Fine Motor Playdough Activity Using Hammers

Last Updated on December 8, 2025 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: Put together a simple fine motor playdough activity that energetic children love using hammers and golf tees!

Playdough is one of our favorite ways to strengthen fine motor skills. It’s available every day during our free-choice centers time and often one of the first areas visited.

All that squishing and pulling is an important part of getting the small muscles in their fingers ready for future writing.

In addition to our usual playdough tools (such as rolling pins, pizza cutters, and dough cutters), I decided to put some hammers out to see how they would be enjoyed, along with golf tees.

Let’s just say it was a huge hit!

Fine Motor Playdough Using Hammers

I’ve shared many ways we’ve enjoyed playdough over the years, such as:

I love to watch their fingers work as they manipulate the dough with tools and other accessories.

Supplies

We also had our regular tools available – rolling pins, pizza cutters, and wooden knives.

Homemade Playdough

You can certainly purchase playdough, but I have always preferred homemade.

You can find my favorite playdough recipe in this post.

Setting It Up

I set up all of our centers before the children arrive, since centers time is the first thing we do upon arrival.

Our playdough table has five chairs, so I use some sort of placemat or acrylic mirrors at each spot.

I place a ball of playdough at each spot and then put the tools on the table.

For this activity I added hammers at each spot and some golf tees.

The Activity

My students had already explored using hammers when we hammered tees into pumpkins during our pumpkin theme.

If this is the first time your children have used hammers, make sure to show them how to place the tee into the playdough, aiming the head of the hammer at the golf tee and hitting it.

Not only is this a fine motor activity, but it also works on hand-eye coordination because the children realize they must focus before striking the hammer, otherwise they won’t hit the golf tee.