At Discover Learning, our School Readiness Program is built upon a multi-sensory approach to learning. For our School Readiness children, developing fine motor skills, such as pincer control, is essential for their progression throughout Kindergarten.

School Readiness children need to develop certain skills to make sure they are ‘school ready’:

Social skills: Being able to get along with other children, demonstrate basic manners, assert themselves, and being able to play independently as well as with other School Readiness children.

Language skills: Being able to talk and listen to adults and other School Readiness children, speak clearly, communicate needs, understand stories, and begin to identify some letters and sounds.

Cognitive skills: Basic number sense, basic thinking skills, being able to wait and take turns.

Physical health and Coordination: Basic health, fine motor skills (such as being able to grip a pencil and turn pages in a book) and physical coordination (being able to run, jump, climb, and play ball).

Independence: Basic skills to manage their needs without adult supervision, such as going to the toilet, dressing, unwrapping their lunch and managing their belongings.

In our Education and Tutoring Centre, our School Readiness children are exposed to a range of activities which target developing muscle strength in their fingers, to enable them to pick up small items between their thumb and index finger (pincer grip). The following activities can be easily replicated in the home, and makes early learning a fun and memorable experience for both you and your child!

Kinesthetic Sight Words:

Salt writing is a wonderful activity which can enhance your child’s fine motor skills. This is an essential skill for our School Readiness children. All you need to do is place a coloured sheet of paper at the bottom of a tray, put a scoop of salt in, and spread it out. Naturally, children will start by using their fingers to imitate letters. However, using their index finger can be quite a challenge, and therefore it takes self-control to avoid putting their whole hand in! As your child gains confidence and further enhances their muscle control in their fingers, they can start to use different tools, for example, stiff paint brushes.

Sight Word Finger Paint:

This is an effective sensory activity that provides yet another opportunity for your child to build their fine motor muscles. Simply, put some paint in a resealable bag and make sure that the bag is tightly sealed with duct tape! Your child can then use a Q-tip or their finger, to write letters and words on top of the bag. Our School Readiness children love this activity!

Fine Motor Sight Words:

This fine motor activity allows your child to develop their pincer grip, as they use plastic tweezers to place small pompoms on dotted lines to form sight words. Of course alternative materials can be used, or even food, such as mini marshmallows! As long as your child is able to use the tweezers independently, you can be as creative as you like!

Here at Discover Learning, we value activities that are visually engaging, interactive and promote a love of learning! Our School Readiness children thoroughly enjoy our hands-on activities!