Functional Fine Motor Activities with Household Items

Functional Fine Motor Activities for Kids Using Household Items

Functional fine motor activities using household items are so important to childhood development.  They are the building blocks for higher level skills such as using scissors, drawing, dressing, eating, handwriting and more!  Children need to experience frequent practice with fine motor activities to refine the movements in the fingers and hands before ever picking up a pencil.  Of course, there are plenty of toys to practice fine motor skill development but you can also infuse the entire day with functional fine motor tasks.  

10 functional fine motor activities using household items

There are so many household items to encourage functional fine motor activities. Here are 10 suggestions to get started with throughout a child’s regular routine:

1. Pick up small pieces of food such as Cheerios, raisins, etc. using thumb and index finger.
2. Open and close twist ties on bread and bakery bags.
3. When eating breakfast foods such as a bagel, muffin or roll, pull off small pieces using thumb, index and middle fingertips.
4. Practice screwing toothpaste cap on and off.
5. Place lunch money (in coins) on the table and have the child pick coins up, using the thumb, index and middle fingers, without sliding money to the edge of the table.  Or have the child put the coins into a bank.
6. Place lunch money in a plastic bag with slide zip top and have child seal the bag.
7. Practice opening all lids (if the child has difficulty opening lid independently start opening it and then have child finish opening it).
8. Table washing: using a spray bottle with water in it, squeeze the trigger with index and middle fingers while ring and pinky finger hold the bottle neck then wipe off with a towel.
9. When reading, use one hand to hold the book and the other hand to turn the pages.
10. Help with food preparation such as crush garlic in a garlic press, using thumb and index finger snap ends off green beans, rip lettuce up for salad, dry lettuce off in a salad spinner, use tongs to dish out salad, rolls or ice cubes and push toothpicks into snacks holding with thumb and index finger.

Video about Functional Fine Motor Activities Using Household Items

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Fine Motor Skills and Activities

Resource for more Functional Motor Skills Activities

All of these activities and more suggestions like these are listed in Therapeutic Activities for Home and School.  This book provides pediatric therapists with over forty, uncomplicated, reproducible activity sheets and tips that can be given to parents and teachers. Each activity sheet is written in a simple format with no medical terminology. The therapist is able to simply mark the recommended activities for each child. By providing parents and teachers with these handy checklists, therapists will be encouraging therapeutic activities throughout the entire day rather than time set aside for traditional home exercise programs. This book is an essential tool for all school based therapists to facilitate carry over of therapeutic activities in the home and classroom.  FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION.