Fall Fine Motor Activities
Fall is here, and there are many fun, fall-themed activities to encourage the development of fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are small motor movements with the wrist, hand, and fingers. These skills are important for everyday tasks, such as feeding, dressing, writing, and engaging in play tasks. Below is a list of different activities that can help facilitate these skills.
Handwriting and Letter Activities
-Scavenger hunt: Give kids a list of items to write down and then find as part of a scavenger hunt
-Pumpkin seeds: Write different letters, then have the child glue pumpkin seeds on top to trace the letter 
-Use leaves: Write letters on a leaf and have the child spell their name or different words, or have them match letters on leaves to letters written on paper.
-Zip loc bag: Fill a zip lock bag with some hair gel and orange food coloring, you can also add pumpkin seeds or googly eyes. Then seal shut with tape and lay flat for kids to trace letters.
-Playdough: Have kids form letters with playdough to spell fall-themed words
Grasp & Hand strengthening Activities
-Playdough monsters: play dough is a fun way to work on hand strengthening, make monster sculptures using play dough
-Leaf confetti: Use a hole puncher to punch holes in different types of leaves
-Sorting colored pumpkin seeds: Let pumpkin seeds sit in food coloring to dye them different colors, then have kids sort them by color
-Spider web: Punch holes around the edge of a paper plate, then lace yarn or string through to create a web. Kids can then try to get plastic spiders out of the web using a tweezer
-Mini fall erasers: Hide mini fall-themed erasers in a bin of rice or dry beans and have kids find them using tweezers or just their fingers
-Q-tip painting: Draw a tree, then use a q-tip to paint the leaves on
Coloring and Crafts
-Color leaves: Place a piece of paper over a leaf and color over it with a crayon
-Decorate pumpkins: use different materials to decorate pumpkins, such as pipe cleaners, paint, pom pom balls, glitter glue, etc.
-Turkey handprint: Dip hand into the paint then place onto paper, use paint or marker to draw a face on the thumb to make a turkey.
-Popsicle stick puzzle: Tape popsicle sticks together, then draw a fall-themed picture on the front. Once the picture is drawn, take the tape off and try to assemble them back together like a puzzle
-Make a pumpkin stamp: fold the top of an empty paper towel or toilet paper roll to create a heart-like shape, then dip in paint and stamp onto paper. You can paint the stem on using a fingertip or paintbrush
