Top 10 Easiest Fine Motor Christmas Activities for Kids
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and also a great time for some fun fine motor activities! So check out our favorite fine motor Christmas activities that are easy to set up and fun for kids of all ages. These will even work with young children just starting out with fine motor activities.
What are Fine Motor Skills?
Fine motor skills are using and controlling the small muscles of the hand, wrists, and fingers. This includes both the precise movements and the control it takes to complete a task. The hand-eye coordination and concentration that it takes to make these small movements are also part of it.
In young children, this looks like picking up small objects between two fingers, transferring objects from one container to another, or drawing with a writing utensil. There’s all different kinds of ways that young children use fine motor skills.
What Fine Motor Skills Should My Child Have?
Fine motor goals are certain activities that a child should be able to do at a certain age, and development of fine motor skills is something that your child’s doctor will check for. Different organizations put out goals, but we like the NAEYC goals that we summarized here. But we want you to remember that every child develops at their own pace, and these are guild lines.
Often, these goals don’t have to be mastered by the listed age. They’re just a benchmark of about what your child should be working on or doing most of the time.
How Can I Help My Child With Fine Motor Skills?
First, you don’t have to buy any of the fancy and expensive toys you see advertised online. There’s tons of everyday activities that you can work into your daily routine to help! Or use things you already have at home.
We have a whole list of the easiest things you can do at home based on your child’s age. Check out the ideas here!
Christmas Fine Motor Ideas
Now that the holiday season is here, there’s tons of Christmas themed activities and crafts you can try! My grandkids love doing anything Christmasy, so this is extra motivation for them to do our fine motor skills activities. But honestly, they just see these activities as fun instead of working on skills.
Keep It Simple
Our first tip is to keep it simple, especially for babies and young toddlers. They will enjoy doing these activities, but their attention span is still pretty short. If you have a little bit older children like preschoolers or kindergarteners, still start simple and build on the activities by following their interests.
Choose What They’re Interested In
Another great tip is to focus on activities and crafts that your child is most interested in. My grandson will spend way more time doing activities that involve animals of any kind, so a lot of times we focus on that. Try out a few of these activities to see what they like best.
Start Doing It With Them
Any age children will be more engaged with an activity if you (or someone) does it with them. Christmas is a busy time of year for most of us, so you don’t have to play with them the whole time. But kids of all ages take better to activities if you show them some examples and try it with them first.
The Easiest Christmas Fine Motor Activities
The following activities are some of the easiest to set up and cheapest to assemble that we’ve found. Both my three year old grandson and my one year old granddaughter have so much fun with each of these activities. And its a great way to spend quality time together this Christmas season!
1. Christmas Sensory Bin
One of the fun things we bring out during the holiday season is this easy Christmas sensory bin. We found all of our materials at the dollar store, and this can be filled with all kinds of small items that are Christmas themed like jingle bells, tinsel, and bows. Sensory bins are a great fine motor tool for kids of all ages because there’s so many ways to play with them and also to make them!
2. Pom Pom Christmas Trees
For a fun and easy Christmas project that’s perfect for little hands. Pom poms are small enough objects that they’re great for fine motor work. This pom pom Christmas tree activity is easy enough for any age in early childhood, too.
3. Decorating the Christmas Tree
One of our favorite Christmas activities is decorating our actual Christmas tree together! My grandson gets to put (non-breakable) ornaments around the bottom of the Christmas tree. And it’s great for his fine motor control!
Alternatively, if everything on your main tree is breakable, you can get a small Christmas tree with kid’s ornaments. Kids will also love having their own tree to decorate.
4. Baking Cookies
Cookies are always a great idea around Christmas time! Christmas theme or not, cookie dough and the cooking utensils are great materials to build fine motor strength as young kids mix, squish, and roll their cookies out. It’s also fantastic fun for the whole family together!
5. Homemade Ornaments
We love to make our own ornaments and Christmas decor, and these are the perfect addition to any Christmas tree. This is one of our favorite fine motor activities because making and playing with the ornament dough is so much fun! And you can make a ton of different fun Christmas shapes.
6. Christmas Play Dough
One of the best places to start if you have an older toddler or preschooler is with play dough! This fine motor activity is super simple to set up, because all your child needs is the play dough and some tools. Play dough is great for hand strength and also for creativity because your child can create whatever they want!
We start play dough around one and half, but children this young need more supervision so they don’t eat the play dough. But it’s still a fun way to get them involved in Christmas activities, too. Check out our Christmas play dough here, complete with tips for doing play dough with your young ones.
7. Cotton Ball Snowmen
Another fun Christmas craft you can try is this snowman made from cotton balls. Cotton balls are another smaller object that children love to use in crafts that are also great for fine motor control. Children also love to glue things themselves making this fun activity even better for them.
8. Candy Cane Craft
Grab your pipe cleaners and beads for one of our easiest Christmas crafts thats also great for fine motor skills. These cute candy canes can be used as ornaments, decorations, or just for playing with during Christmas time. Stringing the beads together is awesome for little fingers!
9. Pipe Cleaner Wreaths
Another fun craft with pipe cleaners are these Christmas wreaths! We usually do the wreaths and candy canes together, so we only have to buy one pack of beads. And we found the beads and the pipe cleaners at the Dollar Tree.
10. Christmas Tree Finger Paint
One of the best ways to build fine motor skills is with finger painting (or painting with a brush)! I know that paint sounds scary to a lot of parents and teachers, but messy play is wonderful for fine motor skills and development in general. Plus most children absolutely love painting.
Usually, we just let the kids paint on plain paper, so they can really let their creativity run wild. But there’s also lots of great Christmas crafts you can do with paint. If you do want to make something while painting, try these easy wooden ornaments we found at the dollar store.
Have Fun With Your Kids This Christmas
No matter what activities or crafts you decide to try this year, it’s most important to have fun with your kids. Activities like these are a good way to spend quality time with your kids as you all have fun together.
Don’t stress yourself out trying to do too much during this busy time of year. And don’t worry about how any crafts or projects come out! Kids benefit from the process of making and doing these activities, not how the turn out at the end.
Bonus Christmas Craft
This year we tried a new Christmas crafting activity that the kids loved! We made these cute Christmas collages out of extra ribbon, tinsel, and wrapping paper we had around. This is especially good if you want to work on scissor skills, too!
