40+ Fine Motor Skills activities for your Literacy & Maths lessons
Fine motor skills activities are often targeted at preschool teachers or parents of toddlers, but if you’re a K-2 teacher you would be well aware of those students who are still struggling to hold their pencil correctly, grip their scissors, or even do up the zipper of their jacket. What’s more, children that struggle with fine motor skills can find other aspects of writing and language development tricky too. For these students, activities that help to develop fine motor skills and hand strength are crucial, but are often neglected due to crowded curriculums, assessment schedules and busy school timetables.
That’s why we’ve put together a list of ideas to help your students develop their fine motor skills in academic areas such as Literacy & Maths - so you can rest easy knowing that you’re giving support to the students who really need it whilst also ticking your curriculum boxes!
What are fine motor skills?
Fine motor skills describe the ability to use the smaller muscles in the body to manipulate objects and perform tasks that involve movements such as grasping, holding and pinching. This ability affects the way we pick up and move small objects, use writing implements and utensils and perform many day-to-day activities with precision and accuracy. Fine motor skills are intrinsically linked with gross motor skills, which involve the larger muscles of the body that control movements such as running, jumping, throwing, catching and climbing - so much so that the development of gross motor skills will positively impact the development of fine motor skills.
Teachers and parents are often surprised to hear that fine motor skills are still developing up to the age of eight and sometimes beyond, meaning that children require ample opportunities to practice these skills through to at least Year 2. For example, a 5-year-old without any additional developmental delays might be expected to use a 3-fingered pencil grip to generate simple letters and numbers, whereas an 8-year-old might be expected to maintain handwriting legibility for an extended writing session. The fine motor skills required for these tasks are developed with targeted and regular practice.
Why are fine motor skills important?
Writing progress is linked to the strength, dexterity and movements of the muscles in your hands, fingers and even arms. When those muscles are working together, children are able to control their pencil more effectively, form letters with greater precision and maintain stamina for longer writing tasks, ultimately supporting the development of clear, legible handwriting and faster writing progress.
And if students don’t have to work so hard to hold a pencil in a way that supports optimal letter formation, their attention can turn to other areas such as letter-sound relationships, spelling and sentence structure.
Research also indicates that students with stronger fine motor skills excel in other academic areas such as reading and maths, and that the development of these skills contributes positively to cognitive and executive functions such as vocabulary acquisition, reasoning and attention (Cinar et al., 2023, Cortes et al., 2022).
All good reasons to practice fine motor skills regularly! Let's look at some ways you can incorporate fine motor skills into your Literacy, Maths and other lessons.
Fine motor skills ideas for Literacy
1. Toothpicks and playdough - give each student a toothpick and a ball of playdough for them to flatten out on their desk. Have them practice writing letters and words into the playdough with their toothpicks.
2. Letter tiles and blocks - use these hands-on manipulatives for a range of literacy activities such as letter recognition and word building. Students could also practice phoneme substitution by creating a word such as 'cat' and then changing the middle sound to make 'cut', then the first sound to make 'hut', then the last sound to make 'hug', etc. These Rainbow Phonics Tiles are fabulous for extending to digraphs and trigraphs, but you can get standard alphabet letter tiles from most department stores.
3. Letter Match - Initial Sounds Cut & Paste - practice scissor grip, cutting shapes and gluing while learning your letter sounds with this super cute, no-prep worksheet. Students cut out the upper case or lower case letters and paste them next to the matching picture. Grab them in Cub Club or on TPT.
4. Letter stickers - stickers are some of the best tools for developing fine motor skills as they require detailed hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity. Grab some letter stickers from a bargain store or write them onto round coloured stickers and use them to create words from your weekly word list, match them to pictures that start with the same letter, or pair it with cardboard rolls and make a letter matching game like this one from Taming Little Monsters.
5. Finger puppets - what a fun way to practice reading fluency and get those little fingers moving! There are loads of super-cute pre-made finger puppets you can buy cheaply, but why not get some additional fine motor practice in and get the kids to make their own using this tutorial from Fun & Learn Corner on YouTube? Students can use them for Reader's Theatre or even just for partner reading.
5. Chalk - take the class outside on a nice day and get them to write letters and words on the pavement in chalk. Students need to practice holding the chalk and pressing firmly enough to make a mark but not so firmly that the chalk breaks. For students who need extra support, you could write the letter on the ground for them to trace over.
6. Cotton bud painting - use cotton buds and paint to create dot paintings - great for holding and manipulating small objects and practicing hand-eye coordination. Students could paint over letters, numbers or words for handwriting practice.
Psst - if you're after a fun cotton bud painting art activity, check out our adorable designs here!
7. Pipe cleaners - an absolute essential for fine motor skills practice. Students love manipulating them into all kinds of shapes - you could use them in tandem with handwriting mats for students to practice forming letters.
8. Typing on a keyboard - fabulous for practicing letter recognition and early typing skills, students use the 'hunt and peck' method (looking for the letter and striking it with the forefinger or middle finger) to type letters and words. Great if you have access to school computers or laptops (not iPads - students need to physically be able to press the buttons), but you could even use an old keyboard and play a matching game with letter cards.
9. Make a mini-book! - this is the perfect fine motor activity as it requires careful folding and cutting from your students, with the 'prize' at the end being their own special book to write anything from letter sounds to little stories in. Once students learn the process, they'll want any excuse to make another mini book! You can check out the instructions from Simple and Easy Projects on YouTube.
11. Mini-whiteboards and markers - there's something about writing on a mini-whiteboard with a marker that is so much more exciting for kids than writing with a pen and paper. This is a great opportunity to do some quick-fire handwriting practice, but another great idea is to write the letter or word for the child on the whiteboard and have them 'erase' it using their finger, tracing it in the correct direction.
12. Magnetic poetry - this is such a fun way to practice building words and sentences, with the added bonus that students will be developing pinching and grasping motions as they pick up and move the magnets around. There are all kinds of versions available for kids, from letters and numbers to sight words and story makers. You can check out the originals here.
13. Alphabet pasta - who ever said it wasn't a good idea to play with your food? Buy a box of alphabet pasta and have fun making words - and sorting and manipulating the tiny letters will be great for muscle development in the hands and fingers. Just don't get too hungry!
14. Drawing pictures - we constantly underestimate the power of drawing a picture. Not only does it require students to practice their pencil grip, they're also practicing creating various lines and shapes and increasingly detailed designs. This is great for fine motor development and hand-eye coordination, but has also been shown to improve memory, communication and learning. You can integrate drawing into so many of your lessons - write a sentence about your weekend, decode some new words, brainstorm things that begin with the sound of the week - then draw a picture to match. Have students practice important comprehension skills such as visualisation by reading a passage from a picture book without showing the illustrations and then getting them to draw what they see in their heads. Encourage children to draw with as much detail as possible - with sharp pencils - as this will really help to improve pencil control and their fine motor skills.
15. The Pencil Grip song - speaking of pencil control, have you watched our Pencil Grip video in your classroom yet? This is a catchy little sea shanty that gives kids a simple set of instructions on how to hold their pencils. In no time, a simple call of 'pinch it, flip it...' will almost certainly result in a response of 'don't forget to grip it!' and a class full of students who know how to hold their pencil correctly.
Cub Club subscribers can watch the video here, but you can also check out a preview over on our Instagram account.
16. Buttons, paper clips, counters - use these household items in conjunction with your handwriting lessons. Learning a new letter? Have students place the objects over the letter to 'trace' it before having a go at writing it. Physically moving the objects into the shape of the letter helps students to form connections with the letter in new ways. You could do this with numbers or shapes, too.
17. Write a letter! - remember how much fun it was to write a letter and take it down to the letter box to post it when you were young? Your students will love this authentic writing activity, and there are some easy ways to sneak in some fine motor practice at the same time. If students know that their letter will be actually read by someone else - whether it's a classmate or a member of the local council - they will be motivated to work extra-hard to write with their neatest handwriting. Folding the letter, putting it in the envelope, sealing it and placing a 'stamp' on the front (this could just be a sticker if you're 'posting' it in your classroom) are all activities that require small, precise movements with fingers and hands. Plus, if you make a DIY classroom mailbox or individual post boxes for each student, students will need to draw on their hand-eye coordination to post the letter through the slot. So much fun!
18. Writing warm ups - use the beginning of a writing lesson as an excuse to warm up those little fingers and strengthen the muscles while you're at it! This could be anything from a quick wiggle of each finger individually, to a rendition of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' complete with hand actions, to a quick squish and poke of some playdough. Speaking of which, we have a couple of videos on Cub Club that are great for a quick and engaging warm up. Our Finger Gym series features lots of opportunities for stretching, pinching, wiggling and pointing, all disguised as retro-style mini-games with six levels for students to 'beat'. Check out a preview here, and Cub Club subscribers can watch the full video series here. Alternatively, if you want some playdough fun in your life, check out Squishy Stuff for a range of fun, up-beat fine motor exercises to build up hand strength and improve hand-eye coordination. You can watch a preview here, and Cub Club subscribers can view the full video series here.
Fine motor skills ideas for Maths
19. Linking cubes & base ten blocks - these classroom essentials are a must for teaching all areas of counting and place value. Not only do they provide the hands-on learning experiences that we know are so important for our little people's brains, but they also give students the opportunity to pick up, hold, connect, stack and manipulate small objects - perfect for fine motor development. Use them in conjunction with tens frames, addition mats or subtraction mats, place value activities, skip counting, pattern making, grouping and division activities and more.
20. Icy pole sticks - another great counting and place value tool, particularly if you're practicing bundling tens. Teach students to use rubber bands to bundle groups of ten icy pole sticks together and you've got a great way of making two digit numbers and exploring grouping and trading. Twisting and securing a rubber band in one hand while holding a bundle of sticks in the other is also amazing fine motor and hand-eye practice.
21. Geoboards - most schools will have a class set of these sitting in a Maths cupboard somewhere. Bring them out, dust them off and use them to explore shapes and geometry in your Maths lessons. Don't be tempted by the digital versions you can download onto tablets or smartboards - providing physical boards that students can use to experiment and create shapes with, using rubber bands and their hands and fingers, is invaluable for their fine motor development.
22. Play money - kids love playing 'shop', and if they can physically hold, move and count coins and notes they'll be developing important mathematical money skills as well as practicing picking up and moving small objects. You could get students to pile up like coins, or count a stack of notes in their hand, before using them to 'purchase' objects around the classroom.
23. Bead threading - a classic fine motor activity that can be easily adapted to suit a range of Maths lessons. Students could thread beads onto a necklace and count them as they go, use different colours to create AB, AAB, ABB and ABC patterns, use threaded beads to practice skip counting, or move them to create equal groups as an introduction to multiplication.
If you're working on number recognition, check out our Number Beading activity - children use pipe cleaners attached to adorable Pevan & Sarah cartoons and thread the correct number of beads onto Pevan's tail or Sarah's ponytail.
24. Paper folding - fantastic as an introduction to fractions, have students explore how many equal parts they can create with a piece of paper if they fold once, twice or three times. Connect these to the vocabulary 'halves', 'quarters', and 'eighths'. Paper folding is a great fine motor activity as it requires a steady hand to make the fold, a keen eye to make it even and a firm finger to crease the paper.
25. Cotton buds - we mentioned this in the literacy section, but you can just as easily use cotton buds and paint for counting, addition and geometry activities. Use two different coloured paints and a tens frame to show different combinations of Friends of Ten, paint 100 spots on a leopard, paint over numbers and shapes, or match coloured dots to the correct numerals.
26. Playdough & toothpicks - learning about 2D shapes or 3D objects? Get creative and build your own with toothpicks and small balls of playdough! You could provide task cards with pictures of shapes for students to copy, or challenge them to make a shape with five sides or an object with 8 corners. A great way for students to visualise the properties of shapes and objects as well as use their hands for this engaging task.
27. Push pins - use push pins and a cork board to support addition and subtraction problems, or to create groups and arrays for multiplication and division. The small size of the push pin heads are great for developing the pincher grip, and the resistance of the cork board will help to strengthen the hand muscles.
28. Pattern blocks - these classic manipulatives are fantastic for developing spatial awareness and geometrical reasoning. Students can use them to create and deconstruct different shapes, explore symmetry and tessellation, and create patterns.
29. Pattern worms - this is a super cute and fun idea for identifying and continuing pattern sequences as well as practicing manipulating small objects. Students use coloured paperclips, pegs or counters to match the colours on the worms and then keep the pattern going. There are options for two- and three-coloured patterns, as well as matching or continuing the pattern. These are great to laminate and re-use throughout the year for your patterns lessons or for a fun early finisher activity.
Cub Club subscribers can download this activity here - otherwise, you can head to TPT to purchase it over there. You might also like to check out our Pattern Strips - another great opportunity for pattern practice and fine motor skills development.
30. Water jugs & sand buckets - the best part of any Measurement lesson is getting to explore its practical, real-world applications through play and hands-on tasks. Use containers and buckets of various sizes with water or sand to investigate volume, capacity or even mass. Carefully pouring water from one jug into another or using a shovel to move sand into a small bucket, for instance, is great for developing hand-eye coordination and grip strength as well as an understanding of the concepts of measurement.
31. Fidget poppers - this viral product isn't just great for providing stimulation and sensory relief for young kids - it can be a great hands-on maths tool, too! For anything from counting and place value to addition and subtraction equations, using a fidget popper can provide a helpful visual and physical support for Maths learning and fine motor skills. Plus, there are specialty hundreds charts and tens frames poppers available now - search Amazon or a teaching resource website local to you for options.
32. Pegs - clothes pegs are fabulous for helping students to develop the 'tripod' grip required for holding a pencil correctly. They are often used in matching activities, such as matching a numeral on the peg to the correct collection of objects on a card or a letter of the alphabet to a picture that starts with that letter (we have a Syllables peg card version you might like!) but you could easily use them for a range of more advanced mathematical concepts. How about using numbered pegs on a strong piece of cardboard to practice ordering numbers, or creating two-, three-, or four-digit numbers to explore place value? Or representing number sequences or addition/subtraction equations by adding or removing pegs from a clothesline? There are lots of hands-on ways you can incorporate these household objects into your maths lessons.
33. Skip counting puzzles - combine Scissor Grip and skip counting practice with these fun puzzles! There are options for skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s, with each puzzle featuring a unique picture to colour in. Turn this into a partner activity and have students carefully cut up the number strips for a friend, then swap and place back in order to reveal the picture. Cutting, moving and gluing the strips will get those fine motor skills working, too!
Cub Club subscribers can download these puzzles below, or grab them on TPT.
Fine motor skills ideas for other curriculum areas
34. Playdough - we mentioned Squishy Stuff earlier, but even without a catchy chant to a killer disco beat, playdough can be used for so many learning tasks across the curriculum. Roll and stretch playdough to make letters, numbers and shapes; break it into smaller balls for hands-on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division activities; create models of plant life cycles or animal habitats - the possibilities are endless if you get creative enough!
If you're after resources to support your playdough lessons, check out our playdough mats below!
Thanks to @teacherstolz on Instagram for permission to use this photo!
35. Throwing, catching, climbing, pushing & pulling - as we mentioned in the intro, fine motor and gross motor abilities are linked to and affect each other. The ability to manipulate small objects relies on the development of the muscles in the fingers, the hands and the whole arm, which means that any physical activity that requires using the shoulders, upper arms and forearms will benefit your students' pencil grips in the classroom. This doesn't mean just passing this responsibility on to PE teachers (although you can certainly thank them!) - you can also fit some gross motor skills into your teaching schedule too. Practice skip counting by passing a ball around the circle while chanting the number sequences. Build letter-sound recognition by throwing bean bags into hoops with different letters written inside them. In fact, you can find a huge list of ideas for educational gross motor activities over at Learn Play Imagine, so go get moving!
36. Board games - how do you turn a dry, boring topic into an engaging and exciting learning task? Turn it into a board game! There are board games available online for almost every learning area you could think of, and the bonus is that students will be rolling dice, picking up cards and moving small pieces around a board, which is great for their fine motor skills. Check out a few of our board games in Cub Club below.
37. Plant a seed! - if you're learning about life cycles or observing the features of living things, there's nothing better than planting seeds in your classroom. Prepare enough seeds, pots and soil for each student and watch them delight in the hands-on task of carefully planting the seeds and caring for them while they grow. A great way to get little fingers and hands involved in an authentic learning experience.
38. Lacing cards - this tried and true activity is a fantastic way to incorporate fine motor skills into almost any learning area. You've seen the traditional ones - a cute picture studded with holes for children to thread wool or string through - but you can easily make your own with thick card or foam and a hole punch and include anything on them. Think large letters of the alphabet for students to 'trace' with their string; number lines with holes punched beside the numbers to practice skip counting; letters of the alphabet to build words with, or high-frequency words for students to read out loud as they thread. They could even be used to learn about shapes, colours, animals or plants. Go a step further and get students to create their own lacing cards - using a hole punch is great for fine motor skill development!
39. Hole Punch - while you've got the hole punches out to create your own lacing cards, you can also use them for a range of other educational activities. Have students 'trace' their name using a hole punch; use them in tandem with a printable tens frame or hundreds chart for counting and addition activities; or play matching games where students choose a number card and 'hole punch' the matching collection card. If you can find them, cushion grip hole punches are the best ones for kids - but a regular metal one-hole punch works just fine too.
40. Jigsaw puzzles - we're rounding this section off with a favourite activity for developing fine motor skills - the humble puzzle. Not only does it promote mindfulness, problem solving and spatial awareness, it's great practice for picking up, moving, placing and fitting small pieces. Keep an eye out in dollar stores, op shops and online marketplaces for some cheap ones - you can find puzzles for any learning area from counting and spelling to fractions and geography.
Other ideas for teaching fine motor skills in your classroom
Hopefully you've found a great idea or activity in the list above that aligns with your curriculum, but if you're still feeling the pinch (pun intended 😅), no stress - there are lots of little ‘sneaky’ ways you can incorporate fine motor skills practice in your classroom outside of traditional learning time. Even just a few minutes a day of fine motor practice will greatly benefit your students in the long run - here are some quick and easy ideas:
- Morning Work - have some threading, sorting, counting or handwriting activities ready to go on tables for students to work on as they come into the room at the beginning of the day.
- Early Finishers - set up a 'Fine Motor' tub in your classroom where students can go and choose a quiet activity to complete once they've finished their learning tasks.
- Classroom Jobs - assign specific roles to students who need a bit of extra fine motor practice. This could be helping you peg student artwork up on a line to display in the classroom; collecting & sorting the counters or dice at the end of a Maths lesson; watering the indoor plants; handing out worksheets; cleaning mini whiteboards; or resetting the schedule for the new school day - anything that requires manipulating objects with fingers and hands.
- Circle Time/Morning Meeting/Roll Call - set aside a few minutes in the morning for a quick fine motor warm up. It might be singing a song with hand actions, or passing a small object around the circle while sharing something you did on the weekend, or perhaps even a quick round of Finger Gym or Squishy Stuff.
- Fine Motor Table - have a dedicated space in your classroom set up with a range of fine motor activities that you can rotate through the school term. Think lacing cards, pom-poms and tongs, peg matching cards, handwriting mats, playdough, cutting activities and more. You could allow small groups of students to visit the table daily, or utilise it for morning work or early finishers.
Still need more fine motor skills resources?
Pevan & Sarah have got you covered! Cub Club subscribers have full access to our fine motor skills videos and printables, created specifically to help support your Fine Motor skills teaching in a fun and educational way. Check out our Fine Motor Friday video playlist, or head on over to our Fine Motor learning area on our Printables page for our full list of fine motor downloadable resources.
You might also like to check out our 5 Steps to Scissor Skills Mastery blog post if you're looking for tips and resources specifically for improving your students' scissor grip.
Not a Cub Club subscriber yet? You can check out all of these resources with a 7 Day Free Trial - and if you like it, stick around for the 400+ engaging, educational songs, videos and printables we currently have on offer, with new releases monthly!
How do you teach fine motor skills in your classroom? Would you like to share any other ideas for integrating fine motor skills activities with Maths & Literacy? Get in touch via our Contact page - we love hearing from you!
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