Fine Motor Skills

At Purple Twig we offer art classes for children starting at age 2. I love working with this age because the importance of how things look is a rare occurrence. This age is far more interested in the exploration of the materials, how they feel. We offer a lot of materials at this age, from sensory materials like shaving cream to tools like scissors for them to practice with.

We offer clay for sculpting, wood for building, brayers for rolling, pipettes for squeezing. The list goes on and on. Parents and children work together, talking about the color and shape of materials given and the possibilities of the materials.

 As the children come into the studio we have an invitation set out for them to explore before our story and larger art project. These invitation materials are ones that are readily available and focus on practicing prewriting mark making or their fine motor skills. Parents sometimes email me with questions about what materials can be offered to this young age, so I thought I'd share with you all a few great projects you can do with kids age 2 and 3.

TAPE AND SCISSORS

This is a great introduction to using scissors. Having them peel those little colorful tapes is great fine motor skill practice and the snipping of the tape is so rewarding. They can make recalling long strips or little tiny strips. After they peel the tape, I recommend the adult to hold the tape between two hands for the child to cut.

The tape rolls in themselves can be rolled or stacked as well. 

Your little artist can place the tape on the paper wherever they like, using them as stickers or use them as a line in a drawing, making letters or a simple shape. 

PAPER COLLAGE

I save all those extra bit of paper left over from other paper projects.  I spread them out on the table and have a pair of scissors waiting for each child.  This project offers a great opportunity to talk about shape and color with your child as well as help them with fine motor skills. Some children use two hands when using the scissors at first and some go right to using one hand. Even if they don't use them correctly, its great to introduce them to this common tool.

After they explore the scissors for a bit, I give them a glue stick and a piece of paper to glue start choosing shapes and colors to glue down.

BEADING

A cupcake tin is a perfect container to offer beads and cut straws and buttons along with pipe cleaners. The pipe cleaner is so much easier than string and it can be manipulated itself.

Sometimes also offer small pieces of foam that I punch holes into as well. This project allows for discussions of color and size and shape of each of the materials as they choose what to string onto the pipe cleaner.

I hope you give these creative activities a try. Let me know how it goes if you do. I always love to hear what you all think.