Skill: Visual Motor

How the eyes and hands work together as a team. This is essential for tasks where movement is guided by vision, like catching a ball, cutting on a line, or staying within the lines when coloring.

Acorn Stamper

Acorn Stamp

Draw an acorn on the construction paper (see images for example) or you can let the child trace an acorn stencil to promote fine motor control and visual-motor skills.

Let the child cut the acorn shape using scissors.

Using a piece of small sponge instruct the child to pinch it and dip it into the paint then stamp and paint the bottom part of the acorn cut out. You can also use q-tips or cotton balls to paint.

Encourage the child to fill in the entire bottom part of the acorn.

Have the child spread glue on the top part of the acorn.

Provide the child with a few dry leaves. Instruct the child to crumble the leaves inside the palm of his hand and then spread them on the glue. This will promote finger strength and finger translation.

You may also use beans to cover the top area of the acorn.

Fine Motor Marble Maze

Marble Maze playing

In this activity, we create a marble maze to promote fine motor skills.

Start by gluing the straws on the cardboard. You will need to glue each straw on the opposite side as follows:

  • Glue the 1st straw aligned to the left edge of the cardboard
  • Glue next straw aligned to the right side of the cardboard
  • Keep gluing straws all the way to the bottom of the cardboard
  • Make sure to create a space for the marble to go through between the straws
  • The end result should look like this:
    Marble Maze straws

Let the glue dry.

We used a gallon size zip lock bag but you can use a smaller zip lock bag to create a smaller maze.

At the bottom edge of the zip lock bag, cut a small slit. Make sure you cut it on the side the marble will come out from.

Once the glue is dry and the straws are secured, insert the cardboard into the ziplock bag.

Close the ziplock bag almost all the way, leaving a small opening for the marble to fit in.

Put the marble through the opening and start moving it with your finger through the maze until it comes out at the bottom.

You can alternate the fingers you use to move the marble or you can use both hands to hold the cardboard and move it from side to side, letting the marble slide out.

Stamp it up

A four-year-old child uses a tripod grip to press a rubber stamp onto paper on an inclined surface in a sunlit home setting.

Ask the child to hold the stamp with his/her thumb, index finger, and middle finger.

You may want to set the stamp pad on the opposite side to the hand holding the stamp so that it encourages the child to reach over his/her midline.

To promote the development of visual motor skills have the child stamp between two vertical lines, horizontal lines, or around a circle.

To encourage wrist extension and stabilization place the stamping paper on an inclined surface.

Ice Painting

A four-year-old child uses a tripod grasp to move an ice cube through vibrant paint on construction paper during a sensory art activity.

Put a small amount of paint on a sheet of construction paper.

Let the child hold an ice cube using the thumb, index finger, and middle finger only.

Have the child move the ice cube over the paint and spread it on the paper.

You may also use powder paint for this activity.

You can use the Colored Ice Cubes activity to make the ice cubes for this activity.

Colorful flower art

Colorful flower art

Use the scissors to cut 1/2 inch wide lines along the toilet paper roll. Do not cut all the way to the other side. These will become the flower petals.

Paint the cut toilet paper roll.

Put a few glue dots on the tissue paper.

Crumple the tissue paper to a ball. This will be the flower pistil in the center.

Glue the crumpled tissue paper to the painted toilet paper roll.