Valentine’s Day Fine Motor Activity for Preschoolers

It’s critical for preschoolers to master fine motor skills during the early years. Fine motor skills help preschoolers do everything from tying their shoes to writing their names. You can get a head start on practicing with Valentine’s Day fine motor activities for preschoolers.

I’m excited to share my favorite printable Valentine’s fine motor activity and lots of other great ideas too! You can do these Valentine’s Day fine motor activities in the classroom or at home with your preschool students this February.

Keep reading to discover my favorite ideas just in time for celebrating Valentine’s Day with your students!

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What Are Fine Motor Skills?

Fine motor skills encompass all kinds of important tasks preschoolers must learn to do. Small hand and wrist muscles control our fine motor movements. Preschoolers will need strong fine motor skills to do everything from buttoning, zipping, tying shoes, and gripping a pencil.

During the preschool years, it’s important to focus on activities that will help our preschool students build strong fine motor skills. Fortunately, there are lots of fun ways to improve fine motor skills in the preschool classroom and at home. Keep reading to check out some of my favorite Valentine’s Day fine motor activity ideas for preschoolers.

Valentine’s Day Fine Motor Activity Ideas

As we get closer to Valentine’s Day, I’m on the lookout for fun and engaging Valentine’s Day fine motor activity ideas I can use to make our lessons exciting for my preschool students. Fortunately, there are all kinds of fun Valentine’s fine motor activities to explore! Discover some of my favorites below.

Valentine’s Day Play Dough Recipe

Don’t miss my Valentine’s Day Play Dough Recipe for sensory play that will help your preschoolers build fine motor skills.

Plus, get printable Valentine’s treat tags you can use to turn this play dough into the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your preschool students.

Just gather the following ingredients and you’ll be ready to create your own:

1 ¼ cups Flour
¼ cup Salt
1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
Food Coloring
Glitter
4-5 drops Essential Oils (for peppermint & lavender playdough)
3 tsp Vanilla Extract (for white sugar cookie playdough)
¾ cup boiling water

Now follow these steps and you’ll have your own scented Valentines Day play dough to gift!

Mix together Flour, Salt, and Cream of Tartar.
Add in the Vegetable Oil, Food Coloring, Glitter, and Essential Oils or Vanilla Extract.
Add in Food Coloring, if desired.
Stir.
Add in the boiling water and mix on low. If the texture is too wet add in a bit more flour, if it’s too dry, add in more water and continue to mix.

Be sure you grab all the supplies to turn this into a class favorite Valentine Day gift.

Heart Lacing Activity for Valentine’s Day

Lacing activities are great for helping preschoolers build fine motor skills. All you’ll need for this Valentine’s Day fine motor activity is a construction paper heart, yarn, and a hole puncher.

First, use the hole puncher to make small holes around the construction paper heart.

You can laminate your paper hearts and add them to a Valentine’s fine motor activity center in your classroom too. Then, have preschool students practice lacing the yarn through the holes in their paper hearts to create one-of-a-kind valentines while building finger strength too.

Valentine’s Paper Tear Craft

Paper tear crafts are an easy way to get creative with preschoolers while building critical fine motor skills this Valentine’s Day. First, draw a large heart on white paper or use my free heart printable. Then, let preschoolers tear red and pink construction paper into tiny pieces.

Tearing paper is an excellent way to build finger strength, the smaller the better. Next, preschool students can practice pasting as they glue the pieces to the large heart to create a unique collage valentine that’s perfect for preschoolers to give to parents or grandparents this Valentine’s Day.

My Favorite Printable Valentine’s Fine Motor Activity for Preschoolers

Want to see my favorite printable Valentine’s fine motor activity for preschoolers? It’s the perfect addition to your classroom Valentine’s Day party or lesson plan this February!

Plus, you can use this counting activity to build important fine motor skills with your preschool students just in time for Valentine’s Day.

I’ve created a printable Valentine’s Day fine motor activity page you can use to help your preschoolers create beautiful valentines for their friends and family. Each printable card will tell preschoolers how many loose parts (buttons, gem stickers, and foam heart stickers) to add to their special Valentine’s Day card.

Then, glue them down or clear the card and begin again for more practice.

What’s your favorite Valentine’s Day fine motor activity idea for preschool students? Share your favorites in the comments. I can’t wait to read them and try a few of your favorites with my preschoolers too!