Fine Motor Monday

It’s been a few weeks since I posted about what we have been doing around here for fine motor practice. We haven’t done nearly as much as I had wanted to or that I had planned…I need about 5 extra hours a day! HA!

If you are new, one reason we do so much fine motor activities around here is to help my daughter gain back the strength and coordination that she lost due to her Juvenile Arthritis in her fingers.

We made more Snowmen

In my last Fine Motor Monday post I shared that we made a bunch of snowmen from a foam snowman set I bought on clearance from Target. Peeling the sticker tape off the back as well as placing the various parts on the snowmen are great for fine motor skills.

We played with our Magna Doodle

I LOVE Magna Doodles, and my brother, niece and nephew bought E one for her birthday. It has a short “pen” that is great for writing and fine motor, but it also comes with magnet shapes that have pegs on the top. Holding onto the peg and drawing is another great fine motor skill. (And of course, Ev joined in the fun).

We played with playdough

This is a staple in our home. E asks to play with Playdough all the time! One thing we have been doing is taking puzzle pieces with the little pegs on top, and pushing them into the playdough. E’s occupational therapist suggested it as a great way to work on building up the strength in her right hand.

We made lanterns

For Chinese New Year we made lanterns to hang for good luck. E wanted to decorate them using foam hearts that we had, which required fine motor practice. Also, I could have had E do the cutting work to make the slits in the lanterns by drawing lines on the lanterns and having her cut along the lines, for more fine motor practice. I’ll definitely do this next time.

 
We made bird feeders

I saw this amazingly adorable idea at Happy Hooligans last week, and thought that it would be awesome to do with E for her fine motor. We simply laced Cheerios onto pipe cleaners, made circles, and hung them up for the birds! E really enjoyed this activity and can’t wait to see the birds eat the Cheerios.

Hopefully we will be doing more fine motor in the weeks to come. I am planning on getting some tongs and doing some fun activities with them! What fine motor activities have you been doing? I’d love some new ideas!

Cheers!