Easy At-Home Fine Motor Activities for Infants by Age
Check out our complete guide to fine motor activities with infants for each age. We have simple activities to try with your baby to help with fine motor skill development at every level.
Trying to balance all the various baby development ‘milestones’ and ‘goals’ you hear about for babies can be overwhelming, so just do what you can! You don’t have to do all of these, we just wanted to give you more options.
And please remember that babies develop at different rates, so don’t compare your baby to other babies and use this as more of a rough guide.
Strengthen Those Small Finger and Hand Muscles
A child’s fine motor skills at this age are just beginning, so the main goal is to strengthen the small muscles of the hands and fingers. One day, your child will need those muscles in their everyday activities like getting dressed, holding a pencil in the pincer grasp, and feeding themselves.
Babies are also working on hand-eye coordination and concentration during these fine motor activities, but that might be less obvious and also take longer to master. Fine motor development is an on-going process that continues for years.
Development of Fine Motor Skills at Home
When I go on social media, I’m overwhelmed by all these ‘development’ activities and toys I’m supposed to be doing with my baby. It seems like every influencer and account preaches a ‘must have’ toy for babies and young kids. But social media is not real, and we’re here to tell you that you don’t need any extra special toys or tools for fine motor development!
There’s truly so many simple fine motor activities you can do with little to no toys, or by using things you already have at home. Whether you’re on a tight budget, have limited space, or just don’t want any more toys in your house, we have the best ways to help fine motor skills without more toys. And younger babies don’t even need toys at all if you don’t want to get any.
Fine Motor Activities by Age
Here’s some of our favorite fine motor skills activities roughly based on age, but the suggested ages are not hard rules. You can adapt the following activities based on your baby’s ability and interest. Remember, every baby is different, so be patient with yourself and your baby!
Fine motor control comes with lots and lots of practice, so move on to the next set of activities whenever your baby is ready. Your baby’s fine motor skills will eventually catch up to where they ‘should’ be, but it may not fit this exact timeline. You can check the suggested fine motor goals for each age here.
Start with Tummy Time (0-3 Months)
You’ve probably heard this often enough, but start tummy time right away! Fine and gross motor skills both begin earlier than you realize, and this activity is the best way to get started. Working on head control is the first step to being able to do any of these fun activities.
How you can help: While your baby is in tummy time, lay down with them and talk to them, make eye contact, or read books. You can also place toys or things with vibrant colors in front of them to encourage head movement and visual-motor skills.
Play with Little Hands (3-6 Months)
Young babies at this age group are still figuring out how to use their hands and fingers, so don’t expect anything too impressive when it comes to fine motor skills. They’re still working on their basic skill set of grabbing your fingers and toys.
How you can help: Continue doing tummy time consistently and provide small objects or toys (nothing small enough to be a choking hazard!) that they’re interested in grabbing. Continue to pick up and give back toys as they drop them. Play with them and read them books, even letting them try to turn the pages or point at things with their index finger in the book if they’re interested.
Simple Fine Motor Activities for 6-9 Months
When babies approach 6 months old is about the time we start to provide specific activities just for fine motor development. Start small and build on these activities.
1. My-Turn, Your-Turn Games
This is a great way to get started with fine motor activities. Push a ball, toy car, or anything that will roll back-and-forth. This is good for a baby’s hands to get used to touching different objects and coordinating movement.
2. Containers for Filling and Dumping
Provide containers with large openings for placing small items or toys into and dumping out. You can use plastic containers, baskets, jars, or even cardboard boxes you already have at home. Model the action of putting things into the container for your baby first, and then encourage them to do it.
For my daughter, we gave her cotton balls to fill up a container. Other good options include pom poms, small blocks, or plastic animal toys.
3. Everyday Objects for Child’s Development
Don’t go out and buy more fancy toys for your child at this age. Let them play with things you already have at home that are different textures and shapes like a kitchen whisk, wooden spoons, or plastic measuring cups. One of my babies absolute favorite toys is those metal balls that come in blender bottles.
Easy Fine Motor Activities for 9-12 Months
As you’re approaching your baby’s first birthday, they’ll probably get much more interested in these activities. But you can start whenever you and your baby are feeling ready.
1. Stacking Games
Stacking is a fun activity that your baby would like to do with you. As they get more used to it, their independence will grow, but they’ll need a lot of help at first. You can use common toys like wooden blocks or stacking cups, or you can use things you already have around the house such as containers .
2. Simple Transferring Activity
Transferring is a great fine motor activity, and something your baby will enjoy if they have previously been filling containers. Now give them multiple containers and model transferring objects from one container to another. Just remember that small toys are still potential choking hazards at this age, so use something that’s safe.
3. Puzzles and Basic Fine Motor Toys
This is around the time we like to introduce babies to basic peg puzzles. The little fingers love grabbing and moving the pieces around even though they can’t actually complete a puzzle. Check out all our favorite puzzles here.
4. Beginner Sensory Play
Sensory play, including messy play, is awesome for babies development even at this age, but this can be intimidating for parents. You can easily start sensory play with a simple bin of water or trying a little shaving cream. Or try making your own sensory bottle!
Fine Motor Activity for 12-18 Months
This is a super fun age for babies as they start to play and get curious about the world around them. They’ll start getting more interested in planned activities you do with them, but remember they still have short attention spans. Try these activities in small spurts that will get longer over time.
1. Pretend Play
Babies will usually be interested in playing with dolls, figurines, animals, or cars at this age. Pretend play with these small objects not only helps cognitive development, but also encourages fine motor skills.
2. Brushing Teeth and Hair
Here’s a simple activity that you’re probably doing with your infant anyways. Holding any type of brushing and trying to use it is great for babies little muscles and fine motor control. Include them in these activities next time.
3. Fine Motor Skills While Eating
Another common activity you’re doing with your baby is eating! If you haven’t started already, let them feed themselves finger foods. Just remember to keep a watchful eye on them while eating.
For a fun spin on eating, try this fun fine motor activity with snacks! My daughter loves to play this game and it’s a great activity for fine motor skills.
4. Basic Sensory Bins
Little babies absolutely love sensory play, so try our guide on how to start with little ones! But we don’t use anything that would be possibly toxic or a choking hazard because babies will still put things in their mouth. Check out how to make a completely non-toxic foam sensory bin for little ones or just start with water.
18+ Months Fine Motor Activities
At this early age, little ones will increasingly want to try new activities with you. But don’t worry if they don’t seem super interested at first, just keep giving them opportunities for fine motor play.
1. Play Dough
As your child is moving out of the stage where they put everything into their mouths, you can introduce play dough! Play dough is a great way to incorporate sensory play with less mess. You can even try our recipe for making your own play dough and read our complete play dough guide here.
2. Open-Ended Play
There’s so many amazing ways for open-ended play at this age that are great for fine motor skills development. Open-ended toys like play kitchens, construction toys, and dress-up require a lot of coordination and small muscle control without even realizing it.
3. Simple Household Chores
Have your little one help pick up toys or put away small dishes with you to help with fine motor control. But you can also make it fun by making it into some kind of game!
4. Coloring
By 18 months old you can introduce markers and crayons to your little ones. They’ll need a lot of help at first, but encourage them to move the writing utensils across their paper.
5. Finger Painting
Painting is a great way to help with fine motor skills either using fingers, brushes, or something else entirely. It’s a delicate balance between helpful and a huge mess, so start small with the paint. You can try simple finger painting or this fun painting activity with cotton balls!
6. Make Your Own Slime
Try this fun sensory activity that all children love! It’s super easy to make, and your child can play with it in a bag to keep down the mess.
Have Fun with Each Fine Motor Activity
We want to reemphasize that all of these are basic outlines, not strict activities with hard rules that must be followed. Follow your babies lead and notice what they’re interested in the most.
If you are worried that your child is behind on their fine motor skills, reach out to your child’s doctor or occupational therapist about early intervention. There’s tons of resources out there for them!
