Fun and Easy Fine Motor Snack Activity for Infants at Home
Here’s our favorite way to have a snack while playing a fun fine motor game with my daughter! Now that she’s one and loves to snack, we started this engaging activity to help with her fine motor development.
The Key to Fine Motor Development
A baby’s fine motor skills are one of the main areas of your child’s development. As these major developmental milestones start, moms and caregivers can feel a lot of pressure to do tons of special activities (especially if you’re seeing them on social media). But there’s so many simple activities that you’re already doing at home that are awesome for your child’s fine motor skills.
The key to development of fine motor skills in young children is doing any kind of activity that uses the small muscles of hand, fingers, and wrists. As your child gets older, they do this all the time in everyday activities. But younger children and babies may need a little encouragement with fun activities!
Fine Motor Activities Around You
The easy part is that there are simple fine motor activities all around you! From toys like play food and building blocks to everyday objects like a kitchen whisk and cotton balls, tons of small objects you already have can be used for fine motor development.
And one of the most common activities for fine motor skills is eating solid food! As infants use their index finger and thumb to pick up food or try to bring a spoon to their mouth, they’re working on hand-eye coordination, fine motor control, and hand strength.
Great Ways to Work on Fine Motor Skills
Infants have pretty short attention spans, so it can be a challenge to use specific fine motor toys or activities. But a great way to get them more interested is to use food! Once infants are into solid foods, they usually love to snack.
And you don’t even need special small items when there’s already so many great finger foods! Just grab their favorite snacks.
Yummy Finger Foods
All you need is a finger food that your child likes to eat and can fit in their little hands. Some of our favorite foods to do this fun activity with is Cheerios, puffs, small pieces of fruit, or yogurt bites.
Step-by-Step Instructions for a Fun Fine Motor Snack
Try this fun fine motor activity using food to get your child more engaged. This is a wonderful way to build up hand control and muscle strength in those little fingers. Remember to keep a watchful eye on infants whenever they’re eating anything.
1. Gather Materials
First, you’ll need to collect a muffin tin, finger food, and some sticky notes. If you don’t have sticky notes, you can use a piece of paper with a small piece of tape. And if you don’t have a muffin tin, you can use ice cube trays. Just use whatever you have on hand!
2. Activity Set-Up
Next, place one snack food in each of the muffin tin compartments. Then, put a sticky note over each compartment.
3. Start Snacking!
Lastly, you’ll help your baby get started on their snacks! For younger babies you’ll have to show them a few to help them understand that a snack is under the paper. This simple task can be a challenge for babies, so keep encouraging them!
This easy activity is using fine motor skills in multiple ways! They’re using the small muscles of the hands and fingers to remove the sticky note and to pick up the piece of food. After they master the dominant hand, you can encourage them to try the other hand!
Another reason this is a great fine motor activity is that it’s building problem-solving skills at the same time. Your baby is learning cause and effect and what happens from their small movements.
Why Do Fine Motor Activities Anyways?
As a mom, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the things I’m ‘supposed’ to do for my baby. The daily tasks already seem to be a lot! But small activities like this once in awhile are a great opportunity to help your child’s development if you have the time!
Fine motor skills as babies lead to the ability to perform practical life activities as early as the toddler years. Activities like getting dressed, eating, and writing (holding a pencil in a pincer grasp) all require fine motor skills.
Fine Motor Goals for Young Children
Additionally as a mom, it can be overwhelming to keep up with all the goals my children are supposed to be meeting. Honestly, I don’t like to follow the rigid rules anymore, but instead check on loose guidelines from time to time.
If you are interested, we made a quick guide to fine motor goals for infants here. Again, remember these are guidelines not rules, and babies develop at different rates.
More Fine Motor Skills Activities
If you’re looking for even more fine motor activities, we put together a whole list of fine motor activities for infants here. Some of these may be activities you already do on a daily basis without thinking about it. These are even organized by months of age, too.
Where to Start?
Overwhelmed by all the fine motor activities out there? I feel that and have totally been there. As a simple place to start with your youngest baby, just focus on tummy time! That alone is enough for young babies.
As your baby gets older, follow their lead to what they’re interested in. If your baby is a little older, like anywhere around a year, try our beginner activities like a super simple water sensory bin! Or just encourage play with open-ended toys or puzzles you already have.
