.
• Build towers with wooden blocks – how tall can they make it?

Older children

• Draw on large pieces of paper or give them paintbrushes and water (no paint!) to ‘draw’ large shapes and ‘scribble’ on the side of the house.
• Cut pieces of paper – give them coloured paper to cut up into small pieces then stick these together onto a piece of white paper to make a picture.
• Draw a picture for your child and encourage them to tear coloured paper into small pieces to stick into the picture (such as green paper for a tree’s leaves).
• Practise opening and closing lids on jars and bottles.
• Mix different colour paint with water to make them runny, put small blobs onto a piece of paper and encourage your child to blow the colours around through a straw to make a picture.
• Encourage them to use tweezers to pick up small things and move them, such as beads in a muffin tray, pieces of sponge from one bowl to another, etc.
• Show them how to make a sun by clipping pegs onto a paper plate or put pegs onto the top of a tin or jar opening.
• Make jewellery or Christmas decorations by threading pasta or popcorn onto string – paint the pasta first and have fun creating patters – you can thread the pasts in a certain order and encourage your child to copy the order.
• Using a pegboard, create a pattern with coloured pegs and let them copy the pattern, younger children can simply practice getting the pegs into the holes.
• Draw parallel lines on a piece of paper (like a road) and encourage your child to draw between them without touching the sides – as they become more efficient make the lines strange shapes or closer together, or even make it a race as they get older.
• Play marbles and take boxes and cut holes into them to ‘shoot’ the marbles through.
• Complete dot to dot pictures as that also encourages fine-motor skills.
• Do you remember pick-up sticks? You can buy the set or use skewers or toothpicks – hold the sticks in a bunch resting on their end on a flat surface then let go. You must take it in turns to pick up a stick without any of the other sticks moving.

These activities are supposed to be fun – please enjoy yourselves and remember not to force the issue if your child doesn’t want to do it. Please don’t hesitate to contact a professional, either an educational psychologist or an occupational therapist if you are concerned about your child’s abilities in any of these areas.

Author:
Melanie Hartgill
Educational Psychologist
Pr. no. 0860000115134
Click here to email Melanie
082 678 4300

Specialising in: Assessments (educational, psychological, school readiness, emotional and career), Learning Disabilities, Parenting Issues and Training and Child Development
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