Teach Tuesday – Fall Fine Motor
Thank you Oriental Trading for collaborating & partnering with me on this educational post. As always all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.
Fine motor skills, what the heck are those?
I forget a lot of people don’t know terms such as fine motor or gross motor. I went to school to be a teacher and a birth through five major at that. So child development takes up a large amount of storage in my brain. Now being a mother to a toddler I’m using a lot of tools and tricks I learned along the way as a teacher.
Fine Motor
Is the coordination of small muscles, in movements. Those large muscles, in movements would be gross motor skills. This usually involves using hands and fingers & coordinating with the eyes.
Why are these skills important?
These skills will allow your child to do tasks such as buttoning, zipping, coloring, writing and more.
Fall Activity for Fine Motor Development
Fall Sensory Bucket
1a. Get a halloween bucket and fill it with fall sensory items. (Depending on your child’s age and maturity: fall inspired beads, corn kernels, pumpkin seeds, tiny pretend leaves etc). Now let your child explore these objects. They won’t be able to focus on an activity with them until they have a chance to explore them first. We sorted and created patterns while we explored them (early math skills).
We got these little foam fall inspired “beads” from Oriental Trading.
1b. Tools, you need tools for this activity. This is what makes it more exciting, fun and challenging for your child. I snagged this Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set from Oriental Trading. I’m loving their new LEARN365 section!
1c. Model for your child(ren). This is most likely the first time they used tweezers or a handy scooper. They need to know how they work, and the best way is for you to model that, then let them try. Introduce one at a time so they are not overwhelmed and can focus on doing it correctly.
1d. Get creative! Have them put them from one bucket to another. If they are older or competitive, set a timer and see who can move more from one bucket to another on the other side of the room. If you get this tool set, try using the twisty dropper to puff air on your sensory item on a hard surface.
More Fall Fine Motor Goodies
XO Eryka
I love this idea! I always wanted to do one of those big sensory tables for my kids. I think I’ll get one going!
Yes that’s such a fun idea! We did a bucket to save space
What a fun activity to keep little ones occupied – and learning! Don’t you just love it when they learn new skills through play?
Yes! Play is my favorite way to teach
How fun is this! My girls would love this idea!
Yay! Izzy has a blast, I’m sure they would too
This is so fun, and I learned something about their development too! Thanks!
So glad you like it & I could teach you something ☺️