50+ Easy Fine Motor Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers - Active Littles (2024)

Are you looking to include a fun and easy set up fine motor activities that you can pick and choose in your home or school setting? You’ve come to the right place! Here are some ideas that are super duper helpful and that provide fine motor activities for toddlers, preschoolers and for kids. I’ll be sharing below this super easy homemade fine motor activity I made for my girls that included 2 items you probably have at home right now. This was easy peasy to make and included a paper straw and chip bag clips. Can you make this right now? Probably! 😀 Related: This big to small fine motor activity was so much fun and included a bit of early learning! Materials: Paper Straws Chip bag Clips This is all you’ll need for this simple and epic fine motor activity! It was easy as 1 and 2. My LO grabbed a paper straw and clipped our cute bear, cat and dog clips onto the straw. Wonderful fine motor practice for kids! What are fine motor activities? Fine motor activities are fun play ideas you can set forth to work on fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are the skills children learn from trying out activities that work on the smaller muscles of their hands, fingers and wrists. This allows for children to eventually hold a pencil correctly and write their name in the future. By working on fine motor activities you are working on fine motor skills and by working on fine motor skills you are essentially helping your LO learn pre-writing skills and/or how to pre-draw a shape with ease. 🙂 What are some fine motor skills for toddlers? Here are some toddler motor skills activities you can set forth that are easy peasy: Playing with playdough Coloring, drawing and painting Using a fine motor tool to pick up pom poms in a sensory bin Grabbing their kid spoon to eat their food. Pick up and place in a container Do you have any toddler fine motor activities that you have setup for your LO as a fun set of fine motor activities for toddlers? Let me know below. Maybe we can try it out too! How can I improve my 3 year old fine motor skills? You can set forth a couple of different fine motor activities with household items. The idea mentioned up above with a paper straw and chip clips is a great DIY fine motor activity. You can also draw a line or a zig zag on a paper and your 3 year old can use their kid-friendly scissors to practice cutting in the lines. What other fine motor activities for preschoolers at home can you think of. Maybe we can try it out too! What are some gross motor activities for toddlers? Are you looking for gross motor activities for kids? Here is one we tried with masking tape. You can also try duct tape depending on your flooring. Create a grid with the tape on the floor. Then, your LO can jump and hop onto each of the squares. This is an excellent indoor gross motor activity for kids! Want more gross motor ideas for kids? Play a game of frisbee outside. Do you own small cones? Throw a ring to the cones and see if it lands on one. Play Hide and Seek Play Duck Duck Goose These will work as fun gross motor activities for autism and fun gross motor activities for toddlers and for kids. Do you know of any fine and gross motor activities for toddlers and for kids you have tried or are thinking of trying? 50+ Ideas for Fine Motor Skills Activities Straw and Chip Bag Clippers Pipe Cleaner and Colander Activity Threading a DIY cardboard box activity Creating Necklaces with Pasta Color Match Piling block toys upwards Drawing Playing with playdough Toothpick poke Grabbing pom poms with a clothespin Drawing with chalk (outdoor play) Kid friendly scissors cutting practice Golf Tee poke on playdough Create with Legos Pom Pom drop Pipe Cleaner Pick and drop Noodle Threading Busy board Bead threading Muffin Tin Pom Pom color match Wooden Puzzles Magnetic Play with Pipe Cleaners Busy Books Turning their books pages Glue and pieces of paper activity Button a button Zip a zipper Cut out shapes Cut out items in a coloring book Practice drawing a circle or a shape on a paper Picking up a toy Cutting grass outside with their kid friendly scissors Picking up a rock Using fine motor tools Fine motor toys Dot sticker activity Collecting seashells Digging sand at the beach Completing a maze Follow the lines in a tracing sheet 40 Picking up a baby cheerio from their bowl Folding a paper Playing with a sensory bin Peeling off a sticker Wool ball sensory bin Matching activity Attempting to create a sandcastle at the beach Opening a sandwich bag Zipper Activity Adding hair clips to hair Twist and close a large container I hope you enjoyed these fine and gross motor activities for toddlers and for kids. Looking for printable activities for toddlers and for kids? Check out some of the resources in our shop! Some of the busy books include pages that will work for toddlers and all of the pages will work for preschoolers. If you have a kindergartener, here is a busy book that we love and it includes many matching activities within it. Turning the pages or matching activities are a great way to practice fine motor skills. FAQs References