Fun Fine Motor Activities

I've just had my weekly email from Play Activities and it had two fun fine motor activities I thought I'd share with you.

Activity ~ 3-D squeezey chalk

Materials:

• 1/2 cup of cornflour
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup of water
• food colouring
• glitter
• bowl
• ziplock bag

Instructions:

• Mix the flour and cornflour together.
• Add water and 3-5 drops of food colouring
• Add the glitter.
• Mix until it looks like paste.
• Pour mixture into the Ziplock bag and seal.
• Cut a small hole in the corner of the Ziplock bag and squeeze the chalk out to make patterns / write words / draw pictures.

Activity ~ String picture

Materials:

• sheets of paper
• different coloured paints
• string 40cm or longer
• old newspaper

Instructions:

• Lay a sheet of paper onto a newspaper covered table top
• Dip the string into some paint until it's covered.
• Place the string in an interesting shape on top of the paper.
• Make sure small part of the string is off the sheet of paper.
• Carefully put on a second sheet on top of the string.
• Parent: hold the sheets paper together.
• Child: hold string and gently pull it out from between the paper.
• Remove the top sheet of paper and you will see a pattern.
• Try another colour and repeat.

Play-activities is a free and fun educational e-mail for parents of children under 5. It is run by Melitsa Avila who is a qualified teacher. Melitsa wanted to create a source of activities for parents and children to enjoy, which offered a balance of gross and fine motor activities, social & personal activities, and problem-solving and language activities all in one easily accessible place. If you sign up you can gain access to a wide range of activities to help your child develop a balanced play life, have fun, and enjoy a good mix of the early childhood skills identified by child health professionals. They also have a blog with lots of other ideas and links to other sources of ideas to keep your children busy!