Searching for an engaging, purposeful and low-prep tabletop activity that will provide your students with the opportunity to develop their fine motor skills? Our Hide the Zoo Animalsresource is just what you need!

To prepare this task, simply print the included templates and provide assorted green pom poms and tweezers or tongs. Your students will love the challenge of helping the animals to camouflage with their lush surroundings by covering them with green pom poms! Use this zoo animal-themed activity to help your students develop their spatial awareness and fine motor skills, including hand and finger strength, pincer grip, control and hand-eye coordination as they use tweezers to pick up one pom pom at a time and strategically place it over the zoo animal on their mat.

This hands-on resource includes detailed instructions with a list of required equipment and 12 activity mats (includes single and multiple animal options). We recommend printing the mats on thick card for longevity.

As students complete this activity, we recommend making observations of how they engage with and complete the task, as this will help you to assess their fine motor development. For example, do they show a preference for using one hand to hold the tweezers, are they applying a pincer grip when holding tweezers, are they able to control their hand movements, are they strategic in the placement of their pom poms, are their movements smooth and controlled and can they complete the task at a reasonable pace?

This engaging fine motor activity is a part of our Working at the Zoo: Fine Motor Skills Play Tray resource.