Today we've assembled 10 leaves fine motor activities. It's nearly Thanksgiving and many trees have turned in color. These ideas are a great excuse to get out of the house and explore the outdoors. Developing fine motor skills in little ones is good because it helps them to make better use of their hands and handling small tasks. These ideas range from pattern making to working with small items that require dexterity.
Check out the list of ten below for ideas you'll love.
Our Favorite Leaves Fine Motor Activities
Cute Leaf People Fall Craft for Kids
This is a quick and easy activity you can do with your kids. Taking a walk and collecting some fall leaves is a great way to enjoy the crisp autumn air. After your walk, enjoy some giggles by adding eyes and a smile!
Toddler Leaf Lacing
This is a great activity to help your little one work on their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Use a laminator and a hole punch to protect your leaf and add the holes for lacing. This is a great activity while you are riding in the car!
Fall Leaves Sweeping Gross Motor Activity
Have a little one who loves to help you clean? Give them their own cleaning assignment using fall leaves and pinecones. All you need is something to mark out a space on the floor to get all the leaves into, and your little one will be entertained for hours.
Fine Motor Counting Activity
This activity is excellent to help your preschooler master both their numbers and fine motor skills. As an advantage, this activity can be easily modified to become more challenging as your little one masters their numbers.
Forest School Inspired Activities
Getting outside in the fall is a great way to teach preschoolers. From science to art to math, it is all around. Preschoolers love being able to use nature to create art, and this activity is sure to bring out their creativity.
Fine Motor Nature Patterns
This is an excellent nature-based activity to help your preschooler learn about patterns and science. This activity is great if you have kids in multiple age ranges as you can make the patterns as simple or as complicated as you want, to meet their needs and continue challenging them.
Tracing Leaves Fine Motor Activity
While out on a nature walk, your little one is sure to notice that the leaves falling are all different shapes and sizes. This activity is great for comparing the different leaves. You can even take it one step further and look up the names of each of the trees the leaves came from.
Sensory Nature Cutting Tray
There are so many things out in nature that kids can collect for further investigation. By providing a pair of scissors and letting your preschooler cut some of the things they found outside, you can engage their creativity and their senses.
Raking Leaves Fall Sand Play
Toddlers and preschoolers love to play in the sand. By adding some leaves and little rakes, kids can hide and find the leaves, pile them up, and explore how the textures are different between the sand and the leaves.
Toddler Sensory Bin with Leaves
Another excellent option for sensory play is a bin of leaves and other outdoor treasures that you can use indoors or outdoors. This bin allows your toddler to explore the texture, color, and shape differences of different leaves. To make it more interesting, you can hide acorns, pinecones, and flowers in the sensory bin as well.