fine motor activities for preschoolers

[NicaG]

Can someone suggest some fine motor activities for preschoolers, for practicing at home? My ds is a little behind in this area, and he doesn't like the usual stuff like play-doh, drawing, etc. Other ideas? Thanks!

[Lollybrat]

Here's some stuff we do:

pegboards
picking up cotton balls with clothespins or tweezers
lacing cards
shaving cream play
cornstarch and water (it makes a liquid solid)
colored water in eyedropper or turkey baster
putting coins in a piggy bank (or a canister with a slot in the lid)
squirt pistols/ water spayers
paint brushes or rollers with a bucket of water on the sidewalk
puzzles
pattern blocks
tearing construction paper or tissue paper and pasting the pieces on a paper plate

There's more, but that's what I can think of off the top of my head.

[lurable]

a few more:
stringing beads or macaroni
playing piano
sorting small objects

[LaughingHyena]

Cherios or similar cereal are great for threading and then eating

Clothes pegs, mine like to peg washcloths on the clothes airer or making a clothes line for dolls clothes.

A bag of those small pom poms, some tweezers and an egg box/muffin tray keep mine busy for quite a while

[LynnS6]

I'd add:

Baking - making rolls, kneading dough, stirring, rolling cookies.

Get really small pencils/crayons (about the size of golf pencils or smaller). If they're really small, then the kids are forced to use a tripod grip, which strengthens their hands.

Mix some things together like rice and beans and have him pick out the rice or beans. It's a good sensory activity too!

Squirt bottles. I got half a dozen at the dollar store and I swear these are the most used 'toy' in our house (by our kids and the neighbors).

Legos.

[minkin03]

My oldest daughter was never really into drawing or coloring but when she was in montessori school (age 3) she enjoyed pushpin projects - using a pushpin on construction paper to trace letters.

[vixnix]

Disconnecting old appliances/toys with screwdrivers
messy play - flour, paint, water, cornstarch goop, fingerpaint, colour mixing
marble ramps
sand play
science experiments
spreading jam on bread
baking - tipping, pouring, mixing

If he doesn't like drawing, he might like uncapping all the markers, mixing them up and then recapping them again.

[Ceili]

corkboard, little tiny brad nails, and small hammer or wooden mallet and hammer away
you can also do this with golf tees and a block of clay or a piece of Styrofoam if the brad nails are too hard.

stickers and something to stick them to

scissors and small strips of paper to cut (save the pieces and make a collage later)

[Aufilia]

Originally Posted by LaughingHyena

A bag of those small pom poms, some tweezers and an egg box/muffin tray keep mine busy for quite a while

DD did a lot of activities like that at school this year. She thinks picking up puff-balls with tweasers or spoons is quite a lot of fun. Any other small items would work, too, like she also enjoyed sorting 4 kinds of nuts (still in shells) using a spoon.

Or a bin of dry beans and small cups and spoons to move them around.

Stringing beads or other small objects.
Drawing with chalk.
Painting with brushes.
Pattern blocks.
Cutting stuff (with child-safe scissors).

DD does not enjoy freehand drawing much but she does like basic mazes, dot-to-dots, and tracing stuff. You can get books of those activities at Barnes & Noble. She went through like 4 books of dot-to-dots a couple months ago in a couple weeks, she was sooo into them.