Here are some simple and effective fine motor playdough activities to build your child’s fine motor skills!
Playdough is a favorite go-to activity for kids of all ages from preschool through early elementary. It is relaxing, inspiring and fulfilling! Manipulating playdough strengthens hand muscles and helps children develop better control over their fingers. This can help improve pencil control and handwriting!
These are my favorite occupational therapy exercises with playdough that are great for developing fine motor skills!
Don't have playdough? Make your own in less than 30 minutes! Try my homemade cooked playdough recipe for a long-lasting, non-sticky playdough!
Snipping playdough helps your child master the grasp-release motion of the scissors.
Have your child roll out long playdough sausages with both hands and then snip the sausages into small pieces. This helps them master opening and closing the scissors effectively.
Make sure
your child is using the correct scissor grasp, in order to get the most out of
the activity.
Remember to ensure your left-handed child is using left
handed scissors!
Add the snipped playdough to a make-believe pizza, or or have your child roll it into balls with the fingers (see below).
If your child needs more practice getting the grasp-release motion with scissors, then get the tips and techniques you need in my Scissor Skills series.
These playdough activities for hand strength are simple but effective:
Manipulating playdough with the
fingers improves finger dexterity and gets the fingers ready
for handwriting! You may be wondering how to improve pencil grip with playdough - these playdough exercises focus on the tripod fingers - the thumb, index and middle fingers - that are used for a tripod pencil grip.
First, help your child isolate the thumb, index and middle fingers (the tripod fingers) by tucking a piece of paper under the ring and little fingers of the dominant hand.
This provides stability to the ulnar side of the hand to enable the thumb, index and middle fingers to move freely.
Now use the tripod fingers for the following fine motor playdough activities:
Roll the dough into a palm-sized ball, insert the thumb into the center and use the index and middle fingers to pinch all around, forming a pot.
Use the tripod fingers to roll out small sausages with a back and forth movement of the fingers. Small balls can be formed with a rolling movement of the fingers.
Sausages may be easier than balls at first.
Rolling out small balls of playdough with 3 fingers can be tricky for children who struggle with fine motor skills, so offer lots of encouragement and praise.
Try rolling the balls yourself with your non-dominant hand (which is usually less skilled than your dominant hand) - you might be surprised at how tricky it is! It gives you an appreciation of how tricky this activity can be!
These are great pre-writing activities that can strengthen hand muscles for writing.
Younger kids love using their imagination, so encourage them to get creative with the playdough.
A simple construction of a pinchpot with small balls inside, could be a dragon's nest with eggs, a bird's nest, an Easter basket, or a bowl of peas!
Use whatever theme your child is currently interested in!
Get creative with a food theme:
Most older kids still secretly love playdough activities, but may need some encouragement to take part!
Here are some tips I have found useful:
These playdough activities for fine motor skills are just a sample of the many photographed activities in my Fine Motor e-book.
My comprehensive activity resource book is ideal for parents, teachers and therapists!
I hope you are feeling inspired to work on your child's fine motor skills with playdough!
If your kids are too young for the playdough activities I have suggested here, then try my toddler and preschool playdough activities.
Or get more playdough tips and techniques here!
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