10 Fine Motor Activities Preschoolers Should Do Often

Fine motor skills are crucial for a child’s development, allowing them to perform everyday tasks with precision and control.

From drawing and threading to cutting and pasting, these small muscle movements form the foundation for important life skills

In this article, we’ll explore what fine motor skills are, why they matter, and recommendations for the 10 best types of activities that preschoolers should do regularly.

What are Fine Motor Skills?

Fine motor skills refer to the ability of a child to control the small muscles of their body in order to perform certain functions, like writing or tying a shoelace.

It includes the small muscles in the hands, fingers, eyes, tongue and toes.

Fine Motor Skills Examples

Here are a few examples of using fine motor skills:

• Holding and handling small items
• Drawing, painting, and similar activities
• Turning the pages of a book
• Cutting, pasting and folding
• Eating
• Building with blocks and playing with small objects
• Self-care tasks such as dressing, buttoning, tying shoelaces, brushing teeth, etc.
• Writing

The Difference Between Fine and Gross Motor Skills

Gross motor refers to the development of the large muscles of the body which enable a child to walk, climb, balance, etc.

Fine motor refers to small muscle development which enables a child to hold a pencil or button a shirt.

It includes eye-hand coordination, eye-finger coordination, finger strength and control, as well as the development of muscles such as the toes, tongue and eyes.

10 Fine Motor Skills Activities for Preschoolers

Here are 10 basic activities your kids should be doing as often as possible to ensure they develop their fine motor skills.

While there are endless activity ideas on Pinterest and Google for really creative fine motor activities, I thought I would simplify things by sharing 10 of the most basic things you can let your child do that will develop these important skills.

These are activities my kids did almost daily in my classroom.

You don’t need fancy gadgets; simple, everyday activities are often the most effective.

I have also suggested different ways to do each activity.

Remember – the activity should focus on the process, not the product to have a positive impact on development and creativity. e.g. free drawing is better than using a colouring book.

1. Drawing

Process art activities are one of the best ways to develop fine motor skills. Provide your child with daily opportunities to be creative, by using different materials and mediums.

Children should draw often with different mediums, such as:

• Wax crayons of different sizes and thicknesses
• Oil pastels, coloured pencils, led pencils, pens, washable markers and highlighters
• Drawing on a board with chalk or on the pavement outside with chalk (use large, sidewalk chalk and thin chalk)
• Any other medium you can think of. Get children used to holding utensils of different sizes and shapes and learning to control them.

Blank paper encourages creativity, while colouring pages don’t offer the same benefits.

Children go through predictable stages of drawing when they have enough opportunity to draw freely.

2. Painting

Painting is another favourite for all children. The messier the activity the better! There are many different ways to paint:

• Paint on paper with brushes of different sizes, both while sitting and standing, or using an easel.
• Use finger paint –  experiment with making patterns and imprints with the fingers.
• Paint with leaves, twigs or other natural materials.
• Add dishwashing liquid to the paint and blow bubbles, then catch the bubbles on the paper.
• Use different types of paint – e.g. watercolours and tempera paint.

Here are some fun finger painting ideas to try.

3. Cutting and Tearing

Cutting is an important skill that should be practised regularly.

With time, children learn to hold a pair of scissors properly and hold the paper with their other hand, controlling the paper as they cut. Demonstrate the correct grip, and help correct it when necessary.

Cutting activities include:

• Cutting paper freely, without lines
• Cutting along lines – e.g. straight lines, wavy lines
• Cutting out shapes – e.g squares, triangles, circles
• Cutting out pictures along the lines

Cut different paper types (e.g. cardboard, newspaper, tissue paper, etc.) with blunt-nosed scissors.

Tearing is an excellent activity for developing the finger muscles. At first, the pieces will be large and random but eventually, children build the control to tear small pieces of paper into the sizes they want.

Ideas for tearing activities include:

• Tearing paper freely to get used to controlling it with the fingers.
• Making a collage with coloured paper or magazines, tearing pieces to glue onto the artwork.
• Making different coloured confetti by tearing little papers and separating them according to colour.
• Tearing different materials – newspaper, paper, magazine paper, cardboard, tissue paper, etc.

4. Pasting

Children need time to learn how to apply the correct amount of glue to something (whether liquid or a stick), how to paste it exactly where they want it to go, paste it straight, etc.

Some pasting ideas:

• Use liquid glue (especially for younger children) and let them get their fingers in there! Many children struggle to get their hands dirty in the sandpit or with glue and paint. Expose them early.
• Stick random paper tearings or cuttings with craft glue.
• Build with paper and boxes using liquid glue. Encourage kids to keep trying when something doesn’t stick right away. Take out rolls of tape and let them experiment with taping things together.

5. Playdough

Children love playing with playdough. It was my personal favourite in the classroom and I had it out every morning.

Here are some easy recipes for homemade no-cook dough.

Not only does playdough strengthen the fingers and develop motor control, but it also stimulates creativity, planning and thinking skills.

Here are some ideas for building fine motor skills with playdough:

• Allow lots of time for free play with playdough, without any cutters.
• At other times, provide cookie cutters, tools, and other items.
• Encourage kids to find their own items to use with playdough (that are not part of a set), such as cups from the kitchen.
• Use toys to go along with their playdough creations (such as dinosaurs on their playdough mountain) and encourage some fantasy play at the same time. Next time they can make the dinosaur out of playdough as well.

This is also a highly therapeutic and relaxing activity. Children really should have daily opportunities to play with dough.

6. Threading and Lacing

Threading activities are excellent for developing fine motor skills.

Here are some ideas to learn this skill:

• Thread empty toilet rolls or knitting reels onto a string.
• Offer large beads or even pasta noodles and thread a simple necklace.
• As children develop better control, move onto small beads that require a lot of concentration and effort to thread.

Similar to threading, but a different skill, lacing is excellent for developing eye-finger coordination.

To make a lacing tool, simply cut out a shape from firm cardboard, punch holes around the edges and lace a string or piece of wool around the shape.

7. Construction

Construction is a great activity for developing both gross and fine motor control.

This includes building with blocks, Lego or other fine motor toys, or constructing with boxes and recycled materials.

While store-bought construction packs are great (e.g. a kit for building an aeroplane), they are totally unnecessary.

Have a big basket in your house – as your child probably has at school – and fill it with toilet rolls, boxes, paper and any other useful waste materials.

You will watch your child wracking their brains to try and get the wing to stay on or the building to not collapse and they will be learning to solve problems they won’t encounter in the ready-made packs.

Have all types of construction blocks available, in different sizes.

8. Puzzles

The benefits of building puzzles include developing cognitive skills as well as fine motor skills. Even toddlers can build basic puzzles.

• Start with large wooden puzzles that your child can hold that have the right number of pieces for your child’s level.
• The right puzzle is one your child enjoys and can complete but still finds slightly challenging. If they leave the puzzle and give up it is probably too advanced.
• As your child matures, move on to puzzles with smaller pieces – and more pieces. These require a lot of fine motor control to join and match, as well as a lot of brainpower.

9. Pegboards

Pegboards are great because their small pieces require children to hold them correctly, position them upright, and carefully insert them into the holes.

They provide quite a challenge for a child and require a lot of focus and control.

• Start with pegboards that are larger and move onto smaller ones as kids gain finger control.
• Allow them to peg randomly until they are ready to create patterns or pictures (freely).
• Introduce pattern cards that children can follow to re-create a set pattern.

A creative parent can find a way to make a pegboard out of wood and makeshift pegs, however, this is one item I would buy.

Pegboards are great for many reasons – they develop fine motor skills, they teach children about patterns, and they provide endless mathematical experiences (such as arithmetic, geometry, area, square numbers etc).

10. Pick Up Sticks

This is one of my personal favourites. Playing with pick-up sticks develops a child’s focus, finger control and fine muscles. It will be tough to play at first but your child will love the challenge of making sure the sticks don’t move.

You can also play this fine motor game with straws, garden twigs, or long cocktail sticks.

Why Are Fine Motor Skills Important?

Fine motor skills are important for several reasons.

Children must develop fine motor coordination in order to learn to perform basic everyday tasks such as dressing, tying shoelaces, preparing food, and other self-care tasks.

At school, they need to be able to cut, paste and draw and fine motor skills are absolutely essential for learning to write.

Before children can learn to write letters and have the finger strength and pencil control necessary to form them, they must develop their small muscles.

During the early years, it can be tempting to try to teach young toddlers and preschoolers to form letters and write as early as possible, but this is not necessary at such a young age.

Their muscles are not yet developed enough for the type of pencil control needed.

The early years are the time for developing pre-writing skills, mostly by doing activities that develop the finger muscles.

Fine Motor Milestones in Young Children

Here is a brief outline of children’s fine motor development during the first 6 years.

These are the milestones according to Mary Sheridan, author of the book From Birth to Five Years: Children’s Developmental Progress.

Birth to 18 Months

During infancy and early toddlerhood, your child should learn to:

• Grasp toys in separate hands and bang them together
• Pick up small objects with a pincer grasp
• Point to an object with the index finger
• Drop and throw toys
• Start to build a basic tower of up to 3 blocks
• Grasp a crayon or pencil and scribble
• Point to pictures in books

2 Years

At this age, your child learns to:

• Build a tower of 6, 7 or more blocks
• Hold a pencil in the dominant hand and scribble
• Turn the pages of a book one at a time
• Recognise small details in pictures
• Begin to draw lines, circles and letters such as a “T” and “V”

3 Years

At 3, your child can:

• Build a tower with up to 10 blocks and build a bridge with 3 blocks
• Thread large wooden beads onto a string
• Hold a pencil with the correct grip – tripod pencil grasp – between the first two fingers and the thumb 
• Draw a person with a head and a few features
• Paint with a large paintbrush
• Cut with toy scissors

4 Years

At 4, your child learns to:

• Build a tower of over ten blocks with bridges and build “steps” with blocks
• Use a correct, adult pencil grip
• Draw a person with arms, fingers, legs, etc.
• Draw a house
• Copy letters, crosses and circles
• Cut along a straight line
• Dress and undress himself

5 Years

From the age of 5, your child should be able to:

• Thread, lace and do simple embroidery
• Pick up and handle tiny items
• Copy and build more complex towers and constructions
• Show good control when writing with a pencil or painting with a brush
• Draw with details
• Colour own drawing and stay within the lines
• Copy a square and triangle
• Cut with accuracy
• Imitate “writing” by copying letters or words without necessarily knowing what he is writing

How to Improve Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills can be improved through basic, everyday activities. You do not need to buy any fancy equipment or fine motor packs.

Using everyday items, you can provide a wide array of fun activities that will strengthen the finger muscles.

My experience in the classroom has shown that many children are struggling nowadays with these basic skills and showing increased difficulty in writing.

This may be due, in part, to increased screen time and reduced playtime, leading to poorly developed gross and fine motor skills.

Make sure your children have adequate playtime every day and that part of that time is spent doing simple art activities and other fine motor activities.

What Happens if a Child Has Difficulties with Fine Motor Skills?

If a child is experiencing difficulty with tasks that are age-appropriate, they may require the intervention of an occupational therapist.

Some of these signs, listed by Martie Pieterse in her book”Language and School Readiness“, may also be signs of motor developmental delays:

• Clumsiness
• Poor self-image – this happens because a child does not have adequate motor control and therefore does not explore and experiment as much as others do
• Poor concentration
• Poor posture – this child may tire easily and prefer to lie down

If the problem does not seem serious, you may prefer to do an intensive few weeks of fine motor activities at home.

Once some time has passed, judge if there has been an improvement. It may be better to send your child to an occupational therapist for an assessment and to determine how you can best help him.

The therapist may suggest activities to do at home or may feel regular therapy sessions are necessary.

Here is an article explaining what occupational therapists do and how they work with children.