Toddler’s fine motor skills is one of the strongest predictors of the child’s future academic achievement.
Fine motor skill is the ability to control hands and fingers. They are needed for writing, playing with small toys, doing puzzles, cutting with scissors, tying shoelaces and more. At school, kids are expected to learn to write new words, take tests, do projects, work with blocks/shapes for math, etc. In kindergarten, 46% of activities require fine-motor skills. In classrooms of 2nd, 4th and 6th-grades, up to 60% of activities are fine-motor activities.
To help your kids excel in school, here are some activities that can help boost their fine motor skills.
Fine Motor Activities
Drawing, Coloring, Painting
When it comes to mastering fine motor skills, you can’t beat the good old drawing, coloring and painting. The drawing will start as scribbling. But as your toddlers start having more control of those small muscles, they can graduate to drawing and coloring. For those creative and adventurous minds, they will enjoy painting out their imagination.
Math Games – Sharpen Fine Motor While Learning Math
Paper House
This spatial reasoning exercise requires some strong fine motor skills such as using scissors and taping paper strips together.
Shape Visualization
Using play-doh, candies and toothpicks to build structures. Fun and yummy. But remind kiddos to handle toothpicks carefully and they can be sharp.
Shapes, Patterns And STEM Concepts
Did I mention these math games are great fine motor exercises? This STEM project is no exception. There are endless possibilities in creating shapes and patterns. Evidence-based games to improve math performance, too.