Learn Fine Motor Skills with the Help of Food

Disclosure: I received this awesome Minion sandwich cutter as a part of a campaign with The Social Butterfly Co. and FunBites. All thoughts and opinions expressed are mine and my family’s own.

In case you haven’t caught on; I am all about education in every day life. There are always teachable moments from baby to adult every day in many ways.

One of our favorite ways to learn in our house is through food. K is learning her fractions through measuring in recipes, but even if you don’t have older ones, the younger ones can learn fine motor skills with the help of food.

Fine motor skills are important to start teaching at a young age. Think about it.

Fine motor skills involve the small muscles of the body that enable such functions as writing, grasping small objects, and fastening clothing.

(Learn about Fine Motor Skills and How to Improve Them, 2014).

Now imagine that you were never given the opportunity to practice fine motor skills in your every day life as a young child and toddler. Lacking fine motor skills can hinder every day living.

With the help of food, one can help develop fine motor skills by allowing a child to learn to pinch and grab their food from their plate.

Fine Motor Skills with the Help of Food

Cheerios or Kix – we used these two cereals with our kids often. (A) They aren’t loaded with sugar, dyes, etc. so they are healthier choices. (B) They dissolve easier than most foods. (C) They are cheaper than other options.

Puff snacks – We have used these on occasion. I won’t lie. But refer to the above letter (C).

The nice thing about the cereal and the puff snacks is that they are more of a dimensional food rather than a flat food, allowing the pinching motion.

As your child gets a little older and can try more foods you can try…

Noodles – even at almost 3, A still loves to eat noodles with her fingers.

Graham crackers – they dissolve very easy, but the flatness of them makes it harder for the younger ones to grasp.

Bite size sandwiches – A loves her “jelly sandwiches” and
allows us to easily make them bite size so she can eat them and practice her fine motor skills by picking up the small pieces.

FunBites are great for fine motor skills. It is a plastic “tool” that makes it easy to make your sandwich (or toast or bread) bite sized – allowing for the pinch action of picking up their food.

FunBites come with two plastic pieces – one to cut and one to push. You lay your sandwich, bread, toast, etc. out; push on of the plastic pieces in to cut it into bite size pieces; then use the second piece to push the pieces out of the cutter. Voila. Finger food in seconds!

They offer cutters in squares or triangles OR… if are you are past the bite size stage – make lunch fun with the
like we do!

Minion FunBites