Fine Motor + A Giveaway

So many of our little kinders come in to our classroom with weak fingers and hands.  Our school OT says part of it has to do with fewer babies spending time on their tummies and/or crawling. With the invention of exersaucers our kiddos are sitting upright more often.

It’s important to do lots of activities to encourage fine motor growth and hand strength.

Here are some ideas:

• Making play dough balls with the forefinger and thumb
• Tongs, tweezers, and clothes pin activities
• Clipping paperclips on paper
• Picking up small items like buttons, gems, and pom poms
• Threading beads on pipe cleaners
• Placing small stickers on paper

Here are more fantastic ideas for fine motor development:

One of the centers that my kiddos enjoy is this sorting center:

These little tweezers, aka “Gator Grabbers” are from Learning Resources.  They are sized just perfectly for little hands and have just enough resistance for the kids.

Here are the “specs” from the Learning Resources website:

Helps develop the pincer grasp needed for writing and fine motor skills needed for daily living: e.g. buttoning, zipping a zipper, holding a toothbrush, picking up finger foods etc.

Great for children who are hypersensitive to textures: they can participate in tactile play using tweezers to hold and move objects

Assists in development of eye-hand coordination (visual-motor integration)

Incorporate puppet-like conversations to enhance communication and social interactions (Gator can speak to or try to gobble up the other person, increasing direct contact with another)

These adorable tweezers look like little alligators and come 12 to a pack (2 each of red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple).  You can purchase here {HERE} for $10.99 (what a steal!) or you can win a set!!

Simple do the following:

1. Find Learning Resources on Facebook and “like” them

2. Leave a comment below telling me your favorite fine motor activity! Be sure to leave your e-mail!

PS- This giveaway will end on Friday, October 5, 2012