Fine Motor Skills

I post a lot about the sensory and art activities that the Bug and I do because well, they seem to be the "in" thing but after he spent 4 months pretty much only working on gross motor skills (it is not a mommy brag to tell you the Bug started walking at 9 months- I'm venting about him growing up too fast!) So here are some fine motor activities that we tried after our Thanksgiving guests left me to keep this active kiddo entertained again!

Practice golf balls and a muffin tin have become a huge favorite. The balls in general are the Bug's very favorite thing but he seems to enjoy this... We used the ping pong size balls because I had a mini muffin pan in my "treasure basket" stash.

 

The balls do roll away and end up everywhere but he so enjoys picking them up and carrying them around. Occasionally he'll put them back in the pan but we're still in the "dumping not filling" stage.

Clothespins! I've seen so many Pinterest posts with clothespins and kept thinking the Bug was too young until it dawned on me that he's not! I clip the clothespins to the edge of the basket and he gets them off! I do the same with the random letter from a project I never did...

I did have to demonstrate this one (ok, all of them really) but the pom-poms are what keeps him interested! (I told you he liked balls...)

Pipe cleaners in a container- I kept trying to cut holes for the Bug to feed pipe cleaners through until it dawned on me that using his pincer grip to grab the pipe cleaners is all he needs to be doing now (he's 10 months, sometimes I over think things) 

Once I showed him a sparkly pipe cleaner, he was hooked!

He has played with this every day now even when it's not out on a tray! 

He likes it so much that I decided to weave the pipe cleaners through the plastic balls (from the muffin pan) to give him a "pull out" challenge. He basically shook it until they came apart but he giggled the whole time too!

This one didn't work the way I imagined. The bucket was just to hold it but I wanted the Bug to drop the wooden spools through the toilet paper tube. Instead, he chewed the ends off the cardboard... He has enjoyed dropping the wooden spools into the bucket...

So what fine motor games have you tried? Did your little one enjoy anything? I need some ideas for my crazy kiddo!