Fine Motor Activities For Toddlers

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I absolutely loved the toddler years, and all the fun we had with those chunky little hands! Finding simple fine motor activities for toddlers can be really easy – you don’t need to buy expensive toys or go to fancy classes – most of what I suggest below can be found right in your home!

As I go through these activities, I will highlight which fine motor skills are being targeted or developed in each activity. The toddler years are considered to be from 12 – 36 months (age 1-3 years), but every child develops at their own pace. It is important to start where your child is at, and do the activity alongside them to encourage them.

Any activities involving small objects should only take place under strict adult supervision.

fine motor activities for toddlers

Sorting And Transferring Small Items

Have you noticed how your toddler just LOVES getting into your cupboard and “sorting things out”? Their brains love making sense of what they see, and finding things that match or go together. So make the most of this by giving them small items to sort, such as cereal shapes, pasta shapes, large buttons and large pom-poms.

You can have your toddler place the items into an egg tray, a muffin tray, or small cups.

  • Grasping and releasing different objects can help build hand strength, while picking up small objects helps to develop the pincer grasp between the thumb and index finger.

Please do this activity only under strict adult supervision, as these small items can be a choking hazard.

sorting pasta shapes into an egg boxSorting pasta by shape
picking up small items for a fine motor activitySorting small pegs by color

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Stacking Blocks (And Jumbo Pegs)

Stacking blocks has been a favorite toddler activity for centuries and for good reason!

  • When your toddler is stacking blocks to make a tower, they are developing control over the hand muscles as they grasp and release the blocks. 
  • In addition, they are working on hand-eye coordination, which is really important for future handwriting.
stacking blocks builds hand strengthStacking blocks
stacking jumbo pegs for fine motor skillsStacking jumbo pegs

Stacking cups are an alternative to stacking blocks, and involve the same fine motor techniques. I also loved these jumbo shaped pegs#Ad, as they stacked really nicely as well as being placed into holes - both techniques involve some fine motor manipulation.

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Playdough Ideas for Toddlers

Playdough is just so much fun and is the perfect fine motor activity to occupy your toddler while you are busy nearby.

  • Your child will be developing hand strength when squishing the playdough, and getting the fingers to work together when pinching off pieces of dough. 
  • Show your little one how to poke holes in the ball of playdough with the index finger or thumb – this is a great way to help toddlers learn to isolate one finger at a time.
toddler fine motor playdough activityExploring playdough
toddler playing with playdoughSquishing playdough

You don’t even need any special playdough tools – just a lovely big ball of homemade playdough, and some blunt items from your kitchen drawer – perhaps a fork and spoon, a cookie cutter, anything that can poke a hole or leave an impression. Have fun!

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Posting Activities for Toddlers

“Posting” refers to pushing something through a slot and letting go. This is one of my go-to visual motor activities for toddlers, but is also really good for their fine motor development.

You can invest in a shape sorter#Ad, but you can also make your own “posting box” – for example, an old baby formula tin, a cereal box, or a shoebox.

Use the container as it is, or cut a thick slit in the lid (use tape to soften any sharp edges) and have your child push bottle lids, popsicle sticks and other smallish items through the slot

toddler posting small items into a container - grasp-release fine motor skillsPosting pegs into a container
toddler posting discs into a slotPosting discs into a container

You can increase the fine motor challenge by cutting the holes into different sizes and shapes, so that your toddler needs to work out which one is the best fit, and turn the wrist and hand to get the object into the hole.

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Turning Pages

Read-aloud time was always the highlight of my kids’ days – there were never too many books to read! Turning the pages by themselves is a simple fine motor activity that toddlers love. Encourage them to read to a baby sibling, or to their stuffed toys, to give them lots of opportunities to turn the pages!

Start with board books, and graduate to books with thick pages. Interactive books with flaps and textures are also a fun way to get their fingers moving. Around the age of 3, toddlers should be able to turn a single page of a regular book.

toddler exploring an interactive bookUsing an interactive flap book
toddler reading a board book - turning pages is a fine motor skillReading a board book

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Chores Are Fine Motor Play!

As far as my toddlers were concerned, any “jobs” I gave them to do were great fun! Look out for chores that can double as fine motor activities for your toddler or preschooler!

  • Start with packing away toys, all that picking up can help little hands get stronger.
  • Have your child help you with the laundry by taking the clothes out of the basket and giving them to you to hang or fold – this is a great grasping exercise for little hands.
  • If you are cleaning something, let your toddler wipe down the surfaces with a cloth, and squeeze the water out afterwards to strengthen their hands.
  • You can also have your child help you place cutlery into the right places in the cutlery drawer (remove sharp knives first).
packing away cutlery helps little hands get strongerGrasping cutlery
toddler squeezing cloth to develop hand strengthSqueezing out a cloth

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Play With Paint

Toddlers love making their marks with paint! Here's how painting can develop toddler fine motor skills:

  • Using finger paint can help your toddler isolate the different fingers.
  • Holding a chunky paint brush helps develop grasp strength.
  • Sponge painting can strengthen the hand and finger muscles when squeezing the paint or water out, or when pushing the paint around with the sponge.
toddler painting with a fat brushGrasping a paint brush
toddler sponge paintingSponge painting

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Self-Feeding

Your child will probably be self-feeding by this age, which is great for all kinds of fine motor skill development.

  • Picking up dry cereal with the thumb and finger is great for practicing the pincer grip.
  • Holding onto a spoon and scooping food helps your child to grasp and can develop grip strength and learning to maneuver the hand and wrist accurately.
  • Picking up finger food to put in the mouth also works on grasp and dexterity.
toddler self feeding with a spoonUsing a spoon to eat
toddler using a pincer grip to pick up cerealPicking up cereal with the fingers

So definitely encourage your toddler to self feed whenever possible! Around the age of 3 years, toddlers should be eating independently.

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Introduce Puzzles

Learning to use peg puzzles, and to manipulate puzzle pieces to build a picture, can help your toddler work on visual perception skills.

But puzzles also serve as fine motor activities for toddlers, as they have to use their hands and fingers to pick up and manipulate the puzzle pieces. By the age of three, most toddlers should be able to insert a piece into a peg puzzle#Ad like this one.

If your toddler has not tried to do puzzles yet, then pop on over and try some simple puzzle activities.

Once they get the hang of it, you can leave a puzzle or two out every day and watch them get great satisfaction out of completing it over and over again!

toddler doing a puzzleToddler doing a puzzle

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Benefits Of Fine Motor Activities For Toddlers

As your children move into the preschool years, they need good fine motor skills in order to dress themselves, cut with scissors, use a pencil, and much more.

Not only do their fingers need to work well to control the scissors and crayons, but their hands need to be strong enough to complete a scissor cutting or writing task without getting tired.

The more fine motor practice they get as toddlers, the more prepared they will be to handle their buttons, scissors and crayons at home and at preschool.

It isn’t hard to find fine motor activities for toddlers to do – and it is so important for their fine motor development, especially in this era of digital devices.

doing buttons is a fine motor life-skill that kids need to learnDoing buttons requires fine motor skills

If your child finds the activities on this page too easy, then try my kindergarten hand and finger activities!

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What If My Child Struggles?

  • Sometimes kids just need a little bit of encouragement to engage in hands-on activities, especially if they have been busy with a device.
  • One suggestion is to first do something physically active (like going for a walk, jumping on a trampoline, playing at the park, running around the garden) to make the transition easier.
  • Most toddlers absolutely love any kind of attention, so your presence with them in an activity is a great motivator if they tend to avoid fine motor activities.
  • If you have any concerns about your toddler’s abilities, especially when compared to peers, then please do speak to your health care professional, who can guide you. You may find some helpful info on this page of Toddler Development from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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Awesome Resource for Fine Motor Activities!

 Are you looking for a resource you can come back to over and over again that will give you lots of tried and tested fine motor activities for toddlers, preschool, kindergarten and beyond?

  • My Fine Motor Activities E-Book is an comprehensive 68-page resource full of photographed activities ranging from simple hand and finger activities to more complex pencil control exercises.
  • Packed with information, tips and a planner, this will give you ideas for years to come!
Fine Motor Activities resource bookFine Motor Activities E-Book



By the time they leave the toddler years, toddlers should be picking up small objects with the thumb and one finger, building a tower with 3 to 5 small blocks, getting shapes into a shape sorter without assistance, turning single pages in a book, making snips with scissors, and eating without assistance.

I hope you are inspired by how easy it can be to help your toddler develop these fine motor skills with everyday, household objects!

I really encourage you to find at least one fine motor activity you can do with your toddler each day - the benefits will be enormous!

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Related Pages

If you were inspired by these fine motor activities for toddlers, you may be interested in these pages of my site, which contain fine motor and visual motor activities that older toddlers and preschoolers can do!

simple hand and finger activities for kids to develop fine motor skillsHand Activities
teach your child how to cut with scissorsTeach your child how to cut with scissors
activities and tips to help preschool kids develop good handwriting skillsPreschool Handwriting Prep
visual motor activities for toddlers and preschoolersVisual-Motor Activities for Preschool
view my OT Mom resources - in-depth printable downloads
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