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Just Reed & Play

in Preschool and K

in Learn· Play

11 Cheap and Easy Fine Motor Activities for Preschoolers

If you’re a teacher or a parent of a little one, you probably already know that fine motor skills are important for young children to develop.  But did you realize just how important fine motor skills are?  They’re critical for future academic success.  And, in this age of swiping tablets, many of our children are way behind in fine motor development.  It’s time we as teachers and parents make a conscious decision to add fine motor activities back into the preschool and kindergarten day.  I’ve found 11 cheap and easy fine motor activities you can implement right away!

cheap and easy fine motor activities for preschool

 Cheap and Easy Fine Motor Activities for Preschoolers

fine motor activities

1.  Tweezer  and Clothespin Activities

Give little ones child-friendly tweezers or tongs and have them try to pick up and move small items like craft pom poms, counting cubes, or cotton balls.  Let them use clothespins on clip cards or card board.  Both of these types of activities will help students build hand strength.

fine motor activities

2. Chalk Activities

Let children practice a tripod grip with jumbo pieces of chalk.  After they draw shapes and letters on a chalk board, have them use water and a paint brush to paint over the shapes to “erase” them.

fine motor activities with torn paper

3. Paper Activities

Encourage little learners to tear pieces of paper with their thumb, index, and middle fingers–alternating to use each hand.  Then have them create a collage or mosaic with the torn pieces.  Have students use long strips of paper and roll them on a pencil to create curly paper.  Let children practice wadding up paper into balls, throwing it to have a “snowball fight”, and then opening the paper and smoothing it out again.

fine motor activities with playdoh

4. Playdoh Activities

Preschoolers should be encouraged to roll playdoh into logs or snakes and balls.  Have them pinch, pull, and smash the playdoh.  Give little ones a toothpick and have them dig and poke holes in the playdoh.  Hide golf tees or beans inside playdoh, and encourage students to see how quickly they can find the items. You can fine my FAVORITE homemade playdoh receipe in THIS POST.

FINE MOTOR ACTIVITIES WITH SCISSORS

5. Scissor Activities

Give students playdoh scissors to use when they play with playdoh.  These safety scissors are perfect for your littlest learners and they help children develop the hand motion for cutting.  Draw random straight and curvy lines on paper and let children practice cutting on the lines.  Give children magazines, and let them cut out pictures to make up a story.  Plant crass in a small paper cup.  When it gets long, let children use scissors to cut the grass.

More Cheap and Easy Fine Motor Activities

FINE MOTOR PAINTING ACTIVITIES

6. Painting Activities

Let students use finger paint to create a picture.  Or, let them write in shaving cream or pudding being careful to use their index finger to develop finger strength and control.  Let students use a qtip as a paint brush and try to make dots on a picture.

FINE MOTOR HOLE PUNCH ACTIVITIES

7. Hole Punch Activities

Let children use a one hole punch to make circles in a piece of scrap paper.  Write a number on a piece of paper and encourage them to punch exactly that many holes in the paper.  Give children access to decorative punches like hearts, shamrocks, and eggs.  Then, have them try to create a pattern with the decorative hole punches.

FINE MOTOR CONTAINER ACTIVITIES

8. Container Activities

Give little ones a variety of storage bins and boxes with different type lids.  Encourage them to open and close the bins.  Hide tiny trinkets in some of the bins, and have the children open the bins to reveal what’s inside.  Let preschoolers practice opening and closing ziploc bags.

FINE MOTOR ACTIVITIES USING A DROPPER OR TURKEY BASTER

9. Eye Dropper and Turkey Baster Activities

Purchase a giant baster from the dollar store and some craft pom poms.  Have students squeeze the turkey baster and use it to “blow” and move the pom poms across a table.  Let them race a friend.  Use eye droppers or pipettes to let children transfer water from one container to another.  Or, let them drip paint on paper using the eye droppers to transfer the paint.

FINE MOTOR SPRAY BOTTLE ACTIVITIES

10. Spray Bottle Activities

Let children use spray bottles to water class plants.  Put liquid watercolors in the spray bottles and let them spray paint paper outside by squeezing the bottle.  If you live where it snows, students can use the spray bottle to “paint” the snow.

fine motor COIN ACTIVITIES

11. Coin Activities

Purchase a small piggy bank and provide a bag of pennies.  Let children practice picking up the pennies and counting them one at a time as they place them in the piggy bank slot.  Let them try to stack the pennies to see how many pennies they can stack together.

Read THIS POST to see more fine motor activities for preschool or kindergarten.

Looking for even more fine motor activities?  Check out my Fine Motor Centers bundle.  They’re a teacher and student favorite!

Fine Motor Activities for Preschool

Leave a comment below and let me know YOUR favorite cheap and easy fine motor activity!

cheap and easy fine motor activities for preschool

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Ashley 💖 Preschool & Pre-K
Let's talk about Legos for a minute. Here are just Let's talk about Legos for a minute. Here are just a few of the skills children learn from working with these little building bricks:⁣
* Fine Motor Skills⁣
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These building brick Winter task cards are ideal for PK-1st students and require no prep. Simply give your child the task cards to use as guides, and give them a box full of Legos. (They're available separately or in a money saving Winter STEM bundle! Link in my profile.)⁣
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Just in case anyone is feeling hopeless or down. J Just in case anyone is feeling hopeless or down. Jesus loves you and so do I!  The world would not be the same without you, and we need you to stick around! 

Message me if you’re struggling to keep going and need a friend and some prayer support. 

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Catch some snowballs and spell your name! This na Catch some snowballs and spell your name! 
This name craft is in my ❄️Winter Name Activities Packet ❄️. Grab it at the link in my profile. 

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Looking for a classroom management reset for the s Looking for a classroom management reset for the second half of the school year?  Bucket Filling is one of my favorite methods for encouraging children to be kind and inclusive.⁣
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My Best-Selling Bucket Filling packet has everything you need to help you get started implementing this classroom management system today.  It's been used in over 8,000 classrooms and it certainly fills MY bucket whenever one of you tells me this packet has helped you in your own classroom.⁣
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Growing up in the 80's I had an EPIC sticker colle Growing up in the 80's I had an EPIC sticker collection. 🤣 I even had a little album I kept them all in. There were puffy stickers, Lisa Frank stickers, scratch and sniff stickers, and more! That sticker collection was my pride and joy! 😍⁣
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For the 100th Day of school, my little learners will get to create their own sticker collection with--YOU GUESSED IT--exactly 100 stickers! This ➡FREE PRINTABLE⬅ is available on my blog. The link is in my profile!⁣
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When is your 100th day of school? When I taught f When is your 100th day of school?  When I taught first grade, we always celebrated the 101st day of school!  The children and parents went all out with these dalmatian costumes. ⁣
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We rotated through 101 themed centers/stations.  The kids had a blast, and this special day is one many of them still remember.⁣
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I'll add a link to the 101st day stations in my profile in case you want to check them out! 🎉⁣
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Hands-on alphabet practice is perfect for preschoo Hands-on alphabet practice is perfect for preschool and pre-k!  I love using seasonal letter formation activities like these playdoh letter snowmen in our classroom writing center. ☃⁣
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What are some fun ways you practice letter formation in your class? ✏⁣
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Find these printables at the link in my profile along with lots of other winter goodies for your writing center!⁣
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My favorite winter sensory bin ❄️❄️❄️ My favorite winter sensory bin ❄️❄️❄️
I purchased “acrylic ice cubes” from Amazon and added glittery letter stickers to them. The snowmen and gifts were little Christmas trinkets from Dollar Tree 

What’s in your winter #sensorybin ?

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There's nothing I like quite as much as Chillin' w There's nothing I like quite as much as Chillin' with my Snowmies! 😆⁣
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This adorable bulletin board is always one of my favorites!  It's easy to make with Dollar Tree doilies, and I've put it together the templates (scarf, hat, buttons), bulletin board letters, and a writing prompt page in a packet that includes everything you need for a perfect winter display! ☃⁣
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✏ Swipe to see the writing prompt that's included! ✏⁣
Link to the bulletin board set is in my profile!⁣
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Looking for a book to pair with this bulletin board?  Try: Snowmen at Night, Sneezy the Snowman, or The Biggest Snowman Ever! ⁣
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