Fine Motor Activities

Practice cutting when you have the time and ability to provide a high level of supervision. ALWAYS give your child small, preschool-appropriate scissors.

*It is important to note that children may not develop true hand dominance until they are 5 or 6 years old.*

If your child is not yet demonstrating hand dominance, consider purchasing scissors that can be used with either hand, such as these scissors from Amazon:

Coloring & Cutting

Stringing & Stacking

Pouring and Matching

Crossing Midline

You may wonder what this means and why it's important. Midline is an imaginary line down the center of the body, dividing right from left. The child in the picture to the left of this text is crossing midline in order to turn the page of a book. This is an important skill needed for everyday activities, including self-care, play, and coordinated motor activities. It's also an important skill for future reading and writing. Activities such as stringing, block play, musical instruments, stickers, Twister, or play with streamers are other activities that will support a child's ability to cross midline.

15 Crossing the Midline Activities for the Classroom - Teach StarterDo you want to know what the body's midline is? Or, are you looking for crossing the midline activities for your classroom?

Prewriting and Drawing

Here is some information about developmental stages of drawing. Preschoolers should be drawing simple pictures and shapes. Letters are more complicated and require the combination of later developing marks; these should be introduced around 4.5 years of age. Chalk, crayons, markers, paint, finger paint, sand trays, and shaving cream are all great mediums for prewriting and drawing!

you can print the hand out below or draw your own for your child to trace.

Stages of Drawing Development.pdf

Stages of Drawing Development

Drawing skills follow a general developmental sequence. Look over this document and see what stage your child may be at currently. Support your child by modeling the next steps. Provide different opportunities, such as finger painting, chalk, watercolors, drawing in sand or dirt with sticks, etc. In preschool, the focus should be on drawing and coloring. Letter formation is more appropriate for children who are five or soon-to-be five. Developmentally, capital letters are easier and should come first.

Las habilidades de dibujo siguen una secuencia general de desarrollo. Revise este documento y vea en qué etapa se encuentra su hijo actualmente. Apoye a su hijo modelando los siguientes pasos. Brinde diferentes oportunidades, como pintar con los dedos, tiza, acuarelas, dibujar en arena o tierra con palos, etc. En el preescolar, la atención debe centrarse en dibujar y colorear. La formación de letras es más apropiada para los niños que tienen cinco años o que pronto tendrán cinco. Desde el punto de vista del desarrollo, las letras mayúsculas son más fáciles y deben ser lo primero.

Finger Strength

Squeezing clothespins is a simple way to work on hand and finger strength in a fun way.

You can use clothespins to pick up small items from one cup or bowl and move to another cup or bowl. (For those ready for a challenge they can sort the items they pick up to also work on colors or shapes or other goals)

You can write letters, numbers, shapes, or place matching stickers on a paper plate and a clothespin. Then have your child match the clothespin to the plate.

Scissor Skills

Practice cutting when you have the time and ability to provide a high level of supervision. ALWAYS give your child small, preschool-appropriate scissors.

How to Properly Hold Scissors

Always Remember the Three T’s:

TUCK– tuck your elbow by your side
TOP– keep you thumb on top (when you cut "thumbs up!")
TABLE– always cut towards the table and away from you

Scissor skills develop in a sequence:

Holds scissors (1.5-2 years old): usually held with two hands
Open/Close scissors (2-2.5 Years old): Not ready to use with paper but possibly play dough or clay
Random snipping (2-2.5 years old): Can now cut on paper in a random pattern
Controlled snipping (3 years old): cutting in a forward motion with paper
Cutting straight lines (3-3.5 years old): kids now start using their “helper hand” to hold paper and cut at the same time.
Cutting curved lines (4 years old)
Cutting simple shapes (4.5-5 years old)

It is important to note that children may not develop true hand dominance until they are 5 or 6 years old.

If your child is not yet demonstrating hand dominance, consider purchasing scissors that can be used with either hand, such as these scissors from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Scissors-Stainless-Children-Classroom-Crafting/dp/B09GXP95HR?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&smid=A1VCFC48AFN8CL&th=1

Activities to Encourage Scissor Skills

Tearing paper: tear paper + glue the pieces on a different sheet of paper to make a picture

Play with squirt bottles and squirt toys

Use a single hole punch

Cutting Junk Mail or Greeting Cards: Rescue these items from the recycling bin and allow your child to go to town snipping away at your unwanted or discarded items.

Snipping Sammy: Grab an old toilet paper or paper towel roll and decorate it. Give Sammy a haircut!