Fine Motor for Littles is an online course for preschoolers that helps them develop the fine motor skills needed for handwriting, such as dexterity, bilateral coordination, and hand-eye coordination. A one-time purchase gives you lifetime access to this course.
The course uses videos, written information, and downloadable PDFs to present many learning exercises and hands-on activities.
How It Works
In the first of the course’s nine modules, course creators Helen and Caitlin introduce and explain it. The other eight modules each have a particular focus and are titled:
- Finger Warm-Up Exercises
- Finger Plays
- Crossing the Midline
- Finger Gym Play
- Tactile Play
- Tracking and Tracing
- Mark Making
- Pencil Grasp
Each module has one to four brief videos that explain and demonstrate the activities, and these are accompanied by brief text and links to PDFs. Most videos run only a few minutes, although one on Dough Drawing runs more than nine minutes as it demonstrates forming all the letters with playdough. In most videos, the exercises are demonstrated by a young girl, and your children might want to try them while watching her.
Downloadable PDFs are often used by children to do exercises shown on the videos. Some PDFs are used to print out cards that illustrate the exercises, making it easy to see the options at a glance without rewatching the videos. For example, ten cards illustrate the ten different finger movement warm-ups, and eight finger-play song cards show both lyrics and hand movements. Some of these are available as double-sided cards for purchase from For Littles.
Other PDFs might be used for scissor-cutting exercises, completing dot-to-dots, painting dots on letters, and finger tracing on mazes. Under Module 8: Mark Making, an unusual PDF describes and illustrates 12 phases children progress through as they develop writing skills. This is a handy reference for parents, and the process is explained in the six-minute video, Stages of Progression.
A few PDFs present activities not shown in the videos. For instance, the “Midline Games and Activities” PDF lists seven other activities that help children “cross the midline,” such as playing Twister, putting on socks and shoes, and twirling a ribbon attached to a stick. Explanations for activities are included when necessary. These and other activities will be done with whole-body movements.
From the modules, parents choose the activities to use each day with their child. An online sample planner (for one week) schedules two activities per day, five days per week. Parents use the downloadable blank planner page to create their own weekly lesson plans. The course recommends starting each day's lesson with a finger warm-up exercise, such as rubbing hands together, clapping, performing hand taps on a surface, piano-type finger taps, finger-to-thumb taps, and finger play songs (e.g., “Open Shut Them”). Note that the finger play songs are simple to do without musical accompaniment.
Parents can work through the modules, adding new activities to finger warm-ups each week. If a child has a particular developmental issue addressed by the program, they can spend as much time as is needed on exercises from that module.
Some additional resources are required, such as playdough, scissors, tape, beads and string, Q-Tips, stickers, sand, and fingerpaint. Parents should create a basket or tub with the resources they will be using so they are handy. A few song files (MP3) are included, although they aren’t essential. You do not need to do every exercise, but the variety will keep things interesting for children and might be more effective.
Parents should familiarize themselves with the program and gather resources before beginning, but this shouldn’t require much time. After that, the program can be used in an open-and-go fashion.
Summary
Fine Motor for Littles does a good job of laying the groundwork for pre-writing as it helps children develop both the small and large muscles involved in writing, while also training the eyes and brain.
