21 Fun Fine Motor Activities for Toddlers & Preschoolers (2024)

FAQs

What is a fine motor activity for 3 4 year olds? ›

Suggested objects to help develop fine motor skills at 3 to 4 years: Bricks (more complex/interlocking) Early roleplay (dressing and undressing dolls, food play with plastic cutlery and a variety of cutters, washing dolls' clothes and pegging them out to dry, or doctors and builders' tools)

Play-dough and putty

They can also help improve a child's fine motor skills. Encourage your child to squeeze, stretch, pinch and roll “snakes” or “worms” with the play clay. You can even have your child try to cut the play-dough with scissors.

At age 3, children are developing fine motor control: they're more able to move their fingers independently, using them in more complex tasks such as holding writing utensils like an adult, cutting with scissors and making more complex and precise drawings.

Between the ages of 4-5 years, your child will:

Start to use one hand consistently for fine motor tasks. Cut along a straight line with scissors. Start to cut along a curved line, like a circle.

Examples of fine-motor skills include brushing your teeth, holding a pencil/pen to write, using a fork or spoon to feed yourself, cutting with a knife, buttoning a shirt, zipping a zipper, typing on a computer, cutting with scissors, turning a key in a lock, turning a doorknob, turning the pages of a book, and tying ...

Provide interesting experiences which help children practice fine motor skills. Cooking, gardening, sewing, fixing and making things are all good examples of activities that involve using tools and small movements with accuracy and precision.

What are three examples of gross motor skills that preschoolers aged 3 5 typically develop? ›

What are Fine Motor skills? Fine motor skills involve the use of the smaller muscle of the hands, commonly in activities like using pencils, scissors, construction with lego or duplo, doing up buttons and opening lunch boxes.

Manipulating crayons improves a child's dexterity and fine motor skills. Coloring improves hand-eye coordination, which is essential in learning to write letters. Kids learn about force with crayons. A mark can be light or very dark depending on the amount of pressure they use when they draw.

Puzzles Develop Fine Motor Skills

Toddlers and small children exercise their fine motor skills when they do Puzzles. Grasping and fiddling with puzzle pieces activates the smaller muscles in your child's hands and wrists, while selecting and placing the individual pieces improves your child's hand-eye coordination.

Children at this age are walking, running, kicking and throwing. They are exploring their world and picking up new skills, like kicking a ball or riding a tricycle. 3-year-olds are naturally active, so be sure to provide ample chances for your child to practice and build on these skills.

From 4 to 5 years old, your child's gross motor skills (using their arms and legs to move and play) and their fine motor skills (working on crafts and puzzles) are still developing. Play time becomes increasingly imaginative and is an important part of children's growth.