We all know the benefits of improving fine motor skills. This allows your child to take care of themselves, putting those tiny buttons through their school uniforms or writing ABCs on a piece of paper neatly.

Here are some examples you can of activities you can do with your child to sharpen those skills!

1. Piecing Puzzles

Start off with those big puzzle pieces, a large picture with just 8 pieces. This not just test their puzzle solving ability, but also the picking up, turning it and putting together at the right places so that it snaps nicely into place. Then as it gets easier, change it up to smaller pieces and see how your child takes it.

2. Cutting Shapes with Scissors

Get a plastic paper cutting scissors, a few pieces of paper, draw large shapes like squares and rectangles. Show your child once by cutting one shape out yourself.

Hand over the scissors to him and let him try it out. At first it will be a mess with him not being able to follow the lines. Take it easy and slow, drag a larger line using a large black marker. After multiple practices, he will be doing it right!

3. Scooping Rice

This seemingly simple task actually took us days and months to practice before we get it perfect, just that it was so long ago in our history that we seemed to have forgotten about it.

Pour half a cup of uncooked rice into an empty bowl, pass your child a children’s spoon and then hold his hand to scoop a few grains of rice into another bowl.

One of the simpler and easier activity on this list, I would start off with this and then progress to more difficult ones after. You can also try out different types of spoons, grain sizes and bowls too to vary the difficult level.

4. Takeaway Containers

You know those clear, plastic takeaway containers, take a few of them of different shapes, lay it out onto the floor and then put them together. After he is done, encourage him to take out the lids and place them on the floor again.

Increase the difficulty by putting more variety together, include bottles and bottle caps, lunch boxes and water bottles.

Be creative, literally anything that helps him to practice moving those tiny fingers of his will help him to improve his fine motor skills. Have fun experimenting!