These fun finger games are the perfect way to target a range of fine motor skills in younger children.
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Kids use their hands a lot for all kinds of child development skills. From grasping a pencil to catching a ball, they need their little hands and fingers to be strong and coordinated.
In previous posts, we’ve written about in-hand manipulation skills and we’ve provided many ways to help improve hand strength in kids. We’ve even showed off one of our favorite fine motor activities…finger gymnastics!
Today, we’re going to round up some fun and easy finger games that are perfect for working on dexterity, finger isolation, and more!
1 || Hot Hands
For this simple game, one child places his hands out, palms up. The opposing person places her hands (palms down), on top of the first person’s hands. The player whose hands are on the bottom has to move both hands as quickly as possible to try to tap the backs of both of his opponent’s hands before she pulls them away.
2 || Patty Cake
Another childhood favorite, patty cake is simple and fun. This video demonstration is perfect!
3 || Rock Paper Scissors
We use this one to solve a lot of “who goes first” arguments in our house.
A rock is a fisted hand, paper is a flat hand and scissors is the index finger and middle finger presented in a “V” to look like scissors!
Each player pounds their fist 3 times on the table or in the air and, on 3, each player presents their object (rock, paper or scissors). Rock loses to paper. Paper loses to scissors. Scissors lose to rock.
4 || Thumb War
One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war! Make a fist, link with a partner using your fingers and then wrestle those thumbs until someone pins a thumb for a count of 3! Want to make things even more fun? Check out these thumb wrestling temporary finger tattoos or this awesome thumb wrestling ring!
5 || Itsy Bitsy Spider
A childhood classic, this game is great for coordination! Here’s how to play:
To be the spider, touch the tip of one hand’s index finger to the tip of the other hand’s thumb. Alternate from hand to hand with index to thumb in a spider-like, walking manner by twisting each hand to be on top.
To complete all of the hand movements in the song, follow along with this great tutorial that has picture demonstrations.
6 || Bottom’s Up
This game is great for a group of a few kids to play together. One child places his or her hand on the table or other surface.
Each of the other kids then places both of their hands on top of the first person’s hands, making a big stack of hands. Whoever’s hand is on the bottom has to quickly pull it out from under the stack and place it on top!
There is really no winner to this one, the game simply continues as the kids go on pulling out the bottom hand and stacking it at the top of the pile!
Alternatively, the starting kid can position his hand in a “thumbs up” position, with the next child grabbing onto his thumb, also leaving his thumb up. All of the kids add their hands in this “thumbs up” configuration and then the person on the bottom has to pull their thumb out and grab onto the top person’s thumb.
If you like these ideas, be sure to check out these classic hand clapping games and these other awesome hand games for cognitive and motor skills!
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WOW, thanks for these ideas! I have been trying to come up with a fun way to keep the kids entertained as they take turns jumping on the trampoline. These games are super simple to learn and keep the kids engaged, thanks again for the great ideas and keep up the amazing work on your blog!
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