Happy Fine Motor Friday! It’s good for toddlers and preschoolers to do a variety of fine motor activities. Having different activities help work different fine motor muscles and hand coordination which is necessary for handwriting. Fine Motor Fridays is all about giving you a bunch of ideas to do with your little ones! Be sure to check out activities from our co-hosts at the end of this post! This week I am sharing another bug themed fine motor activity and like last week’s Counting Ants: Fine Motor Sensory Game this also includes a sensory element.
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Play Dough Invitation with Ants
Setting up a fun invitation to play with play dough is an easy way to provide your children with sometime different to play with independently so you can get something done around the house like laundry or making lunch. Caden has recently started going to preschool a couple of mornings a week. We get home right before lunch time. One day last week I had this activity set up for him to explore while I made lunch.
Supplies:
- Brown Play Dough
- Mini Plastic Ants
- River Rocks
- Green Pipe Cleaners
- Ant Life Cycle Figures
Set Up:
Setting up this invitation to play is easy. I used a tray to arrange all the loose parts for play in an inviting way. But this is not necessary, you could simply place them out on the play table and invite your children to play!
My son enjoyed squeezing the play dough into shape and poking river rocks and the mini plastic ants into it. These actions are a fun way for kids to strengthen their fine motor muscles which are needed to be able to hold a pencil correctly.
HAPPY FINE MOTOR FRIDAY!
Check out these great fine motor ideas!
Straw Painting Fine Motor Butterflies from Still Playing School
Barrel of Monkeys Fine Motor Painting from House of Burke
Button Music Note Art from And Next Comes L
Follow Laura @ Lalymom Kids Crafts & Activities’s board Fine Motor Fridays on Pinterest.
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Looks like a lot of fun and a great science lesson my girls would love!
I’m getting an ant farm for my toddler classroom and this is the perfect activity to go along with the excitement! Where did you get your divided plate/tray? I’ve scoured the Internet, but I can’t find them.
Hi, I find them at the Dollar Tree.