Keep your bouncy toddler engaged for a good while as they strengthen their fine motor skills with these easy, fun and low-cost activities!
When parents think about their child’s development or milestones, they often focus on gross motor skills like walking, jumping or climbing. While those are certainly important, fine motor skills are just as important, and require the same amount of attention!
What are fine motor skills?
Fine motor skills are related to the movements of the smaller muscles, particularly of the hands and fingers. These skills come into play during daily activities like brushing, bathing, eating, dressing, writing and others. While kids develop their skills at their own pace, it helps to promote them with a few simple activities at home. There are many benefits of trying out fine motor skills activities at home:
- Better performance at school, especially when it comes to writing, drawing and other daily tasks
- Improved hand-eye coordination
- Increased focus and concentration
- Better speed, precision and independence
Building these skills isn’t that hard at all – you can easily do it with fun activities at home! Here are some simple, low-cost ways for kids to develop their fine motor skills at home, while having fun in the process!
15 Fun Activities to Develop Fine Motor Skills
1. Tearing and Crumpling Paper
Crumpling paper is one of the easiest ways to build fine motor skills in children as young as one year. Hand your child some paper – tissue or crepe paper works best. Let them tear the paper into bits and crumple the little bits into balls. Both, the tearing and crumpling actions, involve multiple muscles in the fingers, palm and wrist.
2. Sticker Play
Kids love stickers, but they can be more than just a hobby. Peeling stickers off a sheet and then managing to stick them on another surface is an important skill for toddlers and preschoolers. It strengthens the pincer grasp and also requires some coordination to avoid the stickers sticking to the fingers.
3. Drawing and Colouring
Every parent knows that most kids would love to draw if they’re allowed to – especially on walls! Holding a pen or crayon and drawing is one of the foremost fine motor skills young children need to master, and it requires many muscles of the palm and fingers. Give them a large sheet of paper and some washable crayons to make life easier.
4. Finger Painting
If your child is not yet ready to hold a pen or crayon, finger paints are a good place to start. Make sure you get non-toxic finger paints since kids of this age are likely to put their hands into their mouths all the time. Guide your child to dip their fingers one by one into a pot of paint and then print them on a sheet of paper. It doesn’t need to be in a pattern – just the action will do initially.
5. Stacking Blocks
Stacking blocks may seem like a very basic task, but it requires hand-eye coordination, the ability to balance, and some spatial ability along with fine motor skills. Once kids get older, they can start stacking based on color, and you can also try getting blocks with uneven edges, like stacking stones.
6. Playdough
When most parents think of ways to develop their child’s fine motor skills, playdough is the first thing that comes to mind and with good reason! Playdough is amazing for strengthening the muscles of the hand and fingers, as kids squish, roll, pull and stretch. Encourage them to make specific shapes, or let them work with playdough mats with patterns on them.
7. Paper Laundry
Okay, this is less about the actual ‘laundry’ and more to do with handling clothespins! Squeezing and releasing the clothespins is a fine motor activity that requires the use of muscles in the thumb and index finger, and trying to synchronize it with grasping an object requires some hand-eye coordination. You can cut out shapes from paper and ask kids to attach the clothespins to their edges.
8. Popping Bubbles
Blowing bubbles is fun – but so is popping them! This is an activity that kids of all ages will love, and many do it automatically without needing anyone to prompt them! Get a bubble wand that’ll blow medium to large bubbles and let your child run around trying to poke each bubble with the index finger, or with two fingers at once.
9. Squeezing Sponges
This is a messy activity that is best done outdoors or in the bathroom, and is perfect for a hot summer day. You’ll need two large bowls and a clean, dry sponge. Fill one bowl with water and let your child soak a sponge in it. Now, let them lift out the sponge and squeeze all the water into the other bowl. If you like, you can add some food coloring to the water to make it more fun. The squeezing of the sponge is great for the muscles in the palm, fingers and forearm.
10. Cutting Paper
Once your child is old enough, get them a pair of child-safe craft scissors and some colored paper. Draw some straight lines on the paper and encourage them to cut along the lines. This is an excellent activity not just to develop fine motor skills, but also for hand-eye coordination and grip. As they improve, move from straight lines to squiggly ones and closed shapes.
11. Inserting Coins
Mastering the pincer grasp is an important skill for children, especially before starting school. Picking up coins is a good exercise for the purpose, and also improves control and visual coordination. Get your child a piggy bank or make one out of a can or box. Hand them some coins that have been cleaned and sanitized, and let them put them into the bank one by one. Start with large coins and move on to the smaller ones.
12. Threading and Lacing
This is an interesting activity that requires the use of both hands and quite a bit of concentration! Hand your child a bunch of large wooden beads and some thick string so they can string the beads on it. As they get older and more dexterous, reduce the size of the beads so it becomes more challenging. Lacing cards also achieve the same goal, and are a safer option if you worry about your child swallowing the beads.
13. Sensory Bins
Yes, sensory bins are great for sensory exploration, but they’re also perfect for boosting those fine motor skills! Once you’ve filled your sensory bin, hand your child different tools like a sieve or a scoop and let them transfer items from the bin to another box or bowl. As they lift some weight with the scoop and prevent the contents from falling, they’re exercising both fine and gross motor muscles, while maintaining balance.
14. Gardening
Kids love playing in dirt, so why not make the most of this by involving them in some gardening? Hand them a set of garden tools and let them dig, scrape, cut and play around with them. Teach them how to sow seeds, repot a young plant or pull out weeds. These actions strengthen all kinds of muscles in the arms and hands.
15. Cooking and Baking
Getting young kids involved in gardening helps strengthen their fine motor skills while teaching them some valuable life skills! Young kids love helping out in the kitchen, and there’s always going to be something for them to do, no matter how young they are. Hand them some child-friendly kitchen tools and let them get busy with whisking, stirring, pouring, rolling and cutting out cookies. They can also learn about measuring ingredients, identifying food groups and staying safe.
Toys that Promote Fine Motor Skills Development
Besides these activities, you can also get your child some toys that promote fine motor skills while also teaching them other basic concepts like colors and shapes. Here are a few of our recommendations:
Whichever activity you choose, make sure that your child is always supervised by an adult. Avoid anything that can be a choking hazard or that has sharp edges. When in doubt, err on the side of caution and choose the safer route.
It is important to remember that you don’t need to try all these activities for your child – choose a few that are appropriate for your little one developmentally. These are great to develop fine motor skills while also improving focus and concentration, providing sensory stimulation and also helping them learn a few things along the way!
(This post was updated on 23rd March 2025)
These are low cost but they definitely look very fun.
Good easy options to develop the super important pincer grasp. Putting large buttons and having kids button and unbutton through slots is also a good one similar to the coin one.
These activities are really important, I try to involve my son in activities as peeling peas as well which helps.
Drawing and coloring, sorting and organizing are some great and most helpful activities. They help in brain development of a child.
Thanks for sharing these activities. I do often use all these activities at playtime They are best to help the tiny brain to understand the concept
Wonderful. Another plus point of these activities is the fact that the toddler stays engaged and entertained. Loved this piece.
This is a very insightful post. I have started with play doughs and colour books. Building blocks is also a very good way to develop motor skills I feel just as you mentioned.
Can’t agree more. All these activities are really helpful for brain development .thess activities engaging too.
These are some awesome options you have given.. My son loves playing with playdough and also loves stacking and sorting.
This is really helpful and I remember water play used to b my baby’s favorite among others..
These are some great ideas, even as adults some of these activities help. It’s even better growing up