Fine Motor Activity Ideas: 5th grade-8th grade

Fine motor skills are the key to various daily activities. As children improve fine motor skills they gain independence in tasks such as eating, writing, dressing, and many more. They are able to express themselves in a variety of ways once fine motor development is implemented.

However, fine motor activities can be difficult to target with older students from the ages of 5th grade to 8th grade. Many students find the activities targeting fine motor control “childish” or “silly.” In order to gain these skills, therapists and parents are required to think outside the box, focus on the student’s interests, and make the activities engaging and fun.

Below is a list of activities that have been utilized with students from the grades of 5th to 8th grade to target fine motor control. These activities are easy to set up but engage the student in the task while implementing the goal of fine motor control.

  1. Play Doh Connect Four/ Tic-Tac-Toe
  2. Handwriting Jenga
  3. Scattegories
  4. Braiding boards/ learning to braid hair
  5. DIY crafts
  6. Wind chimes
  7. Fidgets
  8. Origami
  9. Marshmallow towers with toothpick connectors
  10. Friendship bracelets
  11. Lego word art
  12. Hole punch crafts
  13. Board games
  14. Scavenger hunt with handwriting
  15. Making paper airplanes
  16. Puzzles
  17. Cooking activities
  18. Typing activities (typingclub.com is a free interactive typing website)

It is important to continue engaging students in fine motor skills no matter what grade they are in. Focus on the individual student and make the activities fun! Fine motor skills can be implemented in so many activities, it just takes a little creativity!

Brittany Krause OTR/L

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