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Slime Fine Motor Activities

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Welcome back to Fine Motor Fridays! Today's fine motor activities all feature one common ingredient: SLIME!

10 Fine Motor Activities Using Slime from Lalymom

We are not frequent messy play people, as you could tell by our first messy playdate and our basic rice sensory play day. But slime was actually quite a hit with my daughter so during little brother's nap time we mixed up a pink batch to play with. (Note: This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.)

We used this slime recipe which uses Borax but I know that my daughter will not put this in her mouth and that we will wash our hands at the end. You could try these fine motor activity ideas with other slime recipes too, including this borax-free slime recipe, this edible slime recipe or this one ingredient taste safe slime recipe. Each recipe may behave differently so see how it goes!

I researched a bunch of recipes before making ours and by the time we got around to making it I totally overlooked the measurement of the glue to borax ratio and it turned out very watery.

S.O.S! I cried, Save Our Slime! And there to rescue me was Fun at Home with Kids, a super blog with loads of awesome play recipes. I headed over to read her tips to fix a failed slime and found that she included a super smart method to ensure you get the right texture every time. Worth the time to read it!

So. We fixed our slime and got to playing!

Slime is great for little hands without any additional toys or tools added in but well, I couldn't leave well enough alone so my daughter and I *together* came up with some fun ways to play with slime that are totally great fine motor skills activities!!

Slime Fine Motor Activities

Slime Fine Motor Activities fro Preschoolers and Kindergarteners from Lalymom

As they appear in the post, very top image first, then left to right for the smaller images:

1. (Very Top) Cookie cutters- We have a set of small fondant alphabet cutters that have been used for food in the past but are now for craft and play. My daughter loved pressing them into the slime and once in a while it would cut all the way through and remove a letter-shaped bit of slime.

2. Window races- Pull off a bit of slime and press it against a window. Watch it stick, add another piece or a few more and see which one falls first! It takes a good bit of hand strength to really make them stick and the vertical surface provides a new challenge compared to kneading slime and play dough on the table!

3. Tweezers, tongs or chopsticks- Trying to pick up slippery slime with tweezers was pretty funny to my daughter, little did she know squeezing those plastic tweezers was helping her work on her pencil grip!

4. Cookie Cutter Slime Puzzles- Cut out some slime with cookie cutters and see if you can fit the pieces back in before the slime fills in the void! Giggly and fun but does require some concentration and careful fingers!

5. Loose parts- Add some odds and ends, lids, etc and just see what shapes you can make!

6. Squeeze bottle slime- I stuffed a small bit of the slime into the now-empty glue bottle and we took turns trying to squeeze it back out. Note we never got it all out, which was fine, I had no plans for the glue bottle but just so you know, don't use a bottle you want to reuse! But she had to squeeze really hard to get any to squish out and her hand strength can use improvement so I'm happy  to use up the bottle! It also made super silly fart noises, which was a huge payoff for squeezing so hard!

7. Slime farts- Hearing the noises the slime made in the bottle reminded me that when I was kneading the slime in the glass bowl that a couple times it made fart noises. So I grabbed the glass bowl and showed her how to make an air pocket and push down on it to make the slime fart! Seriously. Kids LOVE fart noises! Or is it just my kids? Maybe!

8. Slime fishing- My daughter loves making up fishing activities and using our DIY fishing pole so it really should not have been a surprise to me that she came up with slime fishing! Hold the slime up high and lit it streeeetch down onto your loose parts and see what you can pick up and which are too slippery! This takes patience and arm strength to hold those arms up for so long!

9. Face making- add in some googlie eyes and other face part type items and see what kinds of faces you can make! My daughter thought this one looked like a baby with a pacifier!

10. Slime ball- HA, funny name! My daughter came up with this one too- pull off a bit of slime, roll it into a ball. Set it down and do another one. How many can you make before the first one is flat again?!

What other fun ways have you played with slime? I'd love to hear about them in the comments!

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10 FUN Fine Motor Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners Using Slime from Lalymom

Want more Messy Play Inspiration? Check out my Messy Fun Pinterest Board!

Fine Motor Fridays

Fine Motor Fridays Collaborative Weekly Series from Lalymom

Welcome back to our weekly collaborative series where a group of super fab bloggers share playful, fun fine motor activities! Click on through to see what everyone else has been up to this week!

Repurposed Water Wall from Still Playing School

Window Shapes from Powerful Mothering

Shear the Sheep Cutting Activity from School Time Snippets

Fine Motor Fridays Pinterest Board

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7 Comments

  1. Loved this article – always good to find more ideas for at-home play! Also, I am so new to the blogging world , wondering how you added the Pinterest “pin-it” button to your site?

    1. Gosh I’m so sorry it took so long to reply! I hope you’ve gotten the pin it button by now! Pinterest has a widget page where you can get the pin it button, follow me buttons and all sorts of stuff! I never remember the exact website, I just google Pinterest widget whenever I need it. Let me know if you are still working on it!

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