The Best Fine Motor Skills Activities for Preschoolers (That Kids Actually Love!)
Are you looking for fun and engaging fine motor skills activities for preschoolers that don’t require hours of prep? Fine motor development is critical in early childhood—it’s what helps children hold a pencil, cut with scissors, button their clothes, and gain independence in the classroom.
The good news? Building these skills doesn’t have to feel like “work.” With the right hands-on activities, your students can strengthen their little hand muscles, improve hand-eye coordination, and gain confidence—all while having fun.
Today, I’m sharing six of my favorite fine motor activities for preschoolers. These are classroom-tested, easy to set up, and keep kids excited to learn.
Best of all, these fine motor activities are part of my yearlong Fine Motor Bundle, so you’ll always have fresh, seasonal activities ready to go!
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Why Fine Motor Skills Are So Important in Preschool
Strong fine motor skills set the stage for writing, self-help skills, and academic success. But many preschoolers today are coming in with weaker hand strength due to more screen time and less hands-on play.
That’s why intentional fine motor activities—like scissor skills, cutting practice, tracing lines, and hole punch tasks—are more important than ever. When kids get repeated opportunities to practice, they build the muscles, control, and coordination needed for everything from holding a pencil to zipping a backpack.
6 Fun Fine Motor Activities for Preschoolers
These activities are my tried-and-true favorites because they’re fun, effective, and easy to prep. Even better? They stay consistent month to month, so kids quickly learn the routine—and you spend less time reteaching.
1. Preschool Hole Punch Activity
Hole punches are preschool gold! Kids love using them, and they’re incredible for building hand strength. My printable hole punch and cut strips let students punch holes along seasonal images, then cut the strip apart for extra scissor practice.
💡 Teacher Tip: Add a small container to catch the punched-out pieces—students love counting or gluing them as “confetti art.”
👉 The Fine Motor Bundle includes 12 sets of themed hole punch strips—one for every month!
2. Paper Tearing Art Pages
Paper tearing might sound simple, but it’s such a fun activity for strengthening the pincer grasp and hand muscles.
Kids tear small pieces of colored paper and glue them onto bold seasonal images. It’s low-prep, high-engagement, and works great for different ability levels.
💡 Differentiation Tip: Beginners can use pre-cut strips of paper, while more advanced students tear freehand.
You can also use these printable pages as a cut-and-paste activity. Instead of tearing paper, your kids can snip strips of paper and glue them to the page.
3. Cut & Paste Activities
No fine motor bundle is complete without cut and paste activities. These pages give students a chance to practice straight-line cutting and pasting, building confidence with scissors while following multi-step directions.
💡 Differentiation Tip: For students still developing scissor control, pre-cut the strips so they can just snip the images apart.
4. Fold And Cut Surprise Shapes
The bundle includes additional cutting activities for preschoolers. If you’re looking for a fun way to help your preschooler practice using scissors and develop their fine motor skills, I know that you will love the printable fold and cut activities.
These printable cutting practice activities provide a great opportunity for kids to build their skills with a pair of scissors. They will have the opportunity to practice cutting along lines, and curves. The best part is when they open up their page to reveal the image.
Can you imagine the excitement on their little faces?
Again, the fine motor bundle includes 3 images for each month of the year, so you will have a variety of fold and cut activities for the whole year.
5. Playdough Mats
Playdough is a preschool favorite for a reason—it strengthens hand and finger muscles while boosting creativity. My printable playdough mats add even more value by incorporating counting and number recognition.
These thematic playdough mats are like a super-fun and educational upgrade to regular playdough time. Not only do the printable playdough activities provide a designated workspace for your little ones, but they also offer opportunities for counting and number skills.
The set includes two different sizes of playdough mats. I LOVE the small mats. They are designed to fit inside a plastic pencil case. Add a small container of playdough and the number cards, and you have a great individual playdough kit for your kids.
But, If you prefer a larger playdough mat for your kids, you can use the full-page version.
💡 Pro Tip: Print the small mats to fit inside pencil boxes for grab-and-go fine motor kits!
Pre-Writing Lines Practice
You know what sets the foundation for successful writing? Pre-writing skills! Think of it like laying the foundation of a house. Your kids need to master some pre-writing skills before they start putting pencil to paper to start forming letters.
The printables in this bundle will give your kids lots of pre-writing lines practice that will help them build hand strength and strengthen their pencil grip, and develop more control with a writing instrument.
The set includes mazes for each month of the year. There are simple mazes and more complex mazes to meet the needs of your kids.
I love the connect the image pages. Kids can use their visual discrimination skills to find the matching images on the page. Then, they can draw a line from one image to the other. The challenge, is that they need to draw the line without going through other images.
….and just like all the other fine motor skills activities, the bundle includes options for every month of the year.
How to Build Fine Motor Practice Into Your Routine
Adding fine motor practice doesn’t have to take extra time or create more prep work. Here are a few simple ways to make it part of your day:
✅ Morning Tubs or Table Work – Start the day with a quick, independent fine motor activity.
✅ Centers or Task Boxes – Rotate seasonal activities weekly while keeping the structure the same.
✅ Small Groups or OT Sessions – These activities work great for targeted skill-building in small settings.
Consistency is key—the more frequently kids practice, the stronger (and more confident) they’ll become.
Want Fine Motor Activities for the whole year?
If you’re ready to save time (and sanity!) while giving your students engaging fine motor practice all year long, my Fine Motor Bundle has everything you need.
It includes 12 months of themed fine motor activities, with 6 consistent centers each month:
✔️ Hole Punch & Cut Strips
✔️ Paper Tearing Pages
✔️ Cut & Paste Activities
✔️ Fold & Cut Shapes
✔️ Playdough Mats
✔️ Pre-Writing Lines & Mazes
Because the activities stay the same each month—but with fresh themes—students quickly learn the routine. That means more independence for them and less reteaching for you.
👉 Grab the Fine Motor Bundle on TPT or in my shop and get a full year of fine motor fun ready to go!
JUST Purchase the MOST POPULAR ACTIVITIES TODAY
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Here are the quick links to purchase the Fine Motor Bundle today.
Here is a video showing all the activities in the April fine motor activity set.
What Teachers are saying:
Teachers who have used this resource are raving about it! Here is what they had to say after using it in their classroom:
Try it Before You Buy It
Do you want to try out the activities before you buy the bundle? I have a free birthday-themed set I can send directly to your inbox. If you try the activities out with your kids, I’m certain that they will love them. Fill out the form below, and I’ll send the printables your way.
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Purchase The Fine Motor Skills Activities for Preschoolers Today
Helping preschoolers build fine motor skills doesn’t have to be complicated. With the right activities, you can give kids consistent, meaningful practice—and they’ll have so much fun they won’t even realize they’re strengthening their little hands.
Whether you use the ideas above or grab the done-for-you Fine Motor Bundle, you’ll love how easy it is to give your students the practice they need to succeed.
👉 Shop the Fine Motor Bundle here and get everything you need for a full year of engaging, effective fine motor centers!
Purchase on TPT
Do you prefer to shop at Teachers Pay Teachers? You can also purchase the Fine Motor Bundle in my TPT Store.
