Fine motor skills and goals are a staples in most special education classrooms. A few years ago I developed the popular Simple Fine Motor Centers which has been loved by self-contained special education teachers AND occupational therapists. Now the seasonal themed fall set has been released. If you have students with fine motor IEP goals- keep reading!
What are Simple Fine Motor Centers?
Simple Fine Motor Centers are created with your self-contained special education students in mind and are the perfect way to implement fine motor activities to your classroom in a structured way!
How do you prep the centers?
The prep for Simple Fine Motor Centers is heavier when you are getting started- but you will be thanking yourself for doing it for years to come! Prep these centers and enjoy them year after year with no prep!
What do I need?
First, let’s go over what materials you’ll need. You can find the materials list for each center in the resource. Shop Fine Motor Centers HERE. Some basic materials you need to get started are:
- Bins (these are great to use) *affiliate link*
- Tape
- Smaller bins to hold materials inside (these work great) *affiliate link*
- Materials for each center
You can find a list to shop all materials needed for each center HERE. *affiliate link*
What Centers are Included?
– Trace It: Trace the line
– Punch It: Punch holes
– Wrap It: Wrap yarn around shapes
– Cut It: Cut the line
– Poke It: Paint dots with Q-tips
– Dot It: Dot circles with a bingo dauber
– Stack It: Stack rings on straws
– Tear It: Tear and glue paper to shapes
– Stick It: Stick stickers on the line
– Tong It: Tong pom poms onto shapes
– Clip It: Add paper clips to shapes
How do I implement Simple Fine Motor Centers?
There are a million ways you can incorporate Simple Fine Motor into your daily routine, but let me give you some ideas.
I like to incorporate them into my task box library. I have a section dedicated to fine motor task boxes and I include them there. You can also make them a center in your centers rotations.
They would make a great para run center or even an independent center if you have students able to complete these tasks independently. Depending on your class size, you could also have a fine motor block where every student in the room is working on them.
What do real teachers say about Simple Fine Motor Centers?
“This was perfect for my fine motor center! I wanted to have a station where students could work on maintaining their fine motor skills, but didn’t have time to create all the materials for it. I even bought the bins from Costco to put everything in. That and the instructions for each task made it easy for my paraprofessionals to use with my students. I am starting a new position this year and will definitely be using it again!”
– Katrina
“My students desperately need practice in this area and my caseload continues to get younger, so I am looking forward to an independent activity that can last the entire year. In a district that does not provide planning for self-contained teachers, this resource is going to be a godsend!“
-Amber
“My students like this as a different way to work on fine motor skills that wasn’t the same old paper cutting. This is so thought out that my OT was impressed! “
– Kaylie
Where can I find the Fall Simple Fine Motor Centers?
You can grab Fall Simple Fine Motor on TPT here.
You can grab Fall Simple Fine Motor in the shop here.
Learn more about the original set here.
