Fine motor skills are the small muscle movements in hands, fingers and thumbs. Skills like eating, building with blocks and even dressing are examples of fine motor skills. The good news is that young children develop fine motor skills through everyday activities – no special equipment is required.Watch the short videos below for tips on how to work on these skills with babies, younger toddlers, older toddlers and preschoolers while playing.

Babies

Find out what needs to happen before a baby gains fine motor control, and learn a tickle rhyme that helps.

Younger Toddlers

Older Toddlers

Preschoolers

You can help your child develop fine motor skills through activities like playing with play dough, puzzles and cutting with scissors.

Ginger Park

As the library’s communications editor Ginger helps spread the word about all the amazing library resources, services and staff. She loves reading fiction and is working to keep her To Be Read list under 100. Ginger is also a volunteer at Helping Hands Humane Society.