Enhancing Dexterity: 13 Simple Activities for Fine Motor Skills for Older Adults

Are you finding that your extremities are beginning to ache and simple everyday tasks like tying your shoes or twisting a doorknob are becoming more cumbersome? You’re not alone.

A big culprit to this? Muscle weakness. Luckily, there are a variety of activities to improve fine motor skills for older adults.

Learn a variety of ways you can continue to improve fine motor skills and how senior living can help.

Table of Contents

• Can You Improve Fine Motor Skills as an Older Adult?
• 13 Fine Motor Skills Activities for Older Adults
• Senior Services of America: Enriching the Lives of Senior Adults

Can You Improve Fine Motor Skills as an Older Adult?

Yes! Older adults can improve their fine motor skills. 

How? The key is to be consistent. Seniors should be practicing their fine motor skills every day. 

The more often you engage in an activity, the more you will see improvement.

If a person has suffered a stroke, performing activities promoting fine motor skills is particularly important. This will stimulate the brain and work to recover those muscle functions. 

Read on to discover some of the best fine motor skills activities for older adults.

13 Fine Motor Skills Activities for Older Adults

#1: Finger Crochet a Lap Blanket

Hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity are two fine motor skills activated when crocheting a lap blanket. 

Using your fingers to pull the loops through a row of stitches strengthens the small muscles that control the hand, fingers, and thumbs. 

Strengthening these muscles makes everyday tasks like zippering a zipper and fastening a button achievable, allowing seniors to be a bit more independent. 

Crocheting also offers social benefits because it makes a great community activity. 

#2: Use Therapy Balls

Hand weakness is debilitating and can cease your independence to perform daily tasks. 

The use of therapy balls can strengthen the muscles in the hand by squeezing or pinching to strengthen your finger flexors — the muscles used to make a fist and bend your fingers.  

These same muscles provide the ability to hold something between the thumb and the first finger, also known as the pincer grasp. 

Placing your hand and fingers around a ball will stretch out tightened muscles, further allowing you to strengthen your ability to pick up objects.

#3: Shuffle a Deck of Cards

Next time you challenge a competitor to a game of rummy, offer to shuffle and deal the deck. 

Shuffling requires bilateral coordination — the use of both hands on both sides of your body. Imagine trying to cook with one hand. How about tying your shoe? 

Cooking, cleaning, and eating are just a few examples of how we use bilateral coordination throughout the day.  

As you deal cards during a gME, you’re gripping, separating, and releasing the cards.

These motions activate your muscles and work to strengthen them all while developing hand control and muscle coordination.

#4: Sort Money

Sorting money and stacking coins involves the manipulation of small objects and improves hand-eye coordination.

Moving a coin from the palm to the fingertips mimics the motions that are often used to complete daily tasks. 

Placing coins in various piles using your thumb and pointer finger also improves pincer grasp function.

Think about buttoning your shirt, tying your shoes, or even the action of picking up a tiny object. These are tasks we do every day that may become more difficult as we age, but practicing these skills can help improve fine motor skills for adults of all ages. 

#5: Play With Therapy Putty

Incorporating play with therapy putty improves circulation in the hands. An increase in blood flow helps reduce stiffness and swelling associated with conditions like arthritis. 

As your arthritis calms, it becomes easier and less painful to move your hands. 

Manipulating the hands with therapy putty can also improve the range of motion and joint flexibility.  

Here are a few examples of exercises to build and improve hand strength:

1. Power Grip – Using all five fingers, grab your putty and squeeze it tightly. Release and repeat. 
2. Full Grip – Roll the putty into a ball and hold it in the palm of your hand. Press your four fingers (excluding your thumb) into the putty. 
3. Flat Pinch – Straighten your fingers to the best of your ability. Place the putty between your fingers and thumb. Pinch or squeeze. 
4. Finger Extension – Roll the putty out into a long log, then bend one finger and wrap the putty around it. Use the putty as a type of resistance band and work to straighten your finger. 
5. Wrist Rotation – Strongly grip the putty in one hand with as much force as possible. Rotate the wrist in a circular motion, first in one direction, then in the other.  Then repeat on the opposite side. 

#6: String Beads

Small beads, large beads, wooden beads, plastic beads — we don’t discriminate.

Different sized and textured beads can promote different grasps. 

Smaller beads encourage the use of the pincer grasp, which strengthens the small muscles in the hand. 

Large beads promote the “3-jaw chuck” grasp, similar to holding a bulky sized marker or pencil. Larger beads can be easier to maneuver if your hand muscles are weak or you suffer from inflammation in the joints, like arthritis. 

Also known as threading, the activity requires the use of both hands as you slide a bead onto a string, pipe cleaner, or other type of thread. 

The process of grabbing a bead to place on a string works on hand manipulation skills as you rotate the bead and shift the motion within your hand. 

The mental stimulation of stringing beads can even help with dementia. 

Stringing beads can improve independent dressing skills, particularly clothing fasteners like buttons, zippers, and snaps. 

#7: Play Board Games

Did someone say game night?

Many board games require the use of a small piece to identify your position. 

The small piece is maneuvered across the board as you play. This repetitive motion of gripping a small object and carrying it from point A to point B demonstrates excellent practice and use of the pincer grasp. 

Take Monopoly, for example. Maneuvering pieces, rolling dice, choosing cards from a deck, and even sorting money (pending you don’t end up bankrupt, of course) involve all muscles in your hand and help strengthen a variety of grasps.

#8: Weave a Lanyard

Weaving involves intricate hand movements, requires coordination, and develops spatial awareness. 

As you manipulate your fingers to create a pattern, your muscles are activated and strengthened. The movements in your fingers and wrists follow one another up and over or in and out.  

As you weave and your fingers move rapidly, your hand eye coordination is tested — you must follow each piece of thread to keep up with your pattern.

This practice and repetitive motion aids in the ability to pick up and move small objects as well as putTING things together and take them apart.

#9: Do Rubber Band Resistance Exercises

Performing rubber band resistance exercises doesn’t need to be limited to your fingers.

Using the bands around your thumb and index finger to stretch the band apart is great resistance training for your fingers. You can do it with two fingers or all four.

Placing rubber bands on a cardboard tube, such as a paper towel tube, is a great way to work on coordination. Or you can try wrapping a rubber band around a bunch of popsicle sticks as a great way to improve hand dexterity. 

These engaging exercises are a simple and common way to strengthen hand muscles, improve hand-eye coordination, and develop fine motor skills.

#10: Work a Puzzle

Working a puzzle is an excellent way to exercise the smaller muscles in our hands and wrists. 

Think about the process:

• Before you begin, you often have all your puzzle pieces laid out in front of you with the image side up. 
• The action of turning each puzzle piece over exercises the muscles in your fingers, hands, and wrists. 
• Selecting and placing individual pieces improves hand-eye coordination.
• Maneuvering pieces to find the right fit improves dexterity. 

These skills translate to writing, turning pages in a book, and everyday tasks like brushing our teeth.

#11: Play an Instrument 

Strike a chord. Engage a muscle. 

Playing an instrument is a quick way to fine-tune various motor skills.

A string instrument requires bilateral coordination — one hand focuses on the notes while the other works the bow. 

Playing the piano uses both hands and requires finger strength and dexterity — your hands are working together yet playing different notes. 

Another instrument like the guitar requires multitasking — your hands and arms are concentrating on different tasks. 

As you might imagine, we use our hands in a similar way when driving, writing, and typing.

#12: Do Origami

Crafting origami requires the coordination of small muscles in your hands and fingers. 

Origami is a gentle craft ideal for strengthening functional hand skills and producing delicate masterpieces while improving hand dexterity.  

Strengthening your hand muscles makes everyday tasks including folding laundry, writing, and eating with utensils more manageable.

#13: Use a Screwdriver Board

The screwdriver board is an excellent way to keep the muscles in your wrist and fingers strengthened. 

This small board consists of a small screwdriver, and various head types, and is lined with several screws each with a different head. 

The objective: Learn how to use a screwdriver to screw and unscrew nuts with different heads. 

The board requires the use of both hands and promotes hands-on learning. 

These combined skills are often required for daily chores. 

Senior Services of America: Enriching the Lives of Senior Adults

We know independence is vital to many of our residents which is why Senior Services of America aims to enrich the lives of the seniors in our communities. 

Our goal is to promote an active engaging lifestyle where our members are presented with opportunities that pique their interest. We offer a variety of activities available to our residents to help them stay engaged, build relationships, create community, and more. 

Learn more about how we enrich the lives of our residents and find a senior living community​​ near you.