Are you looking for a simple fine motor activity to do with the children in your mixed age daycare? We all have several toys in our daycare yet at times we may want to do something different – using ordinary homemade toys. Here, I added a rope to two chairs and then invited a toddler and a mobile infant to place the curtain rings on the corded rope.
Canvas your home and locate materials to repurpose as teaching aids – those materials you’d normally toss. I got these shower curtains from a Target store specifically for use in the daycare. No, these have never been used in my bathroom but guess what? You definitely could recycle the already used ones by sanitizing them really well.
What’s fine motor skills? Fine motor skills are using the small muscles in our hands, especially finger strength.
We all take for granted how much learning happened for us to hold a fork, write, color, draw, zip our jackets, or even wipe our nose. I suffered from carpal tunnel and appreciated each muscle in my hands before surgery, after surgery, and through occupational therapy. I also learned the value of fine motor skills after my mom suffered a stroke. She needed much therapy to feed and dress herself; heck just moving her fingers was a task.
Fine motor skills are necessary for young children to scribble, knead playdough, feed themselves, use scissors, and write – those are just some of the milestones children will conquer along the way. There are countless learning.
Fine motor is not just doing one activity – it takes many different activities to build finger strength.
Have fun rummaging through your home – xoxo Miss Sue
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