Whitechapel Church of England Primary

Incorporating fun activities into your child’s daily routine can help improve their fine motor skills. The ability to learn and practice fine motor skills at an early age can benefit them academically, socially, and personally.

Here are some activities you and your child can do together:

• Allow your child to assist with meal preparation, like stirring, mixing, or pouring ingredients.
• Put together a puzzle as a family.
• Play board games that involve rolling dice.
• Finger paint together.
• Let your child set the dinner table.
• Teach your child how to pour their own drinks.
• Have your child roll and flatten clay/ dough with their hands, and then use a cookie cutter to make cut outs.
• Show your child how to use a hole puncher.
• Practice placing rubber bands around a can.
• Place objects in a container and have your child remove them with tweezers.

More ideas can be found at-

https://funlearningforkids.com/favorite-fine-motor-activities-preschoolers/

https://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2018/10/fine-motor-activities.html

https://theimaginationtree.com/40-fine-motor-skills-activities-for-kids/

Why Are Gross Motor Skills So Important?

Here are a few of the important benefits of developing good gross motor skills:

• taking part in gross motor activities can have a positive impact on school readiness skills such as reading, writing and sitting posture. 

• regular physical activity can help your child achieve long-lasting good health
• your child's confidence and self-esteem may improve as he or she develops the ability to take part in games with other children
• studies have shown that children with good gross motor abilities may cope better in the classroom.
• stress and frustration can be relieved and released through physical activity

Different activities to have a go at –

1 – Toss bean bags into baskets

Provide laundry baskets. Then take turns tossing bean bags/ socks etc into the target.

2 – Move on paper plates

Use some paper plates/ card circles, colour them in. Then get creative! Place them in a row (red, green, red, green) and step on just the red ones. Or have them get down on all fours and “skate” with a plate under each hand. Put the plates in a row to get them moving around the room. Put the plates far apart for big steps. Or put them close together for tiny steps.

3 – Learn with a ball toss

If they are able to catch a simple toss. Then think of a way to incorporate learning with a ball toss. For example, you can throw a ball to a student and name a word. Then s/he names a word linked to the topic e.g. fruits or a rhyming word and tosses the ball back to you.

4 –  Play “find and tag it”

This is a versatile game that can be used to review many different skills. Just tell them to find something and tag it. For example, “Find and tag something blue.” Or “Find and tag something that starts with /s/.”

5 – Move like an animal

You’ll need some open space, but this is a great way to get kids using new muscles. Here are some ideas:

• Move like a bird (run with arms outstretched)
• Move like a snake (wiggle on tummies on the floor)
• Move like a bear (walk on all fours)
• Move like a frog (get down on haunches and hop)
• Move like a kangaroo (take big leaps with arms in front of chest)
• Move like an elephant (with heavy stomping)

Move like a penguin (waddle with ankles close together and arms pinned to sides)  – Have fun with painter’s tape

6 – Masking tape is one of the best inventions ever. It goes on (and comes off) easily – whether you’ve got a smooth floor or a carpeted one (but be sure to test it first just to be sure). And there’s so much you can do with it! Put it on the floor like a ladder. Then see how many rungs they can jump. Can they jump farther with a running start?

See how many rungs they can stretch – or how far they can go on one foot.

7 – Play indoor hopscotch

Masking tape is the way to go on this one. Create a simple hopscotch board with numbers. Then have students toss a bean bag/ socks on a space and jump to get there. Another idea is to use cardboard squares that you can pull out at any time.

Tip: Change the skill that learners review with hopscotch; instead of putting numbers on the squares, consider letters or shapes.

8 – Use balloons

Blow up a balloon. Have them put a balloon between their knees and walk like a penguin. Or they can toss the balloon and catch it so that it never hits the floor.

Can they balance the balloon on a part of their body (like an outstretched arm) and walk a few steps – or across the room?

9 – Copy me!

This is where you can get in your workout for the day. Simply do a series of exercises or silly actions, and have them copy you. Jump like a kangaroo. Scratch like a monkey. Run in a place. (Whatever it takes to get that heart rate up!)

10 – Tape balance beam

This is ultra simple, but surprisingly fun! Put masking tape on the floor in different lines; make the lines zigzag, curvy, straight, or shaped like a circle, square, or other shape. Then challenge them to walk each line from beginning to end. You can even spend time colouring them in or adding on patterns.

11 – Dance like this

If they like to dance, put on some music – but give them instructions to dance a particular way. They can dance slow, fast, in a circle, silly, etc.

12 – Roll and move

Use a die and write a list of simple exercises on cards. Choose a card, and roll the die. The die tells you how many times to do the exercise. Here are some ideas for the exercise cards:

• Touch your toes
• Do arm circles
• Run across the room
• Hop on one foot
• Jump forward
• Take big steps
• Take tiny steps

13 – Be the weather

Use their body to be different kinds of weather, such as:

• rain
• snow
• earthquake
• tornado
• wind

14 – Sing active songs

Sing one of these classic songs, and add some actions!

• I’m a Little Teapot
• If You’re Happy and You Know It
• The Hokey Pokey
• Ring around the Rosie
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around
• Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush

More ideas can be found at -

https://www.ot-mom-learning-activities.com/preschool-gross-motor-activities.html

https://handsonaswegrow.com/gross-motor-activities-preschoolers/