Developing fine motor skills leads to academic and self-care success. There are a number of excellent preschool OT activities that build strength and dexterity leading to self-reliance. Rolling and molding clay or dough is one activity. Using only the fingertips, a child rolls dough into pea-sized balls, or using the palms of the hands, a child rolls larger balls. Another activity is a child using pegs or toothpicks to create designs in a ball of dough or clay, or using a plastic knife or wheel to cut dough following a diagram drawn on paper. Scrunching one full sheet of newspaper in one hand is an excellent strength-building activity. Using a spray bottle is also good for strength -- make it fun by spraying plants with water or making pictures in the snow with colored water. Picking up small objects with tweezers or stringing small objects such as dry, round cereal are both good fine motor activities.
Preschool children may need sensory stimulation or sensory calming, depending on their state. They all need both at different times. Some OT activities for calming include making a "burrito" or "sandwich" with the child by rolling him up in a blanket and holding him, or putting a pillow on his front and his back and holding the top pillow in place. Sensory stimulation activities include pushing and pulling with objects such as a stroller, mini-wheelbarrow, toy vacuum or shopping cart. Wearing a backpack with a few items in it can also be a good activity. Jumping provides good stimulation, and can be done on a mini-trampoline or on the ground playing hopscotch or a similar game. Spinning on a sit 'n spin, an office chair or simply twirling can be good stimulation, as can swinging on a swing.
The ability to have the eyes work together and having good eye/hand coordination are important goals of OT for preschoolers. Some activities to help promote eye coordination include shining a flashlight on the ceiling as the child lies on her back looking at the light, following it with her eyes as it jumps around the ceiling. Another is following mazes and using a pencil to work through a maze. For hand/eye coordination, throw bean bags or small balls into a hula hoop or similar target on the floor. Play catch with a ball, working your way farther apart from the child. Have the child hit a balloon into the air and keep it from the floor.
The visual-perceptual skills activities focus on a child's physical responses to visual stimuli. Developing these responses will help children read from left to right and copy from a blackboard as they advance in the academic environment. Activities that lead to these results include finding hidden pictures, playing bingo or lotto for the visual scanning exercise, playing concentration or memory games for the visual memory/matching skills, and replicating designs in block patterns for the visual-spacial relationship skills.