Ideas for fine motor skills?

[BeachBum]

My son (22 mo) gets frustrated so easily. He is not good at puzzles or shape sorters and does not enjoy doing them. When he doesn't get it in the first time he gets very angry and quits. This is such bad trait and I want to encourage him without pushing him to do something he hates.
He does enjoy lacing beads and play dough.

I really want to encourage his fine motor skills--with activities he enjoys. Does anyone have suggestions of things that would help with fine motor that are different from puzzles/shape sorters.

thanks!

[oliviasmomma]

DD loves this:

http://www.growingtreetoys.com/product/4313

I can't say enough about it!

This is also a big hit:

http://www.growingtreetoys.com/product/4536

Her other, low tech favorite, was penne pasta and straws, she likes to string the pasta onto the straws. Last year she tested behind on her small motor skills, now at 26mo, she tests at the 3 year old level :)

[sidmand]

I have the same snake the PP mentioned and DS likes it, but depending upon how much your son likes to throw things...mine does and there are some hard wooden balls here that can be quite painful when chucked across the room!

I saw these on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000IVHU/ref=pd_sl_aw_aiw-1_toy_19244564_13

and DS just worked with some lacing buttons that looked a bit different (bigger buttons and bigger lacing string) that he did very well with.

Also some of the playdough accessories require some fine motor skills. There's a little scissors and knife. I'm not sure what you have (we have way too much playdough!).

We are in Early Intervention and DS did get very very frustrated with the shape sorter for awhile. He got the circle fairly easily and then would try and jam all the shapes through the circle and when they didn't fit he would throw it at you or push the whole toy away, but he's come along way fairly quickly. He did like playing with it though (until he got frustrated). We also had a few different ones. One was fairly simple, just had three shapes and made a cool noise when they went in correctly that he really liked...don't mean for you to push, but maybe keep trying some of those things just for a short time and then move on.

Debbie
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[NewGrandma]

My grandson received Early Intervention OT for six months for a slight delay in his fine motor skills. It was while he was at my house and I closely observed everything she did with him. Some of the super simple things that the OT did with him were taking the tall wipes containers (antibacterial) and gave him pennies and beans to put in the hole. You can enlarge the hole so he can fairly easily put them in. As it becomes easier you can get another one and use the hole that is already there. I also used the Pampers wipes pop up containers and gave him poker chips to put in the hole. Pom pom balls or cotton balls were also good in both types. Needless to say, this wasn't something he could be allowed to do alone because everything went in his mouth!

If you still have the plastic containers that baby food come in they are excellent for nesting/stacking. He too hated the stacking because it was so difficult for him. I put stickers on the bottoms which incouraged him to pull them apart to see what was on them. Pulling apart was more difficult but excellent as getting him to use both hands. The stacking was easy and always a success which built his confidence.

Another thing was he loved to do was I had a rubbermaid container that I filled with uncooked lima beans. I gave him small spoons, scoops, and containers to fill with the beans. He loved to sit in the container and we would play for a long time. Playing in a sandbox is the same concept. Both are excellent for fine motor skills.

We too loved Playdoh. I would roll little balls and give him birthday candles to stick into each ball. He loved that!

I have tons more ideas of super simple fine motor activities and some with purchased toys. I tried to look at every toy he owned and to see activities in it that weren't the obvious.

Please feel free to email me if you need any more ideas.

Linda