Fine Motor Skills

fine motor skills icon

Fine motor skills refer to the coordination of small muscle movements in the hands, fingers, wrists, and other small muscle groups. Fine motor skills develop naturally during common activities such as coloring, writing, cutting, turning pages, manipulating small objects, using electronic devices, and self-care.

There are endless playful ways to develop small motor muscle groups leading to improved writing skills. Creative ways to engage children include activities in the kitchen (stirring, spreading), using tweezers to transfer objects from one place to another (fill a jar with cotton balls), playing with different types of dough, threading beads, using hole punches, using droppers as tools for art and science, putting puzzles together and more.

When reading with your child, keep in mind that pointing to pictures & words and turning pages also contributes to the development of fine motor skills.

Starfall Resources for Developing Fine Motor Skills

Starfall offers numerous opportunities to assist children with the development of fine (or small) motor skills. Our resources include free lesson plans, worksheets, online activities, physical products such as games, puzzles, books, and more!

Additional Motor Skills Resources from Starfall

Listed below are a variety of other Starfall resources related to fine motor skills practice.

Pre-K Teacher's Guide Second Edition

  • Pre-K Learning Centers
  • Writing lessons/activities
  • Blocks/building activities
  • Craft activities
  • Math: counting, one-to-one correspondence, using manipulatives
  • Playing pre-k math games

Snack Suggestions

  • Most activities require the use of small motor skills

Outdoor Activities

  • Many activities include both small and large motor skills

Holiday Plans: (Spring, Fall, Winter)

  • Crafts
  • Projects
  • Snacks
  • Technology/online activities

Kindergarten ELA Teacher's Guide Second Edition

  • Magic Writing Moment
  • Writing
  • Coloring/writing activities in workbooks
  • Centers (writing, technology, crafts, building, counting)
  • Technology/online activities
  • Holiday Lesson Plans
  • Crafts

Character Development

  • Writing/coloring
  • Online activities

Kindergarten Math Teacher's Guide

  • Using Math Mats
  • Using five-frames/ten-frames
  • Using manipulatives
  • Creating patterns w/ objects
  • Writing/drawing in math workbooks
  • Playing math games using game boards

Products Available in the Starfall Store

Listed below are products currently available from the Starfall Store designed to help promote development of fine motor skills.