In case you missed our previous post about my homeschooling resolve in 2013, one of the things I’m focusing on is being less “boring” around my kids. So, I’m trying to add in more art play since everyone loves art in our house.
Our boys, Roo especially, really need to work on fine motor skills. And I wanted to help him improve those skills without making it into a chore he’d hate.
To make the day less “school-y” and more fun, we decided to work on building fine motor skills with play dough! Talk about something that’s not a chore at all, right? 🙂
Image: nadezhda1906 / Dollar Photo Club
Building Fine Motor Skills with Play Dough
I’ve actually had these Play-Doh sets for a while but we haven’t played with them nearly enough over the years. One is the Barnyard Pals playset and the other is the Sweet Shoppe playset.
When we work with play dough, I like to have the kids use tools to shape it and manipulate it. That way, the kids can work on using their hands to grasp, pinch, and move small bits of dough. Fine motor skills ahoy!
As you can see, this is not an activity that requires any direction from me whatsoever. I just bring out the set and hand out the canisters and let them get to it. 🙂
Roo was content to sit and make Play-Doh ice cream all morning.
Pooh used multi-colored Play Doh to make some pretty colorful dreadlocks on a plastic pig.
As someone who has dreadlocks, I was only moderately offended.
Tigger made a blue mohawk on her purple rooster.
Pretty sharp, huh? I think I’m raising a house of future hairdressers.
Once we were finished, it was time to reinforce fine motor skills by….cleaning up! I’m only half kidding. Trying to get all those tiny bits of dough up is actually a pretty good skill builder. 🙂
How do you help your kids with building fine motor skills? Let us know in the comments!
Those are some awesome Play Doh creations! Have a fun year! I’m your newest follower from Hip Homeschool Hop. Deb @ LivingMontessoriNow.com
Hi! Great to have you here! Heading over to your site now. I love Montessori learning! 🙂
My kids will use playdoh for hours at a time, ie I love it! Although, I have completely given up on keeping the colors separate. My kids just love a rainbow 🙂
Ha! That’s actually one of the reasons that I kept the Play Doh in the closet for years. I hate mixed up colors in the same can! Then I remembered it’s just Play-Doh and I got over it…lol.