The center of interest of the manipulators or fine motor skills
Manipulators is such a strange word! I’ve toyed with calling it the Math Center, the Fine Motor Center, and many other centers, but here we are with the Manipulative Interest Center! The name encompasses everything! One can manipulate items to count, puzzles to make, and crayons to draw. So we leave the name unchanged!
Most classrooms combine their “tabletop toy” manipulators or center of interest with their math center, just like we do! The purpose of the manipulators will depend on the objective of the activity. However, this is where you can support fine motor development, counting, one-to-one correspondence, and more.
Our Math and Manipulation Center has many items and materials that work on these skills. The most common are:
Puzzle
Provide a wide variety of puzzles, from 4-piece puzzles to 20-piece puzzles. Floor puzzles are also great to have on hand. Most of them can be completed both on the table and on the floor! These puzzles can have a theme and also focus on basic concepts that you are working on (such as the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes).
Table games
Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, Hi Ho Cherry O, and other board games not only require the use of fine motor skills, but also encourage one-to-one correspondence, counting, and taking turns.
Interactive games
Some games that help develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills that our preschoolers love are:
Mr mouth
The frog’s head turns and its mouth opens and closes as children try to get flies into its mouth.
Let’s go fishing
This is also a popular fishing game that uses magnetic fishing rods.
Classifiers and counters
By these, I mean items like teddy bear sorters / counters that normally come with a scale. The sorters / counters can be sorted by small, medium, and large size, as well as by color. Farm animals can also be classified in this way and by type (cows, pigs, etc.). Also consider using other items of interest for sorting and counting, such as colored pompoms of different sizes; pony beads, marbles, etc.
Small blocks
Chances are you already have a block center of interest in your classroom, but don’t overlook this smaller version! Small wooden blocks of different colors are very popular in our classroom! Our preschool architects have built entire houses and cities on the table! And as they create their own cities, they also learn to order and build by shape and color, develop their fine motor skills to place each block, and develop their language, social, and problem-solving skills by working with a friend or two to build their city. !
Lanyard cards
Please provide lanyard cards all the time! You can buy or make them to match a theme or concept you are working on! These types of cards take on a life of their own! During a fairy tale theme, make a wolf and three pig string cards. Your preschoolers will not only tie them up, but use them as masks to act out the story!
Clay
One of our favorite fine motor developers! Provide play dough and cookie cutters for muscle building!
You can find ideas for manipulation activities on my website under each topic. Just click on the topic you want, then click on “Math and Manipulatives” and you will have some ideas that you can use with your students.