Easy fine motor activity using cotton balls + clothespins

Try this easy fine motor activity using cotton balls + clothespins for building fine motor strength and precision.

I am so happy to have you here and to share this fun and easy fine motor activity with you today.

I am also looking for, and developing, new learning ideas for the children at my center and it is always a win-win situation when I can create a fun and simple learning activity with materials that most people already have lying around their homes. Easy fine motor activities are my jam!

What you need to complete this easy fine motor activity :

2 cups
2 clothespins
A handful of cotton balls

That’s all! It seriously does not get any easier than this!

This activity is so simple, yet is can provide so much fun, interaction, communication, turn taking and fine motor skills building.

For this activity, I gathered 2 cups from one of our fine motor drawers, some cotton balls from our art supply shelves and clothespins that we have been using for our Montessori clothes hanging learning trays.

I set up the activity by putting all of the cotton balls in the white cup. I gathered two clothespins rather than just one so that I can take turns moving cotton balls from one cup to another too. Doing the activity together rather than just asking my little learner to move all of the cotton balls from one cup to another on his or her own, promotes turn taking and social interaction. Then, I give a simple instruction like “pick up a cotton ball and put it in the red cup”. (This is actually a not-so-simple, 2 part instruction. If your child has difficulty completing 2 part tasks, you probably want to break this activity down into 2 parts. In that case, you could work on 1/ picking up cotton balls with clothespins, then, 2/ transferring them from the white cup to the red cup.)

Try this activity and let me know how it goes! Hearing from you always makes my day. I absolutely love knowing that my activities are helping your child learn. I want all the details and if you do a project and feel like sharing, please remember to use the hashtag #speciallearninghouse on Instagram so I can see. Follow Special Learning House on Instagram to gain access to a resource of material ideas and see our life behind the scenes at my learning house, Le Chemin ABA, in Paris.