We are living that home school life and the struggle is real. We have our good days and our not so good days. And that’s okay. My goal is for one short session with my girls each day. I keep it simple. I have a bin for each child, fill it with work, after they complete each activity they put it in a big basket named our “finished basket.” One big success I’ve had is making a lot of DIY fine motor tasks for my youngest. These tasks can all be made with things in your own house and really keep her attention for a few minutes. Check out some of my favorites:

If you are a teacher, send out these activity ideas to parents! If you are parent, whip these up for your kids. Even though I am using these with my young daughter here – these simple activities can be used with any age level. They are perfect for any child who needs to practice foundational skills and work on building independence. 

Simple Put In Tasks

You can make these out of anything. Put straws in a water bottle, coins in a jar, pom poms in a container. Make sure there is a clear finish (ie when there are no more items to put in). Bonus points – make the opening small to encourage focus and concentration; use small items to work on pincer grasp; velcro the items to the outside of the container to incorporate “pulling”; and use a colander to put pipe cleaners into or out of. 

Sorting Tasks 

Use some of the same household materials – pipe cleaners, craft sticks, plastic silverware, etc. to create sorting tasks. You can sort by size, color, or shape. I love making sort by size tasks by cutting holes into the tops of shoeboxes. 

Assembly Tasks

Create simple tasks where your child or student needs to put something together. It could be stringing cereal on yarn, putting stickers on a paper, or gluing pieces of construction paper together. Keep it simple and easy!