Art and Fine Motor Skills

In case it wasn't apparent earlier I thought I'd state that I have begun homeschooling my daughter. And because she has a tendency to get into everything I thought I'd document our progress online.

My daughter is too young to go to school. Thus any education she gets is home schooling. I am uncertain as to whether or not we will continue homeschooling after she has reached school age.

However, let's get back to the schooling itself. Young children need to learn fine motor skills. One of the best ways to keep them engaged and practicing those skills is art. My daughter loves to do art projects. Coloring, painting, cutting, pasting--she loves it all.

While it is relatively simple to set up your own projects for your child it is also a little time consuming. Plus I enjoy the extras that project books give you. If you find a good one it will often walk you through how you can add additional instruction on colors, numbers, animals depending on the project. Plus the books are often arranged in a progression from simple projects to those that require more skill.

You might think it's easy to create a progression of projects. However, it's been awhile since we've developed those skill. They are so ingrained now that it is easy to forget how difficult it can be to learn at the beginning.

For myself I particularly like the Big Skills for Little Hands series. My daughter started with the Big Skills for Little Hands I Can Color! (Big Skills for Little Hands; Ages 2 and Up) book when she was two. It has a color book project and a certificate of achievement award at the end of the book. My a big celebration of handing out the certificate. Kids love being the center of attention. Then you can store it in their scrapbook for when they are older.

Another series that I've also had success with are the Kumon workbooks. In particular we have tried the Let's Cut Paper! (Kumon First Steps Workbooks), Let's Sticker & Paste! (Kumon First Steps Workbooks), and My First Book Of Tracing (Kumon Workbooks).

I like the First Steps workbooks because they are designed for ages two and up. Although if you begin at that young age with cutting don't buy the plastic scissors. I know they are safer. But that is because they don't cut anything easily, which can be terribly frustrating if you are trying to learn how to cut. Buy the blunt edged metal scissors and provide a lot of supervision. Also explain scissor safety to your kid before each lesson. (As you probably already know young children need a lot of reminders.)

The tracing book is also a good starter book (recommend for ages two and up). It doesn't begin with tracing letters. The book starts with drawing lines. First straight, then diagonal until it gradually progresses through all the strokes used in creating letters. If your child is older and more experienced at drawing this book is likely unnecessary but if you are beginning young I think it's a good choice after a learning to color book.

Whether you chose to create all your art projects yourself or you use a little help for the workbooks I wish you luck in your educational journey.