Fine motor skill development!!! Build a Bug!!!

I have been looking for this game for ages. I new we had it somewhere but over the years it had been lost in the abyss of toys and games and I couldn’t for the life of me find it. Today I hit the jackpot. I found this and a few other games I had been searching for. Amazing what you find when you clean out your linen cupboard.

The reason I had been searching was that this game is absolutely fantastic for fine motor skill development. I have wanted Master 5 and Master 7 to use it in their therapy sessions here at home and also to show our OT as I had mentioned it to her and she wants to get one for herself.

The game is very simple however every aspect of it requires fine motor skills. So the entire time they are playing they are exercising those little fingers and building muscle strength.

Each player receives a leaf on which to construct their bug! The bug body parts are in a container in the middle and each child takes a turn to spin the wheel. Which ever bug part the arrow lands on they may collect for their bug, however, you can’t collect legs until you have a body and you can’t collect the eyes and antenna until you have a head.

This means the children also have to learn some patience, if you don’t land on those particular body parts for a few turns it can be a little difficult. We added our own rule that if you hadn’t landed on a body or a head after three turns you could take one on your next spin.

Once you have your head and body, you take turns spinning and collecting parts until your bug is complete. Again, once you have all your legs you can’t collect more so patience is tested. The winner of the game is whoever completes their bug first. I also like to keep playing until all the kids have finished their bugs.

The game itself is obviously very simple, but the skills needed to assemble these little creatures is actually very difficult. The pieces actually clip into the board so you know when it has been placed on correctly. When they think they are all finished I make them turn their leaf upside down. If the bug falls off they have to place him back together properly.

The pressure and accuracy involved is very hard. Miss 3 needed quiet a lot of assistance despite the fact that she usually has no trouble with her fine motor skills. Mister 5 also needs a lot of assistance however I am hoping that by playing this game a couple of times a week he will gain the necessary skills required.

Master 7 didn’t need any help at all which just goes to show how much therapy has helped him along. I played this game with him about 18months ago and he became so frustrated at not being able to assemble his bug that we actually stopped playing it. Probably how it got lost in the back of the cupboard to begin with.

This game is a great tool to use. It’s fun and simple yet challenges the children in the areas they need the most work on. As with all therapy, if they become to frustrated or stressed, best to stop and start again at a later date. During our game today the kids were getting increasingly impatient while waiting to land on the correct pieces so we stopped playing and I just let them build their bugs.

The rules of the game are absolutely not important. It’s the process and skills being utilised that matter. The more time spent building up their motor skills the better.

If you have any games or puzzles that are useful for fine motor skill development, please share them in he comments. I am always looking for more ideas.

Thanks for reading.

@mumofmany.