Elementary Fine Motor Lesson Plans

Students Build Handwriting Skills with Tactile Activities

© Susan Hyde

May 21, 2007

Fine motor skills are vital to the academic and workaday worlds. Developing legible handwriting, lining up numbers in mathematical equations, tying shoes, eating with utensils, playing most instruments, sewing, and learning efficient keyboarding skills all require varying levels of fine motor maturity. For this reason, teachers have an obligation to encourage students to develop the finger strength and dexterity necessary to succeed.

Here are some fun activities that help students to develop these important skills:

1. Sculpt flowers or other shapes with play dough or clay.
2. Lace cards
3. Make mosaics with dried beans, pasta, tissue paper or small scraps of paper
4. Make paper mache beads around a pencil
5. Mix paper mache glue
6. Make paper mache pinatas or other sculptures
7. String plastic, ceramic, pasta, or paper mache beads to make jewelry
8. Sew with yarn to make felt hand puppets or pillows
9. Make marshmallow with water (to make marshmallows sticky) or toothpicks
10. Weave placemats with craft foam or construction paper
11. Cut out "body parts" from magazine pictures to create funny new collage people
12. Make leaf or bark rubbings
13. Make eye dropper or straw paintings
14. Use stampers to make pictures
15. Carve stampers from potatoes or other vegetables
16. Make musical finger cymbals from small jar or can lids and make music
17. Finger paint
18. Make daisy chains out of real or craft foam flowers
19. Fold paper fans
20. Cut out snow flakes
21. Cut out spirals
22. Make pom-pons or God's eyes out of yarn
23. Make tissue paper flowers
24. Check out a library book and learn to make origami animals
25. Play a ball-in-cup game
26. Make a sugar cube igloo or pyramid
27. Paint with cotton swabs or cotton balls
28. Peel broken crayons, place them in foil tins of different shapes, and melt them into new rainbow colors
29. Make critters out student finger prints
30. Mix batter and use cookie cutters to make sugar cookies
31. Use a spray bottle and food dye to create snow art
32. Tear construction paper and make pictures from the shapes
33. Draw with chalk on a board, slate, or sidewalk
34. Check out a library book and learn new string games (cat's cradle, Jacob's ladder, etc.)
35. Make a picture by rolling a marble on a paper covered in tempera paint
36. Make handprint flags or animals
37. Make old-fashioned tin can lanterns with a hammer and nail
38. Use stickers to create rebus stories
39. Make peanut butter and birdseed feeders using pine cone and string
40. Cross stitch an image using yarn on burlap fabric
41. Use cold, cooked spaghetti dipped in paint to create abstract paintings
42. Paint with sponges or block prints
43. Fold paper hats to celebrate a special occasions
44. Make paper chains as decorations or to document student reading
45. Make gum wrapper chains
46. Fold and cut paper lanterns
47. Play jacks
48. Play pick-up-sticks
49. Use chop sticks for eating or art
50. Make domino buildings or obstacle courses

Your students will enjoy these lessons whether or not they are aware of their purpose!

Fine Motor Skills are Vital for Academic Success

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