Last Updated on April 2, 2025 by Sheryl Cooper
Inside: Our favorite collection of preschool fine motor activities! Each one involves some sort of squeezing that strengthens the hands and fingers, getting them ready for writing. A free fine motor checklist is included for you to download today!
Parents and teachers are concerned if their preschoolers cannot write.
Their preschoolers might get frustrated when given writing tools.
Hold on! Their little hands and fingers need to be strengthened.
Good news! I have a collection of squeezing activities that can do just that.
We start working on strengthening fine motor skills in with our toddlers. You know those puzzles with the knobs? And play dough? Yep, that’s a start! But even as they transition from a toddler to a preschooler, their hands and fingers continue to need strengthening.
We work on fine motor activities every day, in playful ways. Our children have no idea the reason behind it, of course. They just know it’s fun!
Ready to introduce some squeezing activities into your children’s day?
Make sure to check out these fine motor collections:
Christmas Fine Motor Activities
Color Recognition Fine Motor Activities
Easy Fine Motor Activities for Toddlers
17+ of the Best Preschool Fine Motor Activities that Involve Squeezing
Squeeze playdough using a citrus squeezer.
As fingers get stronger, squeeze water using pipettes.
Drop watercolors onto paper towels.
Squeeze and release paint on top of pine cones.
Drip watercolors down a vertical surface.
Press Do-a-Dots with palms of hands on a dry erase board.
Preschoolers (toddlers, too) love to transfer liquids with turkey basters.
Set up a tongs and pom poms activity. (B-Inspired Mama)
Squeeze glitter glue to make calming bottles. (Mess for Less)
Use paint with sponges. (No Time for Flash Cards)
Add sponges to a sensory bin to squeeze out water. (Things to Share and Remember)
Drop watercolors on coffee filters.
Grab some clothespins to make these dinosaurs. (Teaching Mama)
Squeeze play dough. (Fun at Home With Kids)
Using icing gel pens to decorate cookies. (Craftulate)
Invite your child to wash windows. (Stir the Wonder)
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What is in the clear bottle for your top picture of this page (squeezing activities)?
Hi Kelly – it’s a plastic squeeze bottle that you can get from the kitchen department of most stores. Very handy!
hello sheryl, my daughter (age 4 years) goes to a school where the students of her age are actually writing. my problem is even though my daughter is very intelligent (got intelligence certificate from school also) cant even draw a straight line. i never paid attention to her fine motor skill so tell me the basics so that i can put her on proper writing stuff
Hi Navera – I suggest you go up to the navigation bar on my website (below header) and click on “activities” and then “fine motor” (or you can put it into the search box). You will find lots of activities that strengthen the hands and fingers so that they are strong enough to handle writing tools. Thanks for reading!
Hi
These are great, thanks! The only ting is the link for tongs and pom poms is given twice, the second time in place of the foam block activity please can you give me the correct link, thanks!
Thank you so much Eleanor, for catching this! I just changed the link, but I will also give it to you here: http://www.mummymusingsandmayhem.com/2012/11/toddler-tongs-and-water-play.html
I missed this first time around, thanks so much for sharing my foam blocks post Sheryl…lots of lovely visits this week so link is definitely working thank you 🙂 Such a great idea for a round up, pinned and shared!
I have been letting my preschool class squeeze “goop” (glue, water, and borax) to strengthen their hands because some of them are having problems holding a pencil, and my boss berated me for letting them play with it for 20-30 minutes per group per day. I explained why I let them do it and she said they should be using it to practice letters….what good is practicing letters to learn to write when they can’t hold a pencil?
Oh, Marybeth, I feel your pain. Could you show her my post? Perhaps that might help? It’s sad that so many early childhood educators do not understand the value of this. Especially directors. YOU are doing the right thing.