Fine Motor Activities for Children with Autism

For many students who are somewhere on the spectrum in relation to autism, it can be challenging to find pre-k activities that are motivating and stimulating for the students to participate in.   Teachers are continuously searching for new activities to help children work on their fine motor skills, which are essential skills for little ones to acquire during these critical years. Here are some ideas as well as activities for teachers and parents to use, that may help.

*Matching Colors/Clothespins Activity
-Gather about a dozen clothespins and color each one a color (red, orange, blue, green, yellow, purple, black, brown, etc). Then use a paper plate to create a pie chart that are divided equally into sections and paint each section one color. Next, model for the child how you use the clothespin to match the colors. Place one or two clothespins onto their matching color on the plate. To individualize, place motivating stickers of their favorite characters onto the clothes pins as well as the paper plate. This activity can be adapted for any child and from what I have seen in my own preschool classroom works very well with all of the children.



*Sensory Letters Activity
-Get a can of shaving cream and spread across a flat surface. Begin to model for the children how to make various letters and allow them to trace your letters. Next, allow the children to make their own letters. Other tools that can be used: sand and for children who do not like to get their hands dirty place pudding in a zip locked bag and allow the children to trace this way. This is a great sensory tool for children on the spectrum as well.