Occupational therapists rave about this activity since it gets the child to cooperate in exercising the intrinsic muscles in his hands. Theraputty is silly putty that is more resistant to being squeezed. Take the theraputty and hide small items inside. The child will then have to stretch out the putty, using his sense of touch. Then have him look for all the hidden items inside, using his sense of sight. Another way to do the same activity is to let the child do both the hiding and the finding.
Hand-eye coordination is an important fine motor skills that a child needs to practice. Threading beads to make a necklace or bracelet is an activity which requires a child's eyes to work together with his hands to place the bead through the string. This activity can be done with macaroni or ABC beads.
Preschool is the time for a child to work on his fine motor skills so that he will not need occupational therapy later in his life. Pudding paint is great for learning since it uses three senses: sight, touch and taste. Hand the child a container of pudding and food coloring and have him mix it together and play with it, moving it around between his fingers. Have the child speak about what pudding feels like and how it tastes.
Fine motor skills are developed through strengthening of the inner muscles in the hand. Silly Putty can be used to strengthen the muscles in a child's hand by having him squeeze, roll and shape the putty. Hand the child silly putty and have him create different shaped things such as logs, circles, squares and in doing so a child will use his sense of touch.