We may assume that children only have the opportunity to develop fine motor skills in Early Years settings (see our blog post all about fine motor activities for Early Years settings here!), but there are PLENTY of opportunities to further develop children’s fine motor skills in school generally. Programmes such as the Cool Characters intervention also exist for those children who need a little extra support and we have a blog post about the importance of the Cool Characters programme to develop fine motor skills here.
So, here are some ways we can encourage the development of fine motor skills throughout the curriculum:
Science:
- using pipettes and pouring and measuring liquids
- assembling electrical circuits including squeezing the crocodile clips which can be tricky for some children!
- handling and planting seeds as well as managing the trigger on spray bottles to water them
English:
- handwriting practice and encouraging different styles such as cursive
- introduce some word games that include small tiles (like Junior scrabble!) or magnetic letters
- introduce multi-sensory handwriting practice such as finger-writing in sand
Music:
- include instruments that require finger control, such as recorders or keyboards
- if your setting is lucky enough to access stringed instruments, these can be great to develop finger control
Design and Technology:
- peeling, spreading, and cutting soft foods with plastic knives in cooking
- manipulating paper and card in DT such as folding, cutting and gluing
Wet Play Activities!
- Origami: Folding paper into different shapes helps with precision and coordination
- Friendship Bracelets: Activities like making friendship bracelets or loom bands can be enjoyable and are great for fine motor skills
- Drawing and Colouring: Encourage detailed designs or patterns using fine-tipped pens, gel pens or coloured pencils.
- Jigsaw Puzzles: Builds spatial awareness and finger control.
- Board Games: Games like Operation, Jenga or Kerplunk
If you would look further information on the development of fine motor skills, especially in relation to specific development such as whole hand development, or whole arm development, have a look at our training course (The Cool Characters Programme and Fine Motor Skills) which was written and delivered by children’s Occupational Therapist Roz Roscoe.
