Large + Small Motor Skills Activity: Giant Dot-to-Dot!
A fun fine and gross motor skills activity is a giant dot-to-dot. You may remember New Kid working on his toddler dot-to-dot a few years back, and now he likes to get down with his marker on the floor. I love the way a giant floor connect-the-dots activity gets him exercising both his small and large motor muscles together.
You don't need to arrange the dots to reveal a picture when connected. I simply drew large dots and numbers in a random pattern on a large piece of butcher paper. For this particular puzzle, I used several colors, so it was easier for him to locate sequential numbers: 1-5 were blue, 6-10 were green and so forth. He enjoyed this activity so much he wanted to do it again, but I didn't even need to make a new one, he simply chose a different colored pen.
See how he needs to stretch, reach and move! New Kid's occupational therapist informed me that working large groups of muscles is important for developing the small motor skills, that I should not limit our therapy exercises to just fine motor skill practice. Plus, I love that the giant dot-to-dot sneaks in a bit of counting practice, too!
Math + fine motor + gross motor = a Giant Dot-to-dot!
For more fun indoor activities, check out my Giant List on Indoor Activities, or follow my Pinterest board:
Follow Erica • What Do We Do All Day?'s board Indoor Activities for Kids on Pinterest.
Jenny says
I love that idea- Carly would too, I know! What do you use for paper?
MomandKiddo says
I bought a large roll of butcher paper at Discount School Supplies. It's lasted me several years. You can get through amazon, too, I think.
maryanne @ mama smiles says
Brilliant idea! Definitely trying this with my kids!
MomandKiddo says
I hope you take photos and share! 🙂
katepickle says
Such a clever yet simple idea! So awesome!!!
PragmaticMom says
I love this! Math and gross motor and pure fun!!! You are a genius!
MomandKiddo says
Make sure you tell my kids that! hahahaha
Valerie says
What a fabulous idea! I absolutely must try this. A great combination of fine and gross motor. I love that it's a big scale. Makes dot-to-dot different. Thanks for sharing.
MomandKiddo says
Even my older son like to do it!
Jessica @ Play Trains! says
What a fun idea! Pinning this to try with my son.
MomandKiddo says
Maybe he can connect the dots with trains!
E.S. Ivy says
What a cute and easy idea! Kids really like things that are oversized; my kids enjoy drawing things on giant pieces of paper.
Erica says
Yes, he likes the change from just sitting at the table.
Rebecca says
What a brilliant activity - I love it!
Thanks for sharing on The Sunday Showcase. I've pinned to our board.
Erica says
Thanks, Rebecca!
Jo and Lilly from BIG kids mag says
We love this BIG time 🙂
Erica MomandKiddo says
Thank you!