Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Developing Fine Motor Skills

It's important to work on developing fine motor skills with toddlers in ways that are fun so that they forget it's the hard work that it is! Here are some ways we do that while playing that are low cost, easy to put together, and work for us!Cutting playdoh ropes, as you can see we still need to work on scissor grip. Cutting straws is also fun as is making confetti bits out of paper. We have a wooden bead stringing set, but she can't quite do it and it gets her so frustrated. So we switched to stringing fruit loops onto pipe cleaners. The extra stiffness of the pipe cleaners makes all the difference when it comes to being sucessful. You can also use the fruit loops for sorting by color, counting, and for making simple color patterns. Large pieces of pasta with a hole in the center will also work for stringing, if that's what you've got in the pantry.Don't throw away old greeting cards! Save them to make attractive sewing cards by gluing them shut and then punching holes along the perimeter. Use a shoe string to practice lacing them, as the ends of shoe strings are sealed with a bit of plastic so they won't fray. If the card gets torn, just toss and easily make another. I like how this gives me another use for the cute cards my family sends her. Put some of these in a plastic baggy along with a string and you have another quiet toddler activity you can carry around in your purse for an activity on the go.Go get more great ideas at the Works for Me Wednesday blog carnival at We Are the Family.

20 Friends Said:

Tonja said...

My son has been obsessed with scissors lately. Just today he was trying to give his little brother a haircut. Maybe I need to invest some playdough!?!

Those are awsome ideas!

DomesticDivasFancy said...

She is just too cute. I love her little pink sweater! I always save my cards...maybe instead of letting my nieces play with my craft stuff I can let them play with my old cards. Cute Idea!

Anonymous said...

You made me wish mine were younger again. I loved all the little learning things. Maybe that's one of the reasons I homeschool them now. :-)
-Kim

Jennifer said...

Such great ideas! I love all of them! =)

Mama King said...

love the lacing card idea. i posted your project on my page and linked to your page.

♥ Noelle ♥ said...

what a FANTASTIC idea to use old greeting cards as lacing cards!! that way i don't have to get rid of all them! i am a "sentimental saver"; i feel the need to save all cards that the kids get!! lol

more great ideas from a great gal!!

noelle ♥

Katie said...

I love the little things ER so happily wears on her head while she plays!

said...

Brilliant ideas for practicing fine motor skills Katie! And your little miss does a great job showing how it's done. :o)

a Knitting Junkie! said...

What wonderful ideas! I can make up little play-packs using these ideas for the days that my niece is visiting me.

Thank you so much for sharing your creative ideas!

Dawn said...

Thanks for the idea of stringing the cereal on pipe cleaners. I've never had good luck with using string or yarn.

Wani said...

This is a great idea! I'll keep it in mind for my little guys.

Jessica said...

What a cute idea! I am going to try this with my son! How great.

Oh, and your blog is super cute!! I love the layout!

Mrs.Naz@BecomingMe said...

Wow---great ideas and I am imporessed that she can do so much at her age

Ms Muffin said...

Thanks for sharing all the nice ideas! It was actually quite funny reading this post. I never actually inteded to practice fine motor skills with my daughter but while reading realized that we have done all - and more - of the activities you described! She really loves most of those activities.

Anonymous said...

Another great idea! I made your travel felt board and my daughter loves it!

Kris said...

Katie, what a great idea to use those old greeting cards! You are so clever!

Anonymous said...

You're so sweet. His name is Nick. :) Thank you for the well wishes.

Preschool Playbook said...

I love the idea of lacing the greeting cards. Thanks.

Tonja said...

Thank you for all your wonderful comments! I have been runningbehine lately! It's those darn chores :-)

I'm glad you liked my blog makeover! I was worried that it wouldn't look right. But I think it came out okay for a first timer.

And man have I been busy busy busy working on that yard. I will post pics soon of all my progress. It looks so much better! I still have a few things to move and get rid of before I can post pics tho..and I need a mans help for that.

Talk to you soon!

Vickie said...

I like that idea with using old cards and having the kids sew around them.

My kids would probably eat the cereal before placing it on the rope. Well, except for Adela. She only eats sodium nitrates:)

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