Fall Fine Motor Fun with a Muffin Tin

Fine motor activities are so important for toddlers, preschoolers, and even older kids. They’re crucial for getting ready for handwriting, practicing hand-eye coordination, and preparing for many practical life tasks that your kids will do throughout their lives.

Sounds like a whole lot of learning going on that’s bound to be sort of boring, right? Not at all! There are a ton of ways to make it fun with the simplest materials.

Today, I have some Fall Fine Motor Fun with a Muffin Tin for you that my toddler adored and that his sister, who’s in kindergarten, also had a lot of fun with.

Materials for Fall Fine Motor Fun with a Muffin Tin

• Muffin tin.
• Small plastic fall-related items: We had red leaves and yellow acorns. {Make sure they’re not too small if your kids still mouth items. Close supervision is definitely a must.}
• One or more bowls.
• Kitchen tools (optional).

This activity is really very easy to set up. I put a muffin tin and two bowls on the table and placed the yellow acorns in one of the bowls. That was all N needed to know to dive right in.

He spent quite a bit of time working with this tea strainer picking up acorns, dumping them back in the bowl, picking them up again, transferring them to the muffin tin, etc.

Dumping all of the acorns into one cavity in the muffin tin made a great noise – and they almost kind of fit 😉

He rearranged the pumpkins in the muffin tin with his fingers

and a spoon.

He even used the bottom of the muffin tin in creative ways 🙂

We did this activity in the morning while E was still asleep, but when she woke up, she couldn’t wait to stick her hands in, too.

This led to both of them playing together,

adding a box of red plastic leaves that we had lying around, and trying to fit the maximum number of kitchen tools into that little bowl 😉

The kids actually did more with this simple set up than I’d ever expected. Sometimes, you just have to let them lose and see what happens 🙂

If you’re looking for more fall activities, try this round-up of Preschool Fall Activities or my Fall Activities for Kids landing page!

Tina

Hi, I’m Tina! I have a toddler and a preschooler, and I blog at Simple Fun for Kids where I share printables and simple ideas for crafts, sensory, science, and art activities for kindergartners, preschoolers, toddlers, and babies.
We're from Germany but currently live in Texas. Come on over to get to know my kids, my blog, and me better!