Fine motor skills usually develop naturally through play as a child grows. However, there are fine motor toys that you can incorporate into your child’s play to promote their development. Take a look at the 8 different toy ideas below that will help develop muscles in the hands and coordination to prepare for big kid activities in kindergarten (holding crayons, buttoning fasteners, opening/closing lunch boxes, etc).
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1) An Easel
Writing, drawing, and playing on a vertical surface helps strengthen the shoulder and wrist muscles and automatically positions the wrist in an extended position, which opens up the fingers. These are prerequisites for being able to maneuver writing tools appropriately. This 3 in 1 Double Easel by Crayola is an example of a great easel.
2) Rock Crayons
Using shorter crayons helps build muscles in the hands and naturally incorporates the use of the thumb, index, and middle finger (tripod grasp) which is needed for holding a pencil.
3) Craft Supplies
Manipulating different materials helps develop hand muscles needed for writing, cutting, and buttoning. Here is an example of a craft set that contains a variety of creative supplies guaranteed to work out those fine motor skills.
4) Large Coloring Books
Did you know that Tummy Time can also be beneficial for older kids? Drawing on a large surface area while on the stomach helps develop neck, core, and arm muscles which are prerequisites for good fine motor control. There are a variety of interesting coloring posters and books available. You can also encourage your child to draw their own pictures while lying down or when playing a game.
5) Tweezer Games
Many games on the market require children to pick up objects with tweezers. Pinching and squeezing tweezers is another way to strengthen the tripod grasp. The Mini Muffin Match Up and Shelby’s Snack Shack are some examples. These games are also designed to work on many early learning skills, such as counting, color and number recognition, turn-taking, and matching.
6) Putty
Playing with and manipulating putty helps build muscles in the hands, which improves in-hand manipulation and dexterity. There are many different types of putty on the market, so have fun exploring with resistance, textures, and colors. You can also hide different objects such as beads inside the putty and ask children to find and pull them out for an additional challenge.
7) Fingerprint Activities
Using fingerprints to create pictures is not only super fun but also great for developing finger isolation which is needed for good fine motor abilities.
8) Construction Toys
Construction toys usually require the use of in-hand manipulation skills and help develop bilateral coordination (as building requires two hands to work together). Bilateral coordination is used during many everyday tasks, such as buttoning, cutting, opening containers, and writing.It’s a good idea to incorporate different construction toys into play to engage and strengthen the hand muscles.