They say the best things in life are free and I have found lots of free fine motor skills activities for toddlers just by watching my daughter as she plays. Amelia playing with an old wallet is one of the best toddler activities 18 month olds. She enjoys this as much as she enjoys playing with some of her best toddler toys and that is the truth.
Amelia has a fascination with my wallet. I noticed this started when she was around a year old. Initially she would try to open and close my wallet and when she had mastered this she started trying to remove my bank cards and store cards. Of course I always took my wallet away from her until my Mum suggested I give her an old wallet and put bank cards and store cards inside. At least now I didn’t mind if she ripped up a card or lost it. BINGO!! This is one of the best free fine motor skills activities as Amelia thinks she has the forbidden wallet (we all know they like to pay with Mom’s stuff as opposed to their own toys).
What you need for this wallet toddler fine motor skills activities
- An old wallet, preferably one with lots of slots for cards
- Lots of old cards, can be expired bank cards, old store cards or even unused loyalty cards
TAKE this when you go out for coffee or dinner as this is one of the great toddler activities to keep them amused without you! Anyone with toddlers knows it is difficult to get a minute’s peace and this will work! Big Bonus for sure. Not to mention the fact that your wallet is out of bounds now too!
Another advantage of this is that it enhances toddler fine motor skills as they have to use their fingers to slide the cards into place. I would reckon this can be used when your little one reaches one year old. Although the sooner you let them practice the sooner they will master it!
Take this Free Fine Motor Skills Activities Further
Whenever your toddler has mastered putting the cards into the slots you can take this one step further. We are currently at this step. We have taught my daughter some colors and names of stores. What we do is ask her to reach us the black card or the Starbucks card. She is unsure of her colors but she knows the Starbucks card (probably a sign that I am never out of the place).
The top learning toys for toddlers do not have to be complicated as shown by this fun wallet fine motor skills activity. This is just one of the fine motor skills activities I have used for my toddler.
This is brilliant! FYI: Some expired cards contain identical numbers as new ones. Just be careful to use cards that don’t have the same number as the new cards. I remember giving the kids my old phone and remote control. LOL