This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here.
This article is by Mama Sez, because Crazy JC Girl simply doesn’t remember a lot of this stuff since she was so young. She does, however, want to share part of her journey and struggles if it will help others.
Fine Motor Activities are simply skills that use the smaller muscles of the hand. I think of these skills as simply PLAYING. These skills are just different activities that your little one can do to help strengthen their hands and practice skills needed later in life. Of course, we tend to focus on writing since Crazy JC Girl was somewhat delayed compared to her peers. Not only did she have medical issues, she also had a poor upper body strength, fine motor skills, and eye/hand coordination issues. Thus, weekly Occupational Therapy appointments were part of our schedule for several years.
Here are some articles that I think would be beneficial for other parents who may be concerned about helping their little ones practice their fine motor skills. If you are at all concerned, I would definitely ask your GP/Pediatrician for a referral for Occupational Therapy. My daughter thought of these appointments as PLAY sessions, where toys were loaned out to us and we learned about NEW games to play throughout the week.
Pencil Control

The OT Toolbox has an article explaining hand strength as it relates to handwriting. It has a great tong activity for helping develop this strength. Crazy JC Girl did multiple variations of this tong activity, dropping in size as she developed strength and grew. She used a variety of tongs from kitchen tongs, children’s chopsticks, candy tongs (comes in a pack of gummy worms), to finally eyebrow tweezers. Towards the bottom of the page are links to numerous other fine motor activities.

Rocks in My Dryer has post showing the same tip our OT taught Crazy JC Girl. Take a tissue and hold it in your pinkie & ring finger. See the post for pictures showing the proper way to hold your pencil.
Fine Motor Activities
From playdough, to pop-beads & Legos, you can easily help your child “Play their Way” to developing Hand Strength.

Growing a Jeweled Rose has a list of 35 fine motor activity ideas for fun play & learning. Crazy JC Girl did practically all these activities throughout the years.

Hands On as We Grow has another post with a listing of 30 fine motor skills. Although a few of these are duplicated in the post above, most of these are new unique ideas…some I’ve never seen before.
Other Suggestions & Ideas
This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here.
This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here.
- Related – Beginning Scissor Skills
- Related – Handwriting: My Journey
- Related – Handwriting: Tools of the Trade
- Related – Handwriting: Workbooks & Practice Sheets
