Looking for Fine Motor Skills Books

Two ideas that came to mind:

Cheerios has a couple of books where you place the Cheerios on the page that would be great for working on the pincer grasp. My kids love them. Here's a link to what I'm talking about:
http://www.amazon.com/Cheerios-Animal-Play-Book/dp/068983...

My other idea comes from my son's Montessori class. They use knobbed cylinders to help develop the proper grasp as well as build the finger muscles (they're weighted) to get ready for writing. Here's some links to them:
http://www.alisonsmontessori.com/Toddler_Knobbed_Cylinder...
http://www.alisonsmontessori.com/Knobbed_Cylinder_Blocks_...

Check Out Lakeshore learning store or discountschoolsupply.com

As a teacher, I know they have a ton of stuff that you can use to help w/ fine motor development.

You can also google Fine Motor Development and see what ideas you come up with from there!

Hope this helps!!

Steph

Here are a few of my own ideas to help you out:

-Play with play-doh-roll it into snakes and cut it into small pieces with scissors

-Have him use tweezers or chopsticks to pick up cotton balls or colorful pompoms. Have him search through the balls for small toys.

-Play with shaving cream-have him use q-tips or toothpicks to make pictures in the shaving cream.

-Fingerpaint

-Lacing cards-we found ours at a garage sale or make your own with cereal boxes and shoe laces.

Here is a blog that you might find helpful as well: www.notimeforflashcards.com

As a special ed teacher I caution against those zipper- fastener- lacing books/cards...as they do not actually put the child in the correct situation in which they will need to use the desired skill.
Example...you do the zipper on your jacket when it is on you and you are looking down at it. Not flat on a surface in front of you.
practicing the everyday dressing fine motor skills in the actual situations will be more helpful.
Good luck!
PS: You mention being ready for kindergarten. Not every country, (developed) has kindergarten, or insists on kids very young (under 6 or 7) going. You may want to give your son time to be ready...not just in motor skills, for the stressful (very possibly) and structured environment of school. Or at least reassess from time to time, whether it is benefiting him.
I agree with a previous writer, early intervention services from the public schools/state could be helpful. But you as a parent really have to be the judge.

I know the kind of book you are describing. Here are some links to some products:

http://www.softplayforkids.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=46

http://www.alextoys.com/product/1492

There's also a great book at Amazon.com - "Activities for Fine Motor Skills Development"
by JODENE SMITH

Best,
C.

There is an early intervention catalog called "Beyond Play" that has great products that may give you some ideas. The website is beyondplay.com They have a book called, "Start to Finish: Developmentally Sequenced Fine Motor Activities for Preschool Children" that may be up your alley. My son's OT comes this morning, so I'll ask her for book and activity ideas.

Working with playdough and clay are EXCELLENT (and fun) for building fine motor skills, specifically strengthening those little muscles. Games with spinners, or something like "Hi-Ho Cherry-O" with smaller pieces to grasp may be helpful. Water play with droppers (like the ones that come with infant tylenol), pouring water or rice from one container to another may be fun. Teaching him to help you fold the laundry - like wash cloths or dishtowels may be fun and helpful. Songs with finger plays like "Itsy-bitsy spider" and "Where is Thumbkin?" are good for fine motor too. Peg boards are a really good tool for fine motor development. Check you phone book to see if you have a toy lending library in your area. They may have some of these things that you could check out for a couple of weeks at a time. The cool thing about that is the toys are special since you only have them for a little while.

Oh, I found a Sesame Street Board book called, "Snap, Button, Zip" a while ago. I got it as part of a set through the Pampers Points program, but you may be able to find it on amazon.com or somewhere like that. School supply catalogs (I love Discount School Supply) may have something you would like in that category, but it may be more money than you want to spend.

Good luck! With a caring, attentive parent on his side, your son will be ready when he goes to Kindergarten.

Have you gone to the educational stores? Such as Lakeshore Learning? (There's one at Tatum and Bell-Southwest corner) As for as the holding crayons, pencils etc... wrong, they have big squishy pencil grips that by design make the kids hold their pencils properly. (We used it for my daughter, and it worked wonderfully) Also, have you tried having him use his opposite hand to cut with? I could never cut. I remember in Kindergarten always getting in so much trouble, because I would rip, not cut my papers, because I could not make the scissors work. Later my parents realized that if they would have just allowed me to use left handed scissors, and cut with my left hand, things would have been much different. (When I was little I could use both hands equally, but of course, back then you still wern't supposed to be left handed, therefore, I was not allowed to cut, using my left hand) Anyway, at the Educational stores, they should be able to help you with the fine motor skills development products. Lakeshore Learning Materials www.lakeshorelearning.com

Try www. kaboose.com

I can’t recommend a book but, maybe you could have him evaluated with the state and they can pick up on therapy. It is called arizona early intervention google it I think it comes up. GL