Twisting items is a tricky little skill that we depend upon most often when opening containers. It is a life skill, really~you have to be able to open the milk jug or the peanut butter jar to quiet your growling stomach. Without the twisting skill, we’d all be walking around really hungry. Twisting Station Repurpose […]
Focus on Fine Motor Skills~Lacing
October 22, 2012 by 6 Comments
Lacing is a classic fine motor activity for preschoolers. Manipulating the string in and out of the holes takes a lot of effort for little fingers. It strengthens dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and the pincer grasp. Sometimes this activity can be frustrating for them when the string falls out of the hole before they can grab […]
Focus on Fine Motor Skills~Pinching
October 19, 2012 by 3 Comments
Pinching items and picking them up requires children to use their pincer grasp. It’s one of the first fine motor skills your child really develops as a baby, mainly to pick up Cheerios, and then they continue to use it through the “vacuum cleaner” stage when they pick up every tiny thing on the floor […]
Focus on Fine Motor Skills~Cutting
October 18, 2012 by 4 Comments
Raise your hand if the thought of giving your child scissors makes you cringe! Scissors and little hands make a lot of people nervous…me included. The first few times Jonah had access to scissors it was CRAZY and I was a nervous wreck by the end of the activity. It made me want to vow […]
Focus on Fine Motor Skills~Tearing
October 17, 2012 by 10 Comments
As soon as Asher could crawl, he found my magazine basket; he would make a beeline for it every chance he got. Those crinkly pages were just too tempting to a little one with new found freedom. And there I was, chasing him away from the basket and trying to guard the pages of my […]
10 Ways to Boost the Power of Playdough
October 16, 2012 by 7 Comments
Whether you love it or cringe at the thought of cleaning it up, there’s no denying playdough and fine motor skills go hand in hand. Poking, squishing, and rolling “snakes” are important work for little finger muscles on the road to learning to write. The irresistible dough gives little hands lots of practice in mobility […]
What Are Fine Motor Skills and Why Develop Them?
October 15, 2012 by 7 Comments
I’ll never forget my first day of teaching kindergarten in an inner-city school with struggling students, half of whom didn’t speak English when they walked in my classroom. As I supervised students working at the art table, I noticed that none of my students were holding their scissors correctly. Later in the day, I watched […]
Letter Hunt
September 28, 2012 by 11 Comments
Using some of our old magazines, we went on a letter hunt the first week of homeschool. Since Jonah still really needs more practice cutting, I helped cut some of the words for him (maneuvering magazines and scissors was a little difficult and frustrating) and then he cut the letters apart. Other than my minimal […]
Pound the Sound: a sensory sound game for preschoolers
June 20, 2012 by 28 Comments
In my last post, I shared about Preschool Hammer Practice using common household items. Today, we’re going to extend the activity by adding some letter sound practice! Prep your materials: Using a marker, write letters on your piece of styrofoam. You can choose target letters that you are working on, or write the entire alphabet, […]
Preschool Hammer Practice
June 19, 2012 by 5 Comments
One of Jonah’s favorite things to do is practice using a hammer…preschool style. If we’re working in the basement, he often asks for this activity to work alongside of us. This is a trick I learned while I was in college and kids love it! Preschool Hammer Practice Materials: Recycled piece of Styrofoam Golf Tees […]
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