Toddler Fine Motor
After completing an activity please fill out the Activity Completion Log.
Making Os and Xs
Create a circle on the floor with blocks. Invite your child to sit in the middle. Use the word circle and help her make her own circles with blocks or other materials.
Help your child trace rim of a cup with her finger. Talk about the shape as she traces. Such as, “This is a circle. A circle is round like a pizza.”
Draw big and little circles together using crayons. Your child benefits from the practice even though her circles may be very crooked.
Take a straight rope and bring the ends together so that it makes a circle.
Show her how to cross two sticks and to draw a straight line over another straight line to form an x.
“Making Bubbles”
What you’ll need:
1) Mixing bowl
2) Cups of various widths
3) Wands of various widths
4) Bubbles
What you’ll do:
1) Tell your child you are going to make bubbles and demonstrate how to dip the wands in the bubble.
2) Talk to your child about how they make bubbles
3) Encourage your child to use wands, encourage conversation by asking questions on what they are doing and have them describe their actions.
4) Show your child different ways to pop bubbles
Pom Pom Tube Drop
What you’ll need:
1) Assorted color pom-poms
2) Masking Tape
3) Empty paper towels or toilet paper rolls
What you’ll do:
1) Find space on a wall or door.
2) Use the masking tape to tape the toilet paper and paper towel rolls to the wall.
3) Align the tubes vertically or diagonally (with the tape horizontal) so that when the Pom-Pom drops they will fall out of the bottom.
4) Crate a maze by allowing Pom-pos to drop from one tube to the next.
5) Show your child how to put the Pom-poms into the top tube and watch the Pom-Pom drop to the bottom.
6) Let them test it out themselves.
7) You can have them name the colors of the pom-poms as they drop them or have them guess which obstacle will get the pom-poms down faster.
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Teaching Strategies
Cutting Challenge
Primary Objectives
7a. Uses fingers and hands
Why It’s Important
As children learn to coordinate their eye and hand movements, cutting with scissors is one of the most complex tasks that they begin to explore. Providing your child with the opportunity to practice this useful fine-motor skill supports his growing physical development.
Materials
Plastic tub; several scraps of paper in a variety of colors, textures, and sizes; toddler-sized safety scissors
What You Do
1. Put the scrap paper and scissors in the plastic tub.
2. Invite your child to participate in a cutting activity. Explain that he may practice cutting paper using the paper and scissors in the tub.
3. If needed, help him position the scissors correctly in his hand. You may need to hold his hand and practice the cutting motion until he feels comfortable. Example of what to say: This is the way we hold scissors when we are ready to cut. Then we move our hand like this: open, close, open, close.
4. Once your child has the basic understanding of the grip and motion of the scissors, allow him to practice cutting independently. Talk about safety rules when using scissors. Describe what your child is doing. Ex. I see you are cutting the yellow paper into very small pieces.
5. Allow your child to continue for as long as he is interested. If you have space in your home, keep materials together in the plastic tub and encourage your child to practice his cutting from time to time.
Transferring Water to Ice Cube Tray
What you’ll need:
1) Ice tray
2) Pipette
3) Cup of water
What you’ll do:
1) Show your toddler how to dip the pipette in the cup of water by inserting the tip of the pipette in water and squeezing the top at the same time. Release your squeeze and watch the pipette pull the water up into it.
2) Then transfer the pipette to the ice tray. Pick a spot on the ice tray to release the water into.
3) Keep going back and forth and let your toddler get the hang of it.
This will help your child strengthen hand-eye coordination as well as fine motor skills.