Fine Motor Snowflake Art for Preschoolers

Last Updated on January 19, 2022 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: This is one of the easiest ways to make snowflake art, and it builds fine motor skills, too. Preschoolers love painting the sticks and then adding small buttons and beads. Makes a fun window display, too!

Making snowflakes is always a fun part of our snow and ice theme.

I’ve shared how we’ve made them with seed beads, and also with tissue paper and watercolors.

This year I decided to use some of the many craft sticks I have in my storage closet, and I wanted it to involve paint and then adding small pieces. (This is where the fine motor part comes in.)

It’s very similar to the large snowflakes that we made out of paint sticks. In fact, I hung these with them in our classroom window for a fun winter display!

Fine Motor Snowflake Art for Preschoolers

What we used:

• Craft sticks
• Blue paint (I used blue and white because I always love a little color mixing)
• Small pieces such as pom poms, buttons, and snowflake confetti

Prepping the activity:

Take 3 of the craft sticks and glue together, to form a snowflake design.

Step 1: Painting the Snowflakes

Pour the paint into containers, grab your paintbrushes, and set everything in your art space.

As I mentioned earlier, I love using 2 different colors so the children can first mix them together.

Invite them to have fun painting the wood! Then let the painted snowflakes completely dry. This ended up being a 2-day activity.

Step 2: Adding the Small Pieces

I gathered my small buttons, snowflake confetti, pom poms, and other small pieces.

I placed everything on our art table.

I placed the painted snowflakes on the table along with sprinkles of the small pieces.

Once the glue was on the painted snowflakes, the children could pinch the small pieces (fine motor!) and place them on top of the glue.

Some children put a lot of small pieces on their snowflakes. Others, not as much. That’s what makes each snowflake a bit different!

How to adapt this snowflake art for toddlers:

Rather than buttons, confetti, and other small pieces, give your toddlers pom poms.

Our 2 year olds love working with pom poms because they fit nicely in their small hands and have a nice soft texture.

Hanging the snowflake art:

Take a piece of string or yarn and make a loop, gluing each end of the loop to the back of the snowflake.

Such a fun winter window display!

We paired some of them with our large wooden snowflakes, too!

More preschool winter activities:

17 Fun Winter Literacy Activities

The Best Preschool Winter Circle Time Ideas

25 Preschool Penguin Activities that are Fun