Popsicle Stick Pairing is a fun game to help your child improve his fine motor skills. Timmy needs a little help with his grip, so this was an activity we enjoyed for a little while. He got tired of it pretty quickly, but it might work for you and your child!
For this grip and focus exercise, all you’ll need are popsicle sticks and colored markers. Simply draw half of a figure on one popsicle stick, and half of the same figure on another. When done, jumble up the sticks! The objective is for your child to put the pair together. 
The coordination of small muscles in your child’s hands and fingers are part of fine motor movements. Having strong fine motor skills is essential in completing tasks like writing, using eating utensils, threading beads, holding puzzle pieces, and more. Timmy’s had some challenge with his writing grip, so this was a fun exercise to do for fine motor skills practice. That is, until he completed all the puzzles and refused to put them together again. Haha!
Try this popsicle stick pairing exercise with your child. Let me know how it goes. If you’ve got tips on how to improve a child’s fine motor movements, please leave a comment too!
Hi! I'm Toni Tiu,
and I've been blogging at
at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.
ceemee
September 2, 2014 at 11:51 am (9 years ago)I want to try this! My son cannot write by himself yet. Don’t know if it’s because of this lack of fine motor skills or he lacks confidence.
ceemee´s last blog post ..Ogalala System In Play, Cymplified!
Toni
September 5, 2014 at 9:36 am (9 years ago)Hi Ceemee! Always wonderful to connect with you here in the blog or via e-mail. 😉 I believe my son using the iPad so much contributed to his weak grip. Practice makes perfect, and so for now he’s learning to be more confident about his grip. Whew.
A Gracious Life
September 2, 2014 at 9:11 pm (9 years ago)Great idea! The sticks look bright and happy. No wonder the game transcends that feeling too
A Gracious Life´s last blog post ..It’s the Captain’s Birthday!
Toni
September 5, 2014 at 9:36 am (9 years ago)I had fun drawing on the sticks. I think I had more fun drawing than my son had putting the pieces together, heehee.
Nadia
September 2, 2014 at 11:12 pm (9 years ago)Great idea, Toni! We’ll definitely try this exercise. You can work with clothespins too!
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Toni
September 5, 2014 at 9:38 am (9 years ago)Clothespins! Correct. Thanks for the reminder