Ideas for practicing fine motor skills in winter

You may be familiar with Simply Special Ed Fine Motor Centers. OT Blogger, Taylor, named them her number one must-have SSE resource! But did you know that there is a winter version of these fine motor centers!?

Fine motor skills and goals are the foundation of most special education classes. A few years ago, I developed the popular Simple Fine Motor Centers, which were popular with special education teachers AND occupational therapists. A seasonal themed winter set has now been released.

If you have students with fine motor IEP goals – keep reading!

WHAT ARE SIMPLE FINE MOTOR CENTERS?

Created with your individual special education students in mind, Simple Fine Motor Centers are the perfect way to implement fine motor activities into your classroom in a structured way!

HOW DO YOU PREPARE CENTERS?

Preparing for Simple Fine Motor Centers is harder when you’re starting out – but you’ll thank yourself for doing it for many years! Prepare these centers and enjoy them year after year without preparation!

WHAT I NEED?

First, we’ll go over what materials you’ll need. A list of materials for each center can be found 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 material compartments inside (these work great) *affiliate link*
• Materials for each center

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 a few ideas.

I like to include them in my task library. I have a section dedicated to fine motor boxes and I include them there. You can also make them a center in your center rotations.

They would make a great para run center or even an independent center if you have students capable of doing these tasks independently. Depending on the size of your class, you may also have a fine motor skills block where every student in the room works on them.

WHAT ARE REAL TEACHERS SAYING ABOUT SIMPLE FINE MOTOR CENTERS?

“This was perfect for my fine motor center! I wanted a station where students could work on maintaining their fine motor skills but didn’t have time to create all the materials. I even bought bins from Costco to put everything in there. That and the instructions for each task did it for my paraprofessionals easy to use with my students. I am starting a new position this year and will definitely use it again!”

– Katrina

“My students are in desperate need of practice in this area, and my caseload keeps getting younger, so I’m looking forward to doing freelance work that can last a year. In a district that does not provide planning for individual teachers, this resource will be a godsend!“

-Amber

“My students like it as a different way to work on fine motor skills that wasn’t the same old paper cutting. This iwith so you made it up my OT was impressed! “

– Kaylie

WHERE CAN I FIND WINTER SIMPLE FINE MOTOR CENTERS?

Here you can download WINTER Simple Fine Motor on TPT.

You can get the WINTER Simple Fine Motor in the shop here.

Learn more about the original set here.