Fine Motor 101: Building hand muscles and penmanship skills!

Do your students struggle with handwriting skills or fine motor tasks? Then these are MUST HAVE centers in your classroom! Despite your grade levels, these centers can be tailored to meet the varying skills of students from PreK-12th grade. 

​When I first began blogging in 2013, in my classroom I had one center that included writing, cutting, and fine motor or hand muscle building tasks all in one center.  This was a great concept but it was incredibly rigorous & sometimes my students felt overwhelmed with the demands.

Note: There was always an adult in proximity to ensure items and task were completed correctly (especially for safety reasons). Having adult supervision is key to ensure that practice makes permanent and improved skills! This center (and any center) should be implemented consistently for maximum results.
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The set up of the center was never the issue... just the demands! But here is how my assistants and I ran the center:

• Students check in to the Fine Motor Center.
• Then, they find their assigned basket based on their assigned color. 
• Complete the work inside the basket.
• Each student was assigned a finished tray where they would place their work. (Great for work samples, and IEP data tracking!)
• For fine motor tasks or hand muscle tasks, I kept all items in one area. The student knew what and where to access (after teaching/modeling) based on the visual assigned. 
• As students completed each task, they would place the visuals in the middle of the table in the finished baskets. 

​Change is necessary, as you grow as a teacher and learn new things! Throughout my teaching career, as I continued to learn about research, best practices, and successful strategies... I realized that I could turn that one center into 2 separate centers or rotations. Each center would supplement each other while helping students become more proficient in all areas! Although I wish I could take all the credit for my greatest AHA moment of separating the fine motor/hand building muscle tasks... I owe it to my colleague/mentor Kelly who taught in the intensive PreK class. She had a separate Fine Motor Area. I didn't teach PreK, I taught grades K through 5.  But I saw the light and began to understand the importance and that it could be applied to any grade level.

Food for thought: 
If a student has weak hand muscles...
​they will struggle with most fine motor activities such as fastening, cutting, and writing!!! 

​So let's take a look at some ways you can establish two essential centers! 

Fine Motor

In this center, the goal is to build hand muscles! Occupational Therapists will love this center when they come into your classroom. The idea is to incorporate tasks that students will work only through manipulation of objects.  Another genius idea (so that you or your assistants don't have to waste time setting up tasks) is to set up the center in a way that one student completes the task, and the next student undoes the task. Both students were practicing hand motor skills. Example: Juice bottles- one student put the caps and then the next student removed the caps. Some activities involved just simple things like chain links, nuts and bolts, matching colors with pom poms and tongs. Other activities were academically driven such as alphabet locks or numbers. (Recommendation: Lakeshore Learning has great hands-on academic activities such as the alphabet locks.)

This center should be based on the areas that your students need practice on. Keep in mind the student's grasping and hand manipulation capabilities as you assign tasks. In my classroom, I needed to incorporate some self-help skills to also help build their independence. IMPORTANT... ​NO PAPER AND PENCILS/WRITING in this center!

​Here are some task ideas:

Self Help or Basic Fine Motor	Academic
Connecting chain links, Unifix cubes, Lego blocks, pop beads Sorting shapes, colors, sizes Using clothes pins to place around pencil box Lacing cards Opening/Closing water and juice bottles Fastening boards Nuts and bolts Tongs to manipulate objects	Legos blocks with letters to build words Create shape designs with pattern blocks Locks and keys for letters/numbers Lacing letters or number sequence Academic Puzzles

Writing Center

The focus of the writing center is to help students grow in penmanship skills, practice cutting skills, and/or develop writing with intent. I was continuously changing grade levels by my administration, therefore I had to change the center depending on my student's skills and levels each year.  As a teacher, you need to establish the student's baseline levels in penmanship according to their age and what is age/grade appropriate. In many cases, our students in the special education programs are below grade level but that doesn't mean we can't keep pushing them to get a little closer! 

This is why I love that each student had their own basket of work. This allowed me to differentiate based on their needs. I always keep the same worksheets for one week. This way they can practice over and over. However, if needed, I would monitor to see if the worksheets needed to be changed to ensure that my students didn't get bored or to prevent escape behaviors. Reinforcers and sensory breaks were always included, as writing tends to be our students' least favorite center.

Keep in mind that if a student has not mastered horizontal/vertical/lines then they will struggle with shapes which means they will struggle with letters and numbers. It is important to assess the student's penmanship skills before place unreachable expectations.

I collaborated with Camile, an Occupational Therapist (OT), that helped me identify a hierarchy to writing and cutting skills:

Writing Center Tips, Strategies and Ideas:

• Name Practice: I always had name practice. I feel strongly about students identifying and being able to at least write their first name. 
• Vary sizes of lines, letters, numbers, and shapes to trace. 
• Keep worksheets simple, it helps minimize distractions. 
• Laminated work or sheet protectors are great. But you should have students practice with paper and pencil. This is great for Gen Ed skills, and to gather data/work samples. 
• Use tools such as slanted boards, different writing utensils, adapted scissors, highlighted papers, writing boxes, visual cues for where to start writing or cutting. Find what accommodation or support helps your students... but remember to fade out as they make progress. 
• Incorporate engaging ways to write from time to time to keep it fun!  Some ideas could include- write in shaving cream on a table, write in salt in a pencil box, write on light up marker boards, write with paint and a paintbrush...

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• As students get older, they can transition from letters/numbers to words/sentences tracing/copying. 
• Once the students, can trace and copy, begin to incorporate writing with purpose lessons. Start simple! Give a picture and have them write words about the picture. Then once that skill is mastered, teach them to write simple sentences about the picture and then later complex sentences on topic! 

​Remember, to challenge students but always keep in mind their starting point!

I hope this blog has inspired you to make some changes in your classroom and implement these two centers.
You will see your students grow! I can't wait to hear about the changes!

Check out a few resources that can help you
get started in establishing these centers:

(Press on images to be redirected)

Establish writing and penmanship baselines with this assessment. 

Use these visuals to establish the center tasks.

Students can practice tracing ​and writing letters. 

Students can practice differentiated levels of sizes & width for lines and shapes.