Engage young learners with this hands-on Easter-themed fine motor activity. This interactive resource is designed to strengthen fine motor skills as students decorate Easter eggs using tweezers and craft materials or play dough. Perfect for building hand strength, coordination, and creativity, this activity is an engaging way to support early childhood development during Easter celebrations.

How to Complete:

1. Print the Easter egg mats on thick cardstock for durability. We recommend placing them in write-and-wipe sleeves. Gather tweezers or tongs and materials such as pom-poms, beads, sequins, pipe cleaners, play dough or buttons.
2. Students will use tweezers or tongs (or fingers) to carefully pick up and place materials onto the egg designs, so they cover the white dotted lines and dots. If using play dough, students can roll small pieces and press them onto the patterns to create textured decorations. Encourage students to follow the dotted lines and patterns while adding materials to enhance precision.
3. The action of squeezing tweezers to pick up and place small objects or pinching, rolling and shaping play dough will help to strengthen the small muscles in the hands and fingers whilst simultaneously developing hand-eye and bilateral coordination, which is essential for daily tasks, such as using tools, tying shoelaces or buttoning shirts.

Additional Tips:

1. Introduce a variety of materials, such as pipe cleaners, pom poms, buttons, felt, or tissue paper, to explore different textures.
2. If students struggle with using tweezers, provide tongs before transitioning to tweezers for a progressive challenge.

Extension Ideas:

1. Sorting & Counting: Have students sort and count the materials used, reinforcing early numeracy skills.
2. Easter Patterns: Ask students to follow a pattern or sequence when placing decorations to integrate early algebra skills.

This fine motor activity is an engaging way to develop essential early childhood skills while celebrating Easter.