Welcome back to Porter Library’s Kinder Club Kit blog. Each season, Mrs. K. and Ms. Jamie will put together a Kinder Club Kit containing a variety of early literacy activities that will help your child get ready to make the big leap into kindergarten.
Today’s kit highlights Fine motor and scissor skills
Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills involve the use of the small muscles in our hands, wrists, fingers, feet and toes. Strengthening the muscles in your fingers and hands will help you with writing/drawing, using scissors and tying your shoes.
Let’s warm up our finger and hand muscles by doing a few fingerplays. Do you remember the songs Itsy Bitsy Spider and Bubble, Bubble, Pop? When you would sing and do the various movements, you were strengthening all those little muscles in your hands and fingers. Click on the links to revisit The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Bubble, Bubble, Pop to strengthen those finger muscles!
Now that you’ve warmed up your finger, hand and wrist muscles, let’s look at the fine motor activities that were included in your Kinder Club Kit!
Tearing paper using your pointer fingers and thumbs (pincer grasp) is an easy and fun way to build those finger muscles. Tear the strips of green paper into small pieces and use a glue stick to stick them to your 4-leaf clover just like Mrs. K. did in the sample above. What else could you make with any leftover pieces of green paper?
Lacing activities are an excellent method for building fine motor skills, as they require hand-eye coordination, finger dexterity and concentration to thread/lace a string or shoelace through holes. Practicing lacing activities like the one included in your kit will help with important everyday tasks writing, buttoning your clothes and tying your shoes. What lacing letter did you get in your kit? What colors are the lacing strings included with your letter? If your shoelace is too short to lace through your whole letter, use the longer string to lace through your letter.
Playing Tic-Tac-Toe is another simple way to strengthen those fine motor muscles. When you play Tic-Tac-Toe, you use a pincer grasp to pick up and place your tokens on the Tic-Tac-Toe board. If you did not pick up a Kinder Club Kit, you can make your own Tic-Tac-Toe set at home using items you might have around the house. Maybe a piece of cardboard, markers and pennies? Or when the weather gets nicer, you could use sidewalk chalk and rocks.
Scissor Skills
Before using your scissors, it is VERY important to know the scissor rules! Look at the image below listing the scissor rules. If you have any questions, make sure to ask your grown-up before you start cutting with your scissors. And remember we only use scissors with a grown-up’s permission and supervision.
Learning to use scissors can be frustrating. It’s okay to take a break when you feel frustrated or ask for help if you are having trouble cutting something.
Spring officially begins on Thursday, March 20. We thought it would be fun to celebrate spring with a spring flower scissor activity courtesy of Toddlerapproved.com. Use your scissors to cut on the black lines for each of the flowers included in your packet. When you are finished cutting your flower petals, use tape, glue or a glue stick to attach your green stems to your flowers.
Your pipe cleaner bracelet activity reinforces both your fine motor AND scissor skills! Use your scissors to cut the straws into smaller pieces. When you are finished cutting your straws, set your scissors aside and begin threading your beads, buttons and straws pieces onto your pipe cleaners. Once you’ve finished creating your bracelets, ask a grown-up to help you twist or tape the ends of the pipe cleaners together so you can wear your bracelets.
Bonus Activity: Toy Rescue
Use your scissors to rescue your toy by cutting the strips of construction paper wrapped around the bonus toy included in your Kinder Club Kit. If some of the construction paper strips are tricky to remove after cutting, put your scissors down and use your fingers to tear or pull the paper away from the toy.
Looking for more fine motor and scissor skill activities? Look no further than around the house. Listed below are a variety of activities that you can do at home to practice these skills.
- Fold laundry
- Use chopsticks for lunch or dinner
- Wrap presents
- Play with Play-Doh® or build with Legos®
- Cut coupons or scrap paper
Thanks for visiting the Kinder Club Kit blog today! Our next kit will be available to pick up on June 16. Registration begins June 9 @ westlakelibrary.org/events or call the Youth Services Department @ 440-250-5471.
