What’s an easy fine motor skills activity for toddlers and preschoolers? Kids love this cardboard box and golf tee fine motor activity!
Why are fine motor skills activities important?
According to Michigan State University, “fine motor skills can be thought of as the small movements of muscles that involve using the hands and fingers together to perform movement. Fine motor skills are movements such as pinching or grasping. These types of movements are important for young children to practice as they develop because they help a child lay the foundation to do such everyday tasks… and can also help develop hand-eye coordination in young children.”
Fine motor skills activities prepare kids for future success with writing, self care skills, and more!
Here are a few reasons fine motor skills are important:
- Fine motor skills are needed by kids and adults to do daily tasks like getting dressed, tying shoes, and brushing their teeth. Whenever you eat, you’re using fine motor skills to grasp your food and pick it up with a fork.
- Fine motor skills are also needed for some school related tasks, like holding a crayon or pencil, coloring a picture, drawing pictures and writing neatly, Zipping up a backpack, stacking blocks and stringing beads, using scissors, rulers and other tools!
- Fine motor skills also help kids build confidence and independence!
What’s the best way to develop fine motor skills?
Kids learn skills at different rates! In my opinion, the most important way to help them develop their fine motor skills is through play! Often the kids don’t even realize that they are learning new skills.
Supplies Needed for this Fine Motor Skills Activity
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Cardboard boxes (any type works, but bigger is always better! We like using wardrobe boxes)
Box Hammering Activity Instructions
You won’t believe how easy this activity is to set up and introduce!
1. Start by putting your golf tees and mallets in a little bowl or bucket.
2. Next, set up some cardboard boxes. Make sure to secure all the sides closed with sturdy packaging tape.
3. Finally put the cardboards boxes out with the mallets and golf tees and encourage kids to explore.
Pro Tip: Have one box with some holes already inside of it for kids to easily stick the gold tees in and pull them out as they get started.
How can I adapt this for younger kids?
Give younger kids the golf tees and cardboard boxes with several holes already created. Encourage kids to push the golf tees in and pull them out.
As they get more experienced with pushing and pulling the golf tees, you can always introduce the mallets and see if they’re interested in trying them.
Adding the mallets gives kids some great hand-eye coordination practice.
Whether they use the mallets, or just their fingers, kids are building their finger muscles and practicing their pincer grasp, which is an important fine motor skill that can help them with self-feeding with fingers or utensils, buttoning and zipping clothing, and even holding a pencil.
Holiday Fine Motor Activity Ideas
This cardboard box fine motor skills activity is fun to change up for every holiday! Just draw a festive picture on your box related to the holiday you’re celebrating. Kids can hammer around or inside the picture. It’s so fun!
Here’s a Halloween pumpkin version of this fine motor activity!
Here’s a Valentine’s Day heart version of this fine motor activity!
If you try it out for a holiday activity, let us know how you adapted it! We love seeing different versions.
What are some other simple fine motor skills activities?
Here are a few of our favorite simple fine motor activities:
Do you have any other favorite simple fine motor skills activities for toddlers or preschoolers? Tell us about them in the comments!
