Fine motor work...

I've really been focusing lately on building some fine motor strength in Dax (fine motor strength would be the muscles in his little fingers and hands... this is essential for being able to write). We've been playing with a lot of playdoh (squeezing it, poking it, tearing it) and stringing his beads on laces. But this week I wanted to let Dax work with scissors a little more. He got scissors for Christmas so we've used them here and there since then... but this week I started off by putting them in with his playdoh.

Like I said, we've used them before so he knew how to hold them... but it was pretty cute to watch his problem solving skills go crazy as he figured out how to use them with the playdoh. He started out trying to cut the playdoh while it laid on the table (obviously didn't work). Then he tried cutting with his left hand (that was really awkward). And finally he got it all figured out.

A couple days later I busted out a new pair of scissors for him. These had the actual blade but had a great spring in the middle that you could flip up for beginners (it helps the scissors open back up). PS... I found these at Dollar Tree!!!  I then decided to draw lines on strips of construction paper for him to try to cut on (cutting on lines is a skill they'll need in pre-k and it helps with eye hand coordination). Sidenote: While cutting on lines is good, make sure you also give kids paper without lines so they can have some free expression with their cutting.

He loved this activity and you could see the pride in his face! He thought he was so big!  After he finished cutting I gave him a glue stick and let him collage his shapes.

 This past week I've also had him start "writing" his name (the lines on the bottom). His fine motor skills aren't strong enough yet to write actual letters, but I was really proud of him when he drew a corresponding individual mark as he said each letter of his name. Baby steps!

Dax has still been very into letters this week, but his newest love is doing puzzles! I would say he spends most of his time during the day doing puzzles. Right now since he just started using puzzles I've been keeping the outer edge of the puzzle put together for him so he has a starting point. But he is building some awesome strategies so I'm sure he'll be doing the entire puzzles on his own before long!

 

Dax made his own matching game with his puzzle and letter rocks.

 This was a birthday gift... lettter book with meaningful things in it.