It is a widely known fact that developing fine motor skills in a baby’s hands is very important. Precise, coordinated movements of the hands and fingers are necessary for a child to function fully: to write, draw, dress, and perform many everyday activities. In addition, scientists have long established that the development fine motor skills hands has a beneficial effect on the child. This is due to the fact that in the brain the nerve centers responsible for the movements of the fingers and hands are in close proximity to the areas of the brain responsible for the development of speech. Therefore, when the motor center is stimulated, the speech center begins to activate.
So how to develop fine motor skills? The following training options are used for this:
- games with small objects (beads, laces, locks, etc.);
- , accompanied by funny rhymes or songs;
- finger massage,
In today's article I would like to bring to your attention several games with small objects to train the motor skills of your baby's fingers, most of them are easy to do with your own hands. The games are designed for children aged 1 year and older. Watch the second part of the games here:
So let's get started
1. Peel a boiled egg
In my opinion, at the age of 1 year this activity is one of the best for the development of fine motor skills. Wonderful during this game a “pincer” or “pinching” grip develops , finger strength is trained. In addition, you don’t need to buy anything special for this lesson; you just need to boil an egg, which you always have in the refrigerator.
When I first suggested that my daughter clean a testicle, I honestly admit that I was sure that we wouldn’t succeed, because she was only a year old! She really didn’t immediately understand what was required of her, and why she should peel the egg at all, but when I suggested that she put the shells in a small bowl (since at that age she had a real passion for folding and laying out things), the matter immediately began to move forward, it acquired meaning for the daughter. Tasya enthusiastically began to clean the testicle, and I had to hold it - my daughter had not yet been able to clean and hold the testicle at the same time. Sometimes the shells fell, she carefully picked them up from the table and put them in a bowl. And since the pieces of the shell were very small, she had to make incredible efforts to grab them. And it seems to me that she was operating at the maximum of her motor skills. I have observed such a long retention of attention and interest in very small objects at this age, perhaps only in this game.
2. Tear off pieces of tape glued to the cube
The game is somewhat similar to peeling an egg. For it you need to prepare a little and glue strips of tape onto a large cube so that their edges stick out in different sides, and the baby could grab onto them. It will be much more interesting for the child not only to tear off the tape, but then also to stick it somewhere, so for this purpose, prepare a piece of paper or something similar in advance.
3. Unwrap items wrapped in foil
Wrap some small toy in foil and invite your baby to see who is hiding inside the shiny lump. At the same time, leave a small edge of the foil sticking out so that the baby has something to grab onto.
4. Push coinsto the piggy bank
Pushing small coins into a narrow hole is the best way to train motor skills. It is not as simple as it seems at first glance - to guide the coin so that it fits into a narrow hole.
5. Select small items from cereals
I wrote more about this game in, so I won’t dwell on it here.
6. Master screw caps and various fasteners: zippers, Velcro, etc.
Important! All activities with small objects must be carried out under the supervision of adults, so that the baby does not put any small part in his mouth or nose. After classes, be sure to remove small objects from your baby’s reach.
That's all for now. You can subscribe to new blog articles here: Instagram, VKontakte, Facebook. Also be sure to check out the article where 8 more games for developing fine motor skills for children aged 1 year and older are published:
We bring to your attention children's games aimed at developing fine motor skills in children of early and early childhood. preschool age using objects and materials that are within walking distance. This will not only save the family budget, but also spend more time with the child.
Games for children 0+
Massage of the hand and fingers. For greater effect, massage with nursery rhymes, for example, “Magpie-Crow”;
Let your child feel objects with different textures, sizes and temperatures: pieces of ice, walnut, a prickly rubber ball, a warm metal bowl, a fur hat, etc.). To stimulate tactile sensations, do.
Homemade photo frames with materials of different textures are an excellent tool for massaging children's palms.
Tie different pieces of fabric, ribbons, pompoms, etc. to the hoop. The game evokes a grasping reflex and encourages the baby to active actions in a prone position. These movements strengthen the muscles of the hands and fingers and promote the development of fine motor skills.
Suggest threading large pasta onto straws/skewers.
WE RECOMMEND
Teach your child to make balls and sausages from plasticine, and then flatten them with your finger, show that you can draw on plasticine with a toothpick or special tools.
Play finger games or finger theater, for example, based on the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood (printable template).
Place in a bowl of water small toys or any small objects, suggest catching them with your hands, a spoon or a strainer.
Games for children 4+
Using a thread and a needle, make beads from rowan berries, small pasta, foil balls or real beads. Pasta can be pre-colored.
To develop fine motor skills, practice winding yarn into a ball or winding thread onto a spool.
Make your own lacing (templates): cut out the outlines of any object (car, cloud, apple) from cardboard, make holes along the outline using a hole punch, tie a bright thick thread to the ear stick and show what needs to be done. Surprisingly, children are much more interested in such homemade lacing than their store-bought counterparts.
Think over the menu in such a way as to involve your child in cooking as much as possible: let him whisk, peel boiled eggs, cut a banana, etc.
Practice tying bows, different types of knots, braiding hair and tying shoes.
Helps develop fine motor skills:
Games with all kinds of tweezers. For example, you need to arrange the beads on a soap stand using tweezers. 
Games with a pipette. We offer a game with Lego blocks. The challenge for children is to fill each hole with water as much as possible without spilling a drop.
Pasting small stickers.
Working with scissors. Play hair salon.
Modeling. See activity ideas.
Games with rubber bands (for weaving bracelets). See how to make an educational game “Math Tablet”.
Puzzles. You can take simple photos yourself.
Mosaic. Especially, children will love to do
Screwing the lids. For example, you need to select lids for jars.
Lego and other construction sets with small parts.
All kinds of transfusion of liquids and pouring of bulk materials from one container to another.
Creative activity using a figured hole punch (in,).
Exercise equipment for developing fine motor skills
Educational game “Developing basic skills” (c).
The Developing Essential Skills board is both a puzzle and a frame with clasps. Will help your baby learn how to fasten buttons, belts, zippers, and lace shoes. In addition, during the game, hand motor skills and logical thinking develop.
Book-simulator “I dress myself” (in, in).
The training book “I Dress Myself” will help your child develop fine motor skills, speech skills and independence. Your baby will learn to: tie shoelaces, fasten zippers, buttons, Velcro and buckles.
Books on developing fine motor skills
We offer a selection of useful and exciting books for children that will help develop the skills necessary to master writing. (Click on the image for details).
Workbooks for the development of fine motor skills
Publishing house "I can":
Publishing house "Prof-Press":
Publishing house "Clover Media Group":
Albums for the development of fine motor skills
Recipes for kids
More ideas for games to develop fine motor skills can be seen in!
Do not forget that in addition to exercises for developing the muscles of the hand, it is important to regularly train the muscles of the forearms and shoulders, because writing is a monotonous process in which the whole hand is involved, and not just the fingers, and long-term writing at school will be easier for a trained child. Therefore, do not forget about active walks, ball games, banal exercises, and exercises in the pool.
Development of fine motor skills! How many articles and publications have been written about her! As soon as a child is born, all experts unanimously repeat that it is necessary to take care of the child, special attention, focusing on hand motor skills! In this article, I decided not to repeat myself, talking about the usefulness of this activity, but simply present an assortment of games that develop the motor skills of the baby’s fingers.
35 games to develop fine motor skills
1. Give your child disposable cocktail sticks and ask them to insert them into the holes in the colander.
2. The game is very similar to the previous one! The only difference is that instead of cocktail sticks, you will give your child ear sticks. Kids love using ear sticks to fill all the holes in the colander. An excellent game for developing fine motor skills.
3. Another fun game for fine motor skills: distributing colored pom-poms into the cells of a baking dish. This game is for children who learn the names of colors and know their differences.
You give your baby a lot of multi-colored pompoms, and he puts them into cells, sorting them by color.
4. To play you will need:
- egg container
- cocktail sticks (preferably multi-colored)
- rolls from under toilet paper, cut into rings.
Poke holes in each egg well. Have your little one insert cocktail sticks into them and then put on rings cut from toilet paper rolls.
5. Prepare everything you need for this game! Stick a ball of plasticine onto a modeling board and insert a kebab stick or skewer into it. Ask your little one to put the cookie rings on it as shown in the picture.
6. The game is very similar to the previous game, only it is attached to a lump of plasticine cocktail straw and the baby strings raw pasta onto it.
7. Playing outside will help your child learn colors, develop attention, coordination and motor skills!
Draw circles on the asphalt with multi-colored crayons and ask your child to stand in a circle of the color you named.
8. Give it to your toddler plastic bottle and ask her to fill it with colorful pompoms, pieces of fuzzy wire, colored ribbons, etc.
9. In a vertical position, a short distance from the floor, attach or glue a cardboard paper towel tube to the wall. Place an empty container or container underneath. The game is that the baby will fill the container by throwing pompoms into the pipe.
10. The game is that the child will take cubes with culinary tongs and throw them into a plastic jar or container
11. Another version of the game is to scatter multi-colored pom-poms on a tray, and then ask the baby to collect them in a container.
12. Children really like to play with water, so I suggest organizing a water game.
Place two containers and pour water into one of them.
Give your child a medicine bulb and let him use it to pour water from one container to another.
13. The baby himself will take an active part in preparing for this game! Give the young artist paints and a brush to paint the play containers. When the paint is dry, cut holes in the lids in the form of a small and large rectangle. The baby will fill the container with the smaller rectangle with ice cream sticks, and the container with the larger rectangle will be filled with lemonade or juice lids.
14. Attention! While playing, your baby may get dirty with paint! The essence of the game is that the young artist will dip a washcloth in multi-colored paints and make prints on paper or cardboard.
15. Game “Stringing on a rope”
Cut a cardboard tube from toilet paper or paper towels into cylinders of equal length. Paint them with colorful paints. The child should also participate in the coloring process.
Then give your baby a rope and ask him to string colorful cylinders on it. You name the color sequence or the child decides!
16. Another game where your baby can learn to string shapes on a rope! To do this, cut out shapes in the form of coils from foam rubber and ask the little one to string them on a rope.
17. Even a six-month-old child will like the game. In the presence of an adult, the baby takes multi-colored pompoms, bottle caps, large buttons from a plate or tray and throws them into the container through the hole in the lid.
18. The baby inserts pieces of colored fuzzy wire into the hole of the empty hodgepodge. In this way, fine motor skills of the hands develop.
19. Teach your child to pinch clothespins! To do this, take a bucket and the baby will pinch clothespins to its upper edge.
20. We teach the baby to use lightning. To do this, glue several multi-colored zippers to the cardboard and show your little one how to unfasten and fasten a zipper correctly.
21. The game is that the baby puts multi-colored plastic eggs into an egg container. This way he learns colors and develops hand motor skills! You can take these eggs from Kinder Surprise.
22. A game during which the baby learns colors and also learns how to fasten clothespins.
Paint a sheet of cardboard with colorful stripes. Then paint the clothespins in the same colors. When the paint is dry, ask your child to pinch the clothespin so that its color matches the color of the stripe.
23. The baby learns to put a button in a hole. For this game, cut colorful fabrics into small pieces and make a cut in the middle. Have your child thread the button through the hole.
24. Game “String buttons on a string”! To do this, take a large number of large buttons and teach your baby to string them on a lace.
25. Game “Penetrate the thread into the holes of the canvas”
Give your child a thread or thin cord and show him how to thread it through the large holes in the fabric.
26. Game “Wrap objects or toys in foil”
To do this, give your child foil and ask him to wrap a toy or object in it! For example, show how to do it correctly!
27. Playing with colorful feathers.
Together with your baby, paint the feathers in different colors and draw small multi-colored circles on paper. The game is that the little one inserts a feather into the circle that matches the color of the feather.
28. Game “Transferring small objects from one container to another.”
To play, you can take a container, a plastic bottle and wine corks. Ask your little one to transfer the corks from one container to the second.
29. Game “Attaching Magnets”
Give your little one a large number of beautiful, bright magnets and show them how to attach them to any surface, such as a plastic bowl. Then the baby himself will play with the magnets, attaching them and tearing them off.
30. For this game you will need cotton wool, tweezers and a container for freezing water. Explain to your child that he will need to take the cotton wool with tweezers and transfer it to the cells of the container.
31. Game "Children's bowling"
Print out photographs of family members on your computer, roll them up and glue them together at the edges. Place them vertically on the table. The kid will have to knock down these cylinders with a ball.
32. Sports exercises on pillows
The baby lays out the pillows in one line, and then jumps on them, crawls, etc.
33. A game for orientation, logic and the development of hand motor skills.
Unscrew the caps from different tubes, bottles, etc., place them in a chaotic order, and then ask your baby to screw the caps on each container. Moreover, the lid must match the container.
34. We learn to attach paper clips, and also learn colors
To play, you will need colored paper clips and circles cut out of colored paper. Ask your child to attach paperclips to the circles so that their colors match.
35. Game “Learning to glue stickers”
Print or draw geometric shapes on a piece of paper, and then ask your child to put stickers on them. First, show us how to do it correctly.
Children really like this game!
Card index of games for developing fine motor skillsGoals:
- stimulation of children's speech activity, speech development;
- development of finger movements, coordination of movements, as well as learning and training in distinguishing and matching colors;
- development of fine motor skills of the three main fingers: thumb, index and middle;
- preparing the hand for writing;
- development of sensorimotor hand coordination;
- influence on the general intellectual development child (indirectly);
- development of lacing skills (lacing, tying a lace into a bow)
- development of spatial orientation, promoting understanding of the concepts: “above”, “below”, “right”, “left”;
- development of attention, perception, thinking;
- development of creative abilities.
Games with a pencil.
Equipment: pencil
- The children are given faceted pencils. The child places the pencil between the palms and rotates it, moving it from the base of the palms to the tips of the fingers.
- Hold the pencil with each bent finger. Hold the pencil with your fingers positioned like this: index and ring fingers on top, middle and little fingers on the bottom.
Games with laces.
- Place a string or cord in a zigzag pattern on the table and offer the child:
- jump over the bends of the “stream” with each finger;
- “walk” along a ladder made of lace;
- “Weaving” from a lace pattern: wrap the tip of the lace around the little finger, then draw it from below under the ring finger, from above to the middle finger, from below to the index finger, from above to the thumb, and back - in the opposite order.
- Various lacing.
- Untangle knots that “accidentally” tied on the lace (not too tight). You can arrange a competition “Who can untie the knot the fastest.”
Games with counting sticks.
Equipment: counting sticks, cards with images of objects.
- Laying out geometric shapes.
- Making patterns.
- Laying out items.
Games to develop tactile memory.
Target: Help you remember the sensations of touching various surfaces, learn to find the exact words to define your feelings.
Material: cards with different surfaces to the touch
Fur
Sandpaper
Bike (flannel)
Wax drops
Zigzag rope
Whole sticks
Broken sticks
Velvet
Velveteen
Foil
Cellophane
1 .“what does it look like”
Invite your child to close his eyes, touch each card and try to say what its surface resembles.
- « Who is which to the touch"
Ask the child to say which person this or that card resembles. There can be a wide variety of associations here.
- "Fly away, grief"
Ask them to arrange the boards so that the most unpleasant one is at the beginning of the row, and the most pleasant one at the end. Ask what events (unpleasant or pleasant, sad or joyful) this or that tablet reminds you of.
Games with clothespins.
Equipment: different types of clothespins, basics for creating shapes.
Target: 1.Development of fine motor skills.
- formation and development of task-appropriate mathematical representations(perception of color, shape, size, quantitative and spatial relationships);
- development of a sense of rhythm;
- development of constructive thinking;
- creating a positive attitude at work.
Working with mosaics
Equipment: mosaic various types, samples
laid out figures.
Lay out several columns of plates of the same color. Lay out a mosaic design with a sample in front of your eyes. Make your own drawing based on past experience.
Pasta, peas, beans,
different seeds.
- "Cinderella": add beans and peas (or different types pasta) into the same container and ask the child to separate one from the other.
Complicated option: ask the child to take
peas large and medium, large and ring, large and little fingers.
- Transfer pasta, beans or peas from one container to another using a spoon. The spoon should be deep so as not to spill the materials.
- “Kneading the dough.” Immerse the child's hands in a bowl with these materials and pretend to knead dough while looking for a small toy.
A." Who will collect the most beans??" - collect the beans in a bottle with a wide and narrow neck. Screwing caps on bottles.
- "Beads for my beloved grandmother."You will need approximately 200g of large gap pasta and a long string. Task: string the pasta onto a string.
- "Feed the Doll."Drawn under the cork cap
funny face, and instead of a mouth there is a hole with a diameter of 1-1.5 cm (the edges are treated with tape). Invite your child: "Come on
Let's feed the doll some pasta!" These dolls especially love shells and horns.
Find the prize!
Equipment: bright candy wrappers and small interesting items (badges, decorations, Kinder surprise toys, etc.).
The prepared items must be wrapped in candy wrappers, after which one of them is unwrapped in front of the child, showing the surprise. The task is to unwrap the remaining “candy” and carefully fold the candy wrappers.
Buttons
Equipment: buttons with large holes, lace
- "Funny snake."Offer to string buttons on a lace. For variety, you can add unnecessary keys, rings, and bill knuckles. It is important that, while stringing, the child feels the difference in texture with his fingers - this way, tactile receptors will be stimulated.
- « Button fasteners" Buttons of different sizes are sewn onto a piece of fabric. Then, on scraps slightly larger than buttons, make slits for fasteners. Button up the shapes.
- Target: The game develops attention and perception.
- Mix several different sets of buttons and have your child sort them.
- Arrange the buttons in a row with a certain pattern.
- Target: The game develops hand-eye coordination.
Place buttons in piles (towers). Children compete to see whose pile will be higher.
- Game "Button".
Target: development of memory, spatial perception and thinking.
Two people play. In front of them lie two identical sets of buttons, in each of which not a single button is repeated. Each player has a playing field - it is a square divided into cells. The player who starts the game places 3 buttons on his field, the second player must look and remember where each button is. After this, the first player covers his playing field with a piece of paper, and the second must repeat the same arrangement of buttons on his field. The more cells and buttons used in the game, the more difficult the game becomes.
Modern parents begin to engage in the development of their child literally from the first days of his life. Pediatricians and psychologists recommend paying special attention to fine motor skills, as they are directly related to speech formation. Toy manufacturers have long picked up this idea and brought it to life, producing numerous educational toys. But many of them can be done with your own hands.
Why you need to develop fine motor skills
Many people know about the need to develop fine motor skills in children with early age. However, not everyone understands why this is needed and what such activities are.
Fine motor skills are the ability to perform precise movements with the hands and fingers. It is coordinated by the work of the nervous, muscular, skeletal and visual systems. Its development begins in the first months of a child’s life with looking at his own fingers and hands. Then the baby gradually learns to master them by picking up toys. Motor skills have a positive effect on manual dexterity, the formation of a student’s future handwriting, and reaction speed.
It has been established that the level of development of a child’s speech directly depends on the degree of formation of finger movements. In the human brain, the centers responsible for speech and motor skills are located nearby. Thus, when one area is stimulated, the other is also activated.
DIY toys for developing fine motor skills in children
The shelves of children's stores offer a wide range of educational aids. It's no secret that their cost is quite high. For interested moms, making your own fine motor toys is a no-brainer. But the main thing will remain uniqueness - after all, they will be made with great tenderness.
Sensory bags
Sewing sensory bags with your own hands is not difficult at all. You will need thick fabric of different colors and textures and filler, which can be used as:
- pasta (spirals, shells, bows, tubes);
- cereals (millet, buckwheat, pearl barley, rice, oats);
- flour and starch;
- legumes (beans, peas, soybeans, beans, corn);
- sweets;
- nuts;
- natural materials (acorns, chestnuts, shells, pebbles);
- erasers of different shapes;
- cotton wool or padding polyester;
- buttons and beads.
Safety rules
Natural materials must be washed and dried thoroughly before use, and toys with food products must be stored in a dry place - pasta and cereals are afraid of moisture. The bags must be sewn or tied in such a way that the baby cannot get their contents under any circumstances.
Video: how to make sensory pads with your own hands
Photo gallery: homemade sensory bags
These bags are easy to make yourself, even without a sewing machine. 
Filling can be placed not only in fabric: dense balloons Tactile perception can be developed not only with the help of filler, but also by using fabrics of different textures 
Bags can be of different colors and sizes
Touch Cube
This toy is a cube, on the sides of which there are three-dimensional objects of different shapes and shades or applications made of various materials.
How to make a cube to develop fine motor skills
To make a sensory cube with your own hands, you will need:
- small pieces of fabric of different textures and colors;
- synthetic winterizer or foam rubber as filler;
- interlining;
- decorative elements (buttons, ribbons, ropes, rings, remnants of fabric, iron-on stickers);
- threads;
- iron;
- sewing machine.
From scraps of fabric (it can be cotton, silk, velvet and others) you need to cut out 6 squares with edges of the same size.
You need to cut squares from non-woven fabric with a side 1–1.5 cm smaller than from fabric. Non-woven blanks are placed on fabric ones and ironed - both parts will stick together, receive a rigid structure and will keep their shape well.
Each square is designed in accordance with an idea: these can be figurines of animals and birds, geometric shapes made of fur or felt, iron-on stickers, buttons, clasps and much more.
When the design is finished, you need to sew 4 squares into one strip.
The two remaining blanks are sewn to one of the squares at the top and bottom.
The seams are made along the contour of the non-woven edges and then secured. Next, the development is sewn together to form a cube.
On the last edge in the corner you need to leave a small hole and carefully turn the cube out through it. The toy is filled with foam rubber or padding polyester and sewn with a hidden seam. You can also place rustling paper or a bell in the cube along with the filler.
Video: how to make a developing cube with your own hands
Tactile pillow
Sensory (tactile) pillows are suitable for babies from 2–3 months to 3 years. It all depends on the set of elements that are placed on it. A small amount is suitable for the little ones simple materials. Before giving such a toy to a child, you need to make sure that all the elements are firmly attached: if the baby pulls one of them into his mouth, it should not come off.
For children from 1 year old, you can select and sew on more diverse and complex educational items: zippers, buttons, lacing, Velcro, bows and ropes that can be tied and pulled. You can make such a toy by using a ready-made pillow and sewing a pillowcase with decorative elements for it.
Photo gallery: sensory pillows of different shapes
This pillow is suitable for babies from 2-3 months. For the image on each of the squares, you can use a fabric of different texture 
This pillow is suitable for children from 1 year. It presents more complex elements: buttons, ribbons, bows, Velcro, clasp 
This turtle has several sides, each of which contains different developmental elements: carabiner, lacing, buttons. It is suitable for children from two years old
DIY pillow for developing fine motor skills
You can sew such a pillow at home.
To make it you will need:
- fabric - green (53x30 cm) and blue (83x20 cm);
- non-woven fabric (53×50 cm);
- fabric for the back side (50×55 cm);
- felt of different colors and floss threads to match;
- zipper 50 cm long;
- Velcro, buttons, braid, ribbons, hat elastic;
- Whatman paper, pencil;
- scissors;
- threads, needles and pins for sewing;
- pillow 45x50 cm.
Before you start sewing, you need to make a life-size sketch of the future pillow. You can use stencils for this.
Blue fabric is cut into two strips (the first - 30x20 cm for the pocket, the second - 53x20 cm for the base). A piece of green fabric and a blue flap prepared for the base are duplicated in size by non-woven fabric. The cutout for the pocket is folded in half.
A sun is made from yellow felt and ribbons: a circle with a diameter of 10 cm and 7–8 strips, each 10 cm long.
A felt sun with ribbon rays folded in half is pinned to the blue fabric prepared for the pocket.
The parts are sewn together sewing machine or by hand with small, neat stitches.
The elements of the main part (blue and green) and the pocket are connected together.
The base made of green fabric is located at the bottom, and the base made of blue fabric is located at the top. A pocket with a sun is placed in the upper left corner
Then the base and non-woven backing are pinned together and then stitched together.
Elements from the drawn sketch are cut out of felt.
“Felt waves” connect with each other. For each fish you need two parts (you can different colors) and an elastic band 10–15 cm long
Elastic bands with knots tied at the ends are placed between the elements of the fish and sewn together. The waves are laid out on the base (1–1.5 cm away from the edges for seam allowances).
Multi-colored fish are placed between the waves and fixed. The river elements are stitched first at the bottom, then along the entire perimeter.
The next element is wood. For each of them you need two crown blanks, one trunk and several apples or pears. The parts are sewn together, while the fruit is located inside between two crowns, and the trunk remains on top.
The blank for the railway is made of gray felt. Its size is 53x5 cm.
The railway is placed on a green clearing, which already has a river and trees.
To make a steam locomotive and a trailer, you will also need two elements each. The front parts are decorated using felt of different colors (wheels, windows, pipe). The parts are sewn at the top. A small button is attached to the rear edge of the train, and a small loop of ribbon is attached to the trailer. A 50 cm long ribbon is threaded through the unsewn edge, and knots are tied at the ends. The structure is located on the railway and fixed.
Clouds are made from blue felt - also two elements each. Through them, like through a train, a braid is passed, the ends of which are sewn to the blue part of the base.
Flowers are cut out of felt of different colors, Velcro is used for the middle, and placed in a green clearing next to the river. The seam is made along the edge of the Velcro, and the petals remain free.
Following the example of fish, a butterfly and a bee are made. On reverse side Velcro is sewn onto each figure so that insects can land on the flowers.
A lock is sewn into the middle of the piece of fabric that was chosen for the back of the pillowcase.
The front and back parts of the pillowcase are folded with the right sides inward and sewn around the perimeter, leaving seam allowances (1-1.5 cm on each side).
If you wish, you can make figurines of animals that will ride on the train. You can draw faces on them with a marker.
The pillowcase is ready. The baby can play with it, placing animals in a trailer, rolling a train along the rails, planting insects on flowers, looking for fruits on trees.
Testoplasty
Effectively promotes the development of motor ability of fingers. Plasticine, which all parents are familiar with since childhood, is dangerous to give to a one-year-old baby, because he tastes everything. Ordinary dough comes to the rescue. You can prepare it yourself from safe ingredients.
Play dough recipe
For it you will need finely ground salt and water (one part each), flour (2 parts).
- Combine salt and flour in a deep bowl, add water.
- Mix well.
- Knead the mixture to the consistency of soft plasticine.
If after cooking the dough sticks to your hands, you can add salt and flour to it (observing the proportion). If you get a crumbly texture, just increase the amount of water.
If your baby loves to sculpt, you can make a lot of dough at once. You need to store it in the refrigerator, pinching off the “working” pieces as needed. But such material should not be stored for a long time - over time, the dough loses its elasticity. For older children, you can add food coloring during the cooking process. After drying, the dough figures become hard and durable. They can be colored and used for games.
Photo gallery: do-it-yourself dough figurines
You can make such a basket together with your baby - it’s a fun, creative and useful activity. 
You can make figures of your child’s favorite animals from the dough. 
Dried crafts can be painted with acrylic paints 
From the figures you can create whole pictures and use them to decorate a child’s room.
Collapsible elements
Playing with small details develops motor skills very well.
Felt coats
All large parts on such samples (pockets, sleeves and even collar) are removable. The child himself will be able to create interesting models by combining colors. Such toys are suitable for children from two years old.
Math strings
When your baby begins to show interest in numbers, you can offer him math strings. They not only develop fine motor skills well, but also help to learn counting.
Video: didactic games with shurkas
Lacing
Such devices are great for improving motor activity fingers and arms. After all, you don’t just need to take a multi-colored rope - it must fall into a small hole.
Simple lacing can be made from any safe surface: a wooden plank, a plastic lid or regular thick cardboard. On them, using a screwdriver heated on a candle or an awl, you need to make holes with a diameter of 5 mm in a random order.
An even easier way to keep your child busy with lacing is to use a colander.
More complex lacing can be made in any shape. This will require a little more time, imagination and material.
Sorters
Sorters, in addition to fine motor skills, allow you to develop perseverance, attentiveness and intelligence in your baby. Making them yourself is also possible, although a little more difficult than lacing or mathematical laces.
For the sorter you will need carton and a few small toys different shapes. On one side of the box you need to cut holes corresponding to the shapes of the selected items, only a little larger in size.
Photo gallery: DIY sorters
Round holes are cut slightly larger than the plastic caps 
This original large sorter is suitable for babies who can already walk. 
For the most simple option for a homemade sorter you will need a box and cardboard blanks
Educational stands - universal didactic devices
An educational stand can combine elements of all the described items and games.
To make such a board, you can attach any items that you find in the house to a sheet of fiberboard or an unnecessary tabletop:
- bolts,
- locks,
- sockets with plugs attached to them,
- switches of different sizes and shapes,
- door hooks,
- bolts,
- coat hooks,
- old rotary telephone
- bell on a string,
- glockenspiel.
Over time, existing items can be replaced with new ones, maintaining the child’s interest in the game.
Educational books
Educational books are a great pleasure for children of any age, starting from the moment when the child can sit independently.
You can make a book based on your child’s favorite fairy tale
Video: handmade educational books
Foot massage mat
Fine motor skills are the development of not only hands, but also toes. Orthopedists talk about the positive effect of a child walking barefoot on different surfaces. In summer it is easier to do this - you can walk on sand, grass, pebbles. And in other seasons, miracle rugs will come in handy: small flat stones are sewn or glued onto thick fabric, plastic lids from bottles, buttons and much more.
Photo gallery: homemade massage mats
This rug combines materials that give different sensations children's feet 
Pebbles are glued to a carpet base 
You can make a massage mat from many materials, including plastic covers.
The development of fine motor skills in a child is possible without expensive store-bought toys. There are always many objects in the house that are interesting to children. Joint family creativity gives an amazing feeling of closeness, and the child’s delight and success are even more pleasing.
