Valentine’s Day Fine Motor Play
There are so many fun ways to practice fine motor skills with young learners, and I especially love providing festive ideas for celebrating an upcoming holiday. This post includes some fun ideas for Valentine’s Day-themed fine motor play.
First up, speaking of fine motor fun who says practicing cutting skills has to be boring?
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We’ve been enjoying this super cute Valentine’s Cutting Packet from This Reading Mama. It’s free on her site – such a perfect fit for my girls right now!
Now onto a fun play-based fine motor experience that can be adjusted and extended for learners in all different ages and stages!
To get started, provide your kiddos with a variety of different containers, utensils, and craft poms.
Since it’s Valentine’s Day, I pulled out some fun heart-shaped containers and our red, pink, purple, and white poms.
This activity can be used for your child to practice transferring objects from one container to another. Did you know that’s a really important skills for them to learn?
They may enjoy doing this with their hands…
…but you can also add the extra challenge of using utensils to get the job done.
Maybe you want to simply give them [safe] kitchens, or you could try these fun fine motor tools we’ve saved here in our Amazon storefront.
Another fun idea that adds an extra challenge is to try to use the fine motor tools to place poms on the backside of these Bathtub Grippy Dots.
It’s also fun to use a water dropper (or maybe you’ve got a medicine dropper hanging around somewhere) and try to see how many drops of water you can fit on each little dot on the backs of these.
I wish I could remember where I first saw this idea!
The first time my boys tried it, they had a ball! Here in the south, “They had a ball.” means “They had a lot of fun doing it.”
I have brought these pom activities out on repeat over the years…at different times…in different seasons…and each time, I love watching my kids’ little imaginations at work.
In these photos, you’ll see where my girls decided to begin mixing up some “recipes”. They made make-believe soup and spaghetti.
Psst…when the poms get inside that little whisk, freeing them is more fine motor work for your kiddo!
Let your little ones explore – scooping, pouring, mixing, creating!
On this particular occasion, my girls scattered the poms in the floor – creating trails for each other to follow.
Because this was encouraging some of the gross motor practice my oldest daughter has been working on in her physical therapy sessions, I didn’t get too upset about the mess this made. 😉
The trail-making then resulted in a new idea where they began pretending like they were at the strawberry patch picking strawberries – as they picked the red poms up off of the floor. This adorable pretend-play session also helped with cleanup! ha!
I’m always impressed with what they come up with on their own!
These little containers pictured here are from the dollar store…
…and we found the little pink heart trays at IKEA.
Here’s a peek at itty bitty Aubrey doing this activity one year at Christmas (See those red and green poms and containers?) and then a few months later at Valentine’s Day…
…and this activity continues to be a hit.
Now that my girls are getting older, we’re sorting colors, creating patterns, using our poms to add and subtract.
The sky’s the limit, and they just think they’re playing – because they are!
More Fine Motor Practice Ideas
- Fine Motor Activity: Cutting Straws
- Tracing and Writing in Salt Learning Activity
- Painting and Writing with Water
- Simple Science: Drops of Water on a Coin
- Tracing Letters with Water
- Fine Motor Activity: Stacking Froot Loops
- Paint Bags: Letters, Sight Words, Spelling Words, & More!
- Fine Motor Skills: Activities for Little Hands
More Valentine’s Day Ideas
- Valentine’s Day Books for Kids
- How to Make Homemade Heart-Shaped Crayons
- Red Velvet Brownie Bars – Make these with your kids for Valentine’s Day! YUM!
- Set up a Coloring Table – Use heart-shaped cookie cutters to create!
Does your child want to learn to play chess?