Fine motor activity and imaginary play unite with Bear Boat Rescue.
Truth is, my almost five-year-old designed this activity for me. “Hey mom, I made you an activity. Come look.” He didn’t know he was making a fine motor activity, but he did know he was learning through play!
Being that I ask the same of my preschoolers, I stopped what I was doing to head on over.
When I go to the activity, I gasped! What an adorable fine motor idea. This preschool activity needed to be shared with YOU for your next Breakfast Invitation!
My son titled this one, “Save the Sinking Bears.” The mission was to move them all safely into the boat.
RELATED: Quick and easy play ideas are the heart of childhood. That is why I made these activity cards for you to store at home to use in a flash.
Fine motor activities are important because they prepare small hand muscles for:
Phew! These sure are some essential life skills to practice!
The more we squeeze and move little fingers, the more prepared they will be for the skills listed above. You can see how we prepare for pencil grip in this 25+ Ideas to Help Pencil Grip post. Writing prep happens long before holding a pencil to form letters.
Here, my almost five-year-old is using tongs to rescue the sinking bears.
As he squeezes the tongs, he is also strengthening his small hand muscles. We keep these tongs in our play space, and I have seen so much development and progress over time.
We’ve used these tongs for years with activities such as:
There are so many fun ways to practice fine motor skills! Supplies for preschoolers need to be kept simple. Do not think that you need all the bells and whistles. Look how simple this supply list is here.
Setting up is easy breeze, lemon squeezy.
Place a piece of blue paper on the table to represent water. If you d not have blue paper, try using white and adding marker with a blue marker.
Place the counting bears on the paper. If you do not have counting bears, try and find something else that would pair well with this idea. I am sure there are many toys you can add to this imaginary play.
Place a simple DIY boat made from recycled materials to the right of the water. Now your toddler or preschooler will move from the left to the right to prepare for reading and writing.
Supplies:
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tongs that use less force to open and close
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blue paper
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recycled supplies for the boat
Bear Boat Rescue is a fun way to help prepare our young learners for every day fine motor skills.
Play today or save this pin for later!