By 30 Months, most toddlers can:

• Fold paper in half
• Imitate simple pencil markings, such as a cross
• Build a tower up to 8 cubes
• Understand common dangers, such as stairs

Parenting Tips to Encourage Fine Motor Skills for Toddlers:

You can help with toddler developmental milestones.  Suggested play ideas to help develop fine motor skills for toddlers are:

• Fresh squeezed tastes best. Cut an orange in half and then show your toddler how to squeeze the juice from the fruit. After your toddler is done twisting back and forth, pour the juice in its cup. Yum!
• Flip fake pancakes. Give your child a small spatula, skillet and sponge. Cut the edges of the sponge so it’s shaped like a pancake. Show her how to flip the pancake and then feed it to one of his or her stuffed animals.
• Play “what comes next?” Draw a line on a piece of paper. Ask your toddler to continue the line and decide where it should go, alternating between straight lines, squiggly ones, zigzags, and spirals.
• Create a book of favorites. Make a book by stapling together a few sheets of his or her favorite color of paper. Provide safety scissors to cut pictures out of magazines and glue them onto the pages. Then, decorate the pages with stickers.
• Bath time means play time. Squeezing really helps strengthen the muscles in the hands and fingers. Look for squeeze toys to add to the tub.  Even squeezing the water from a wash cloth can be fun.