Fine Motor Skills: Clothespin Dinosaurs
A really great way for kids to practice fine motor skills is with clothespins. They are a bit challenging for little ones with knowing how to open them. Before doing this activity, you’ll need to teach your child how to put their thumb and index finger on the clothespin and to squeeze together to open the clothespin. It took some practice for us. I created a number activity to go along with our dinosaur theme this week. In this Dinosaur Clothespin PDF, there are 10 colored stegosauruses. To prepare this activity, print the PDF and cut the stegosauruses out. Then write a number on each dinosaur (1-10). Next, number clothespins.
The goal of this game is to have your child match the clothespin to the numbered stegosaurus.
Another variation of this activity is to put the number of clothespins on the stegosaurus that matches the number. Example: 3 clothespins on the stegosaurus that has the number 3.
This was wonderful practice for Troy and we’ll continue doing this activity until he builds up more strength in his fingers to work the clothespins with ease.
I see this is an older post but I wanted to thank you. This perfectly addresses two different “problems” and my son is loving the dinosaur game!
Aww cute idea! Thanks for sharing on the Sunday Showcase! We LOVE dinosaurs!
Thanks!! We love dinosaurs, too!!
Thank you SO much for this. I am positive this is going to help with teaching my near 4 year old numbers, as he LOVES dinosaurs, and is a visual learner. Have pinned it. Thank you again.
These look fun and educational, and since my grandsons love dinosaurs, I think I need to bookmark this. Thanks for sharing it.
Great! I love to hear that!
I like the additional activity adding all the clothespins to that number (like when you did three clothespins on the number 3 card). That helps reinforce correct counting, too!
Thanks, Caroline! yes- it’s good for practicing counting, too!