Crafts develop fine motor skills as well as creative thinking.
Fine motor development is vital for performing a variety of daily tasks, including writing, tying and buttoning. Since fine motor skills are such an essential part of everyday life, providing children with activities that encourage the growth of the small muscles of their hands at an early age is crucial. Present preschoolers with craft activities to develop these muscles, as children of this age are typically interested in making crafts and such projects require the use of small hand muscles.
Cutting and Pasting
Encourage fine motor development with craft projects that require cutting and pasting. Offer children safety scissors and a variety of items to cut, from paper to yarn. Instruct them to assemble the items that they cut onto a piece of paper to create an image and have them glue the items into place. Both operating the scissors and gluing the items in place require the use of fine motor skills, which helps to develop these muscles.
Painting
Painting provides children with opportunities to exercise and develop their fine motor skills. Supply children with a variety of types of paint, including finger paint, watercolors and tempera paint. In addition to paintbrushes, offer kids different items to use for painting, such as leaves, cotton swabs and sponges. Invite preschoolers to use the materials to create any type of picture they would like, or encourage them to create a specific image, such as a self-portrait or a landscape.
Drawing
Drawing is another craft project that encourages the development of fine motor skills in preschool students. Set out various types of drawing materials, such as markers, crayons, colored pencils, pastels, chalk and gel pens. Let students use the materials to draw various types of pictures on different media, including paper, foam and even boxes. Have children use drawing materials to practice handwriting, as well. Print out students' names on paper and encourage them to use the materials to trace over the letters in their names.
Clay
Sculpting clay also serves as a craft project that helps strengthen fine motor skills. Offer kids different colors of clay and allow them to manipulate the material in different ways. Show them use their hands to create snakes, shapes and other objects with the clay. Provide them with rolling pins and have them roll out the material; press cookie cutters into the rolled out clay and remove the shapes that are formed to develop hand muscles.
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