Pegboards for Fine Motor Skills, Counting and More!

Fine motor toys for toddlers are a great investment in your child’s development. Toddlers need opportunities to learn new skills and to practice them until they are competent and confident. This is especially true with fine motor skills which are necessary for things such as feeding and dressing oneself, turning a page in a book, twisting a doorknob – in fact any activity requiring the use of the small muscles in the hands and fingers.  Fine motor toys for toddlers encourage the little ones to master these skills while playing and exploring.

Pegs and pegboards for toddlers are brilliant toys for developing fine motor skills. Toddlers enjoy the challenge of grasping a colorful peg and placing it into the hole. If the pegs are stackable they can build both vertically and horizontally. Playing with this educational toy is excellent for eye hand coordination and visual perception. As a retired preschool teacher I would surely recommend pegboards for fine motor skills.

Pegs and pegboards for toddlers are also wonderful teaching toys in many other ways. They are super as counting toys for 2 year olds. With adult support, as the toddler places the pegs he can count them: one, two, three. Add one more to make four; take one away and it is three. The toddler is becoming aware of numerals and that one peg equals the number one. The child is also learning about addition and subtraction. There is the added chance to try other early math skills such as one to one correspondence, patterns and sequences.

Colorful pegs are very good for color recognition. The pegs can be sorted by color or can be matched with other items to emphasize different shades of the same color. Some pegboard sets are available in translucent and solid colors for comparison. The pegs can also be used with colored plastic sorting cups. Other pegboard sets have geometric shaped pegs with matching holes. Toddlers learn to name the shapes while shape sorting. This not only gives an added challenge for fine motor skills but also increases vocabulary.

Pegboards for fine motor skills are excellent educational toys for toddlers. Besides fine motor skills they are great for early math skills, color and shape recognition. They encourage concentration, focus and independent play. Good quality sets are sturdy, durable and washable, and well worth the money.