Fine motor play at home: six supervised activities with everyday materials

The short answer

Fine motor skills are the small movements of the hands and fingers used to hold a crayon, turn a page, open a lunch box or do up a button. Children practise them all the time in ordinary play. At home, a few minutes of supervised play with large, safe materials, such as paper to tear, dough to squeeze or pegs to clip, gives plenty of practice. You do not need special kits. The activity planner below helps you plan a week and note what your child enjoyed.

About these ideas. Everything to try at home in this guide was written by SunnySeeds Academy for families. It is not a record of our class activities, not part of a licensed curriculum, and not a test or a therapy programme.

There is no age by which a child must manage any of these. UNICEF's Care for Child Development materials describe play and everyday activities as chances to practise movement alongside language and thinking, and UNICEF Parenting offers its own play ideas for ages 0 to 8 with the LEGO Foundation. The six activities below are our own, written for this guide.

Safety first

• An adult stays with the child for the whole activity. None of these are for a child alone.
• Use pieces too large to fit in your child's mouth. Leave out beads, buttons, coins, small pasta, marbles, small magnets, button batteries and anything that could be swallowed or pushed into a nose or ear.
• Check that nothing can break off: peg springs, lids and toy parts.
• Keep laces and cords short, never around the neck, and put them away straight after play.
• Use a little water in a shallow tray or bowl, never a bucket, and empty it as soon as you finish.
• Leave scissors, knives and other sharp tools out of these activities.
• If your child still puts things in their mouth, choose the activities with the largest materials and stay within arm's reach.

Six activities

1. Tear and stick picture

• Materials: old magazines or coloured paper, a glue stick, a large sheet of paper.
• How: show how to tear a strip with two hands, pinching near the edge. Your child tears pieces and sticks them down to make a rainbow, a fish or any picture they like.
• Easier or harder: start with thin paper and a small notch torn for them; later, tear along a drawn line or fill a drawn shape.
• Supervision: keep hold of the glue stick lid, and watch that paper stays out of mouths.
• Cleanup: your child gathers the scraps into a box.

2. Dough squeeze and roll

• Materials: a fist sized ball of play dough, a placemat, a large plastic cup to press shapes.
• How: squash it flat, roll a long snake, pinch it into pieces, roll balls between the palms, press fingerprints in a line. Use the cup as a cutter.
• Easier or harder: soft dough and big movements with the whole palm; later, pinch a snake into equal pieces or press a pattern.
• Supervision: dough is not food. Keep it out of mouths, and check the label or your recipe for anything your child is allergic to.
• Cleanup: back into an airtight container, then wipe the mat together.

3. Pegs around a box

• Materials: a few large clothes pegs with firm springs, a sturdy cardboard box or a paper plate.
• How: show how to squeeze a peg open with thumb and fingers and clip it on the edge. Your child clips them all the way round, then takes them off.
• Easier or harder: hold the plate steady for them, or use pegs with softer springs; later, match pegs to coloured marks on the edge, or count as you clip.
• Supervision: check every peg before play and remove any with a loose spring; show where fingers go so they do not get pinched.
• Cleanup: count the pegs back into their container.

4. Sponge squeeze

• Materials: two shallow bowls, a large sponge, a little water, a towel.
• How: soak the sponge in one bowl and squeeze it out over the other until the water has moved across.
• Easier or harder: a soft sponge and two hands; later, one hand at a time, or move the water back with a large spoon.
• Supervision: only a little water, an adult within arm's reach the whole time, and both bowls emptied straight after.
• Cleanup: your child wipes up spills with the towel.

5. Lacing card

• Materials: a piece of thick card, such as a cereal box side, with holes punched by an adult; a short shoelace with a firm tip, knotted at one end.
• How: push the lace in and out of the holes to sew round the edge or make any pattern.
• Easier or harder: fewer, bigger holes; later, follow numbered holes or lace round a simple shape.
• Supervision: a lace is a cord. Keep it short, never around the neck, and put it away after play.
• Cleanup: unlace and keep the card and lace together for next time.

6. Painting with water

• Materials: a large clean paintbrush, a small cup of water, a wall, path or chalkboard.
• How: paint lines, shapes or pictures with water and watch them dry and disappear.
• Easier or harder: a thick brush and big strokes; later, a thinner brush, tracing a chalk line, or painting the first letter of their name.
• Supervision: choose a spot away from roads, drains and stairs, and keep the water cup small.
• Cleanup: pour what is left on a plant.

Everyday tasks count too

Peeling a banana, opening a lunch box, zipping a bag, turning the pages of a book, pouring water from a small jug and pressing a button on the lift all use the same small movements. Letting your child do a little more of these, with time and patience, is practice too.

Watch the child, not the clock

Some children will want five minutes, others half an hour. Stop when your child loses interest. Notice what they enjoy and what is hard, and mention it to their teacher if you like. Children develop these skills at different rates, and this guide does not set targets. If you have concerns about how your child uses their hands, or about their development generally, talk to your doctor.

At SunnySeeds

In our Nursery for ages 2 to 3, motor and life skills, the creative corner, blocks and a language and sensory programme with hands on materials are part of the week. Our learning approach explains how play and guided activities fit together. The activities above are separate home ideas, written for families.