Fall Sculptures for Fine Motor Skills

As we know, older children groan at fine motor activities that would thrill younger children. After all, what ten-year-old wants to do scissors work or practice penmanship? But give a child a bagful of chestnuts, acorns, and pine cones along with a glue gun and a few other implements, and you’ve got an engrossed artist who will lose track of time in the midst of fine motor work.

Pine Cone Triceratops

Do you want to try it? Here’s what to do.


1. Gather your materials. (Involve the children in collecting the materials from outdoors if possible.)

• chestnuts, acorns, pine cones, sticks, leaves (anything you can find outside in the fall)
• glue gun and refills
• liquid white out
• Fine tipped markers
• toothpicks

2. Let the children have at it!

Some children will benefit from having pre-made samples or photos from which to draw inspiration. If you're wondering what the white out and fine-tipped marker are for, check out the eyeballs on the birds pictured here.

Acorn Birds' Nest

Here is some more inspiration from around the web for making sculptures with pine cones, acorns, and such.

Acorn Animals from Red Ted Art’s blog
Mini-World from Streamers and Acorns from Se7en
Acorn and Pine Cone Critters from Menschenskind
Acorn Animals and Pine Cone Animals (more photos) from yours truly at MakeLearningFun.info

Question: Do you have a favorite seasonal activity for fine motor skills? Please share in the comments.

Acorn Animals

A few weeks ago, I posted about the pine cone animals that my kids had made. A post about acorn animals at Red Ted Art's Blog reminded me that my kids had made some of those too. Here are some bird's nest scenes that they made mainly from acorns.

All you need are various kinds of acorns, pine cones, sticks, something flat for the base, and a glue gun to stick it all together. The eggs are actually dried beans. The eyes are made with a drop of white out and a sharpie.

 The book at left is full of great craft ideas. You can probably find it at the library,  but if not, click through to check it out on Amazon. You can see the first several pages there.

Question: What are your favorite fall activities? Share in the comments, and feel free to leave a relavent link.

Pine Cone Animals

Pine Cone Triceratops

My kids went to the science museum today and made these great pine cone animal sculptures. What a wonderful way to use found items for art! If you've read my blog before, you know I am interested in fine motor skills activities for older children. Well, holding a glue gun with one hand and attaching all of these little parts with the other is wonderful exercise for the small muscles of the hand. As with all of the best exercises, I'm sure making these cute pine cone animals didn't feel like exercise at all!

Pine Cone Dogs

Check out the acorn birds' nests the kids made the same day.

Question: What fun crafts do you have in mind for the fall?

50 Fine Motor Skills Activities for Older Children

Fine motor skills are crucial for everyone, but focused practice on them usually ends in preschool or kindergarten. Older children often need a little more work, especially to increase the legibility of their handwriting, but just practicing penmanship is boring. How can working on fine motor skills be fun?

Here are some fun activities to improve fine motor skills. Of course everyone has different different likes and dislikes, so to make sure there are at least a few choices to suit everyones interests, I present fifty fine motor skills activities for older children.

Crafts for Fine Motor Skills
Improve eye-hand coordination with crafts

Origami Blue Bird by Jacque Davis

1. Stringing beads

2. Origami

3. Cloth or paper embroidery

4. Crocheting or knitting

5. Fusion beads (tip: use tweezers for even better fine motor skills practice)

6. Paper cutting (the art form, not the preschool activity)

7. Aqua Beads (like fusion beads, but you spray water on the beads to make them stick together instead of an iron)

8. Basket weaving

9. Sewing

10. Pottery

Games for Fine Motor Skills
Add some competition

Jenga Tournament by Tom Rolfe

11. Operation

12. Jenga

13. Make 'n' Break (see my review)

14. Yahtzee

15. Foosball

16. Rush Hour

17. Marbles

18. Darts

19. Play dough charades

20. Video games (hate to admit it, but they do improve eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills.)

Puzzles to Help Fine Motor Skills
Engage the brain too

Playing with Brain String Advanced

21. Mazes

22. Jigsaw puzzles

23. Rubik's Cube and other similar puzzles

24. Crossword Puzzles

25. Brain String Advanced (see my review)

25 More Fine Motor Skills Activities for Older Children
Something for everyone

26. Enjoy coloring (not just for kids)

27. Practice a musical instrument

Use Chopsticks for fine motor skills

28. Use chopsticks

29. Tie flies

30. Go fishing

31. Try writing Japanese or Chinese characters (see my ideas for learning Japanese)

32. Learn how to tie cool knots

33. Practice typing/keyboarding

34. Play with Wikki Stix (see my Wikki Stix review)

35. Learn sign language

36. Sculpt with clay

37. Do paper mache

38. Make plastic models

39. Play with gears

40. Braid hair

41. Build with Lego

42. Decorate cakes

Magnetic Sculpture by Tamra Hays

43. Make magnetic sculptures

44. Play paper football

45. Make designer lattes and cappuccinos

46. Play with a tilting ball maze

47. Do a connect-the-dots puzzle

48. Learn calligraphy

49. Make a mosaic

50. Write with a fountain pen

Question: Do you have a favorite fine motor skills activity for older children? Please share in the comments!