Including Fine Motor Skills in Your Homeschool Preschool

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We are in our second day of the 5 Days of Tot-School & Preschool Ideas series that I am hosting this week. If you are coming over from the iHomeschool Network Hopscotch, then welcome. Be sure to check back each day for more great homeschool preschool and tot-school ideas. We are looking at 5 main topics that relate to tot-school and preschool:

Practical Life Skills
Fine Motor Skills
Sensory Activities
Handwriting (Pre-writing)
Gross Motor Skills

Today we will be taking a look at how to include fine motor skills in your toddler and preschoolers homeschool day.

How to Include Fine Motor Skills in Your Homeschool Preschool

What you may not realize, is that fine motor skills start to develop almost at birth. By 3 months old, a baby is learning how to reach out and grab a hold of items that interest them. This is the beginning of fine motor skills. Fine motor skills also develop in a developmental sequence.

I have a great free printable that I offer here on GHOK that lists all the age appropriate fine motor skills your child can do. You can head over to that post to grab it: Typical Fine Motor Developmental Milestone for Ages 0-6.

Once you understand the developmental sequence of fine motor skills, it is easy to know what to expect from your child! Fine motor skills are really part of every day life. Here are just a few examples of day to day activities that require fine motor skills:

Getting dressed (manipulating buttons, zippers, and snaps)
Tying shoes
Eating (holding a fork, spoon, or butter knife)
Fixing meals & snacks (opening or twisting lids & containers, spreading items with a butter knife)

These are just a few ideas. These are tons of ways to include fine motor practice and skills into your daily routine. And what is great is that many of these items are just things you probably already have lying around the house. Here are a few ideas:

Tongs
Tweezers
Cotton Balls
Beads
Play dough
Finger Paint (doubles as a great sensory activity too)
Dried pasta
Lacing cards
Blocks
Scissors (I really like these double safety scissors from Fundanoodle!)
Musical instruments

If you are wondering what types of activities to include in your day, I have a couple of great resources for you. Click on the graphics below to get the free printables with lots of fine motor ideas.