Fine Motor/Sensory Activities

1. Working with play dough – pinching, squeezing, rolling, making balls of different sizes.

2. Pegboards – large and small ones. Color matching and identification can be worked on at the same time.

3. Pinching clothespins – can hang things on line or put on rim of can or bowl.

4. Sprayer bottles – play in tub, use spray glass cleaner to do windows and mirrors.

5. Paper punching – through tag board for increased strength. Lace around the border of a figure through the holes.

6. Eyedropper art – use watery tempera paint or food coloring on paper towels, tissue paper or other absorbent paper.

7. Screwing and unscrewing lids of different sizes, or nuts and bolts.

8. Duplos, Legos, Lincoln Logs, and Tinker Toys.

9. Finger painting with Ivory Snow, chocolate syrup, marshmallow cream, pudding – use your imagination! Messy tactile activities are good for all children.

10. Paper tearing – can use torn pieces for art projects.

11. Picking up small objects using tweezers – there are large tweezers available.

12. Stringing beads, macaroni, cheerios, fruit loops, lifesavers, etc.

13. Crayon, marker, or pencil activities such as tracing, dot-to-dots, mazes, and copying shapes.

14. Dressing and undressing dolls – buttoning, zipping, snapping, lacing.

15. Puzzles.

16. Building with blocks; copying block patterns.

17. Clapping games, finger plays – set to music or a beat for added difficulty.

18. Games like Hi-Q, Connect Four, Pick-Up Sticks, Chinese Checkers, and Mousetrap.