Skill: Fine Motor Control

Using the small muscles in the hands and wrists to make precise movements. This is the foundation for almost all school tasks, like drawing, writing, and using tools.

Fuzzy Force Sculpture

Fuzzy Force Sculpture

Steps:

  • Secure the felt sheet firmly onto the cardboard using masking tape. Stand the cardboard upright against a wall or chair.
  • Place the pile of pipe cleaners in the container nearby. Encourage your child to pick up one fuzzy stick.
  • Use both hands together to bend and twist the pipe cleaner into a tight, dense shape, like a small coil or spiral. Bending requires strength!
  • Ask your child to hold the cardboard steady with their helper hand to provide stability for the surface.
  • Challenge them to press the bent pipe cleaner firmly onto the felt surface until it sticks.
  • Continue bending and pressing fuzzy sticks to create a unique sculpture, like an animal or a colorful abstract design.
  • Try switching the hands used for bending and stabilizing to give both sides a workout.

Safety Tip:
Adult supervision is required. Pipe cleaners can have sharp ends after cutting or twisting. Ensure the child does not place materials near their mouth, eyes, or ears.

Tight Cardboard Ties

Tight Cardboard Ties

Steps:

  • Ask an adult to cut 6 to 8 small, sturdy shapes from the cardboard (squares and rectangles work best).
  • Encourage your child to use markers to decorate and color each cardboard piece.
  • Help your child break the pipe cleaners into shorter, 4-inch strips. This breaking provides good heavy work input.
  • Take two cardboard pieces. Hold them together firmly with one hand so the edges overlap.
  • Use your working hand to wrap one pipe cleaner strip tightly around the overlapping edges, twisting the ends together until the connection is secure.
  • Continue connecting pieces. Build a 3D structure like a cube, a robot, or a tall, zig-zagging tower.

Safety Tip:
Pipe cleaners can have sharp ends after being cut or broken. Constant, direct adult supervision is required. Ensure children do not place these small materials near their mouths, eyes, or ears.

Sticky Ribbon Rescue

Sticky Ribbon Rescue

Steps:

  • Adult Prep: Tightly wrap a piece of Yarn or Ribbon around a Craft Stick. Secure the ends of the yarn with small, strong strips of Masking Tape.
  • Place the finished stick and the empty Container on a stable table.
  • Challenge your child to hold the stick firmly with their helper hand to keep it still.
  • Encourage your child to use their working hand to pinch an edge of the tape. Pull the tape strip off slowly against the resistance.
  • Once the tape is peeled, they can unwrap the yarn and drop the ‘rescued’ ribbon into the Container. Repeat with other prepared sticks!

Safety Tip:
Ribbon, yarn, and small pieces of masking tape are choking hazards for children under three. Constant, direct adult supervision is required throughout this activity. Ensure the child remains seated and materials are not placed near the mouth.

Foil Push Bead Garden

Foil Push Bead Garden

Steps:

  • Place the Aluminium Foil Pan flat on the table. Use markers to draw a few small dots randomly on the pan’s bottom surface. These dots are your targets.
  • Set the pile of Beads and Golf Ball Tees next to the pan in a Plastic Container.
  • Hold the pan firmly with your helper hand. Pick up one Golf Ball Tee using a pincer grasp.
  • Pick up one bead and carefully balance it on the narrow end of the Golf Ball Tee.
  • Aim the tee and bead toward a marker dot. Use a strong, steady push to pierce the foil and drop the bead inside the pan.
  • Repeat this action until all the target dots have a bead successfully ‘planted’ through the foil.

Safety Tip:
Beads and golf tees are small, hard objects. They pose a choking hazard for children under five. Constant and direct adult supervision is required throughout this activity.

Tight Coil Stick Art

Tight Coil Stick Art

Steps:

  • Place one Craft Stick flat on the table. Use your helper hand to hold it steady and still.
  • Take a Pipe Cleaner. Use your dominant hand to twist it tightly around the stick. Coil the pipe cleaner snugly from end to end.
  • Continue wrapping new pipe cleaners until the entire Craft Stick is covered in a dense, fuzzy layer. Press the coils close together.
  • Choose one small sticker from the Plastic Container. Peel the sticker using only your thumb and pointer finger (pincer grasp).
  • Carefully press the sticker firmly onto the fuzzy, coiled surface of the stick. This requires precise aim and controlled force.
  • Cover the coiled stick with colorful stickers until you complete your masterpiece. Count how many stickers you placed.

Safety Tip:
Pipe cleaners and small stickers pose a choking hazard. Constant, direct adult supervision is required for children under 5 throughout this activity.