Use beads to develop your students' fine motor skills. Give each student beads in a variety of colors, sizes and shapes. Also provide string or yarn. Encourage students to string the beads on the yarn to create a necklace. Alternatively, use pipe cleaners to string beads on and help students bend them to make shapes, the website Kaboose suggests.
Hide colorful beads inside Silly Putty. Ask students to retrieve beads from the putty using only their fingers. As an alternative, place other items like marbles or coins in the putty for students to find. In addition, Play Dough may be used in place of the Silly Putty.
Promote your students' fine motor skills with a creative art project. Give students a variety of beads in different sizes and colors. Provide each student with heavy paper like card stock. Draw simple shapes on the paper, such as large circles, triangles or squares. Ask students to glue the beads along the outside of the shapes or to fill in the shapes with beads. As you work, discuss the shapes students are filling in and the color beads they are using.
Sorting and grouping are important skills that young children begin to master in preschool. Build these skills with a fun fine motor skill activity. Set out trays, pie pans and cookie sheets on tables. Fill these containers with beads of a variety of shapes, sizes, colors and textures. Give each student or small group of students a particular task, such as grouping the beads by color or size.
Make interesting shapes using beads. Give each child several beads of different shape, size and texture. Also provide Silly Putty for each child. Invite your students to press the beads into the putty to leave shapes. Encourage students to press beads straight into the putty or roll them across to leave patterns. Show students how changing the amount of pressure they use to push on the bead changes the pattern. As an alternative, provide students with paint and paper and use the beads to create art.