Fine motor skills Christmas activities

With the recent news that a professor of surgery has warned new surgery students have lost dexterity in recent years, working on fine motor skills becomes even more important. It is especially important that those of us working in early years and primary education work on this and strengthen the hand muscles so that children can first be as independent as possible but secondly have the dexterity they need for future careers.
(Here is a link to an article if anyone wants to read about the professor's warnings. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-46019429 )

So, with that in mind here are some fun Christmas based activities I have been using to support my children working on their fine motor skills!

Christmas Tree Threading

Use some felt to cut out Christmas tree shapes and a hole punch to make some holes. You can either do this prior to the activity yourself or have your children work on their cutting and hole punching skills alongside their threading skills! Then provide some bright sparkly pipecleaners and let the children thread them into the holes to create tinsel decorated Christmas tree decorations. 

Pom Pom sorting activities using children's tweezers

Simply give your children some jumbo children's tweezers, multi coloured pom pom balls and some cups to sort them into. Then let them use their fine motor skills to pick the pom poms up and sort them. 

Christmas Bauble CVC words

Cut out and hole punch the baubles with pictures and letters on. Then have your children lace the letters together with a picture to spell the CVC word. You can of course have the children cut the baubles out themselves if you want to work on scissor skills as well as threading skills. Once they have completed the words they can then hang them up to decorate a Christmas tree or a classroom.
Click to see this activity available in my TpT store: CVC Spelling Christmas Baubles