Fun Ways to Improve Kids' Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills are the ability to make coordinated hand movements. It is important for kids to master these skills. Exposure to activities that enhance dexterity and eye-hand coordination will be beneficial in later life. Success in school and in performance of activities of daily living is greatly affected by well-developed fine motor skills. Parents and caregivers must be aware of the skills that are expected at a specific phase of their kids’ growth & development. Laying a good foundation through promoting shoulder stability, bilateral coordination and discriminative tactile sensation makes promoting fine motor skills much easier. Also, knowing the red flags will prevent further delays if given early intervention.
Otherwise, just go ahead and enjoy spending time with your kids with these fun activities that may enhance their fine motor skills:

Shape sorters, pegboards, blocks, nuts & bolts
Puzzles- floor puzzles, table top puzzles, interlocking and non-interlocking puzzles
String beads- use bigger ones for younger kids
Clay & Thera-putty- squeeze, pinch, pound and mold simple models out of the clay
Paper activities- Do anything you can think of with paper. Younger children who cant use scissors yet, may do paper tearing and crumpling instead. Older children can do origami ( Japanese art of Paper Folding)
Doodling, Drawing, Finger Painting and Coloring- this also encourage self expression and creativity
Tactile activities such as finding small objects hidden in sand, beans, macaroni shells; feeling sand paper, ice cubes, brush bristles, feathers
Activities that are part of daily routines- turning doorknobs, inserting keys on keyholes, putting coins in a piggy bank, squeezing toothpaste tube, tying shoelaces, buttoning& unbuttoning, zipping & unzipping.
Doing age-appropriate arts & crafts that include gluing & cutting. Aside from enhancing fine motor skills, end products will make children feel good about themselves thus increasing self-confidence.
Simple food preparation such as spreading peanut butter on their sandwich, slicing bananas making use of plastic knives, mixing & tossing salad and scooping ice cream.