Developing Fine Motor Skills With Crafts

Before a child can write, the small muscles of the hand have to learn to work apart from each other. That happens through play long before it happens at a desk, which is why our craft table is busy every morning.

Threading beads onto a shoelace builds the pincer grip. Tearing paper into a collage builds the opposition between thumb and forefinger. Squeezing a sponge in the water tray builds the whole hand. None of it looks like handwriting practice, and all of it is.

The materials are deliberately ordinary: pasta, buttons, pegs, string and old magazines. Set a tray on the kitchen table, put out three of them, and let your child choose what to do with them.