How to Use Office Supplies for Fine Motor Activities at Home

You can use everyday household items for DIY fine motor activities at home or at school.   Here is a list of some ideas for fine motor activities for kids using some basic office supplies.

Simple Fine Motor Activities with Everyday Materials

You don’t have to go out and buy a bunch of special tools to help your kids develop fine motor skills.  You already have a lot of tools at home or in your desk drawer.

Paper clips

Kids can add paper clips to a small piece of heavy paper or cardstock.  Use them for counting activities or as a scorecard for a dice game.   If you have colorful paper clips, you can use them for color sorting or patterning activities.

Binder clips

Kids can add binder clips to a piece of paper, cardstock, or popsicle stick.  Colorful binder clips create a little more interest and can be used for color matching and patterning activities.

Hole punch

My favorite office supply/fine motor tool is a hole punch.  Kids love hole punch activities!  They can make open-ended designs by punching holes into paper or index cards.  They also enjoy adding holes to printables.

Stapler

My second favorite fine motor tool in my desk drawer is a stapler.  Let kids staple scrap paper together to make these mini-books.  They can use a stapler to attach things to paper in their art projects and collages.

Rubber bands

Challenge your kids to place rubber bands around cans, plastic cups, pool noodles, or paper towel rolls.

Reinforcement labels or Dot Stickers

Use these fun stickers for art activities, color sorting, counting activities, or patterning activities.

Pushpins

Kids can poke holes into lines, letter cards, or other images.

Pencils & erasers

Place erasers on pencils.  You can also use erasers for sorting activities.

Envelopes

Let kids “write” letters and stuff them into envelopes.  If you don’t want to use your stash of envelopes, save and recycle envelopes that you get in the mail.

Paper

Encourage kids to use the paper in your recycling bin.  They can squeeze and crumble paper to make “snowballs”.   Add an ice cream scoop from your kitchen drawer and they can scoop up some pretend ice cream.

They can also build hand strength by ripping paper.  Use the ripped paper in art activities or for cutting practice.

Tape

Kids also love using tape.  Let them use it to create art, to “fix” things.  Use masking tape as a resist for painting projects like spray bottle painting or squirt gun painting.

Which Activity Are You Going to Try?

See how easy it is to work on fine motor skills with your kids using items from around the house? I hope that you dig through your desk drawer and try some of these fine motor activities at home today.

Work on Fine Motor Skills with this Free Printable

Are you ready for more fine motor activity ideas?  Get this free fine motor printable to work on fine motor skills activities with your kids.

Fine Motor Activities in the Store

These fine motor activities are available in the store.  Click on the images to check them out today.