# Matches and Straws > Kids poke colored craft match sticks into a Styrofoam board along traced letters, then slide cut-up straw pieces over each match for a *really* fine motor workout. Beads turn the board into a stick-world small-world play. - URL: https://www.funlittles.com/fine-motor-activities-matches-and-straws/ - Ages: 3–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: low - Time: prep 15 min, activity 30 min - Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class - Skills: fine-motor, pre-writing, letter-recognition, hand-eye-coordination, math, imaginative-play - Cautions: ingestion-risk ## Materials (one batch) - Colored craft match sticks - Drinking straws, cut into short pieces (household) - 1 piece Styrofoam board (packing material) (household) - Beads (optional) - 1 piece Marker (household) - 2 piece Small bowls (household) - 1 piece Scissors (household) ## Safety - Supervise the whole time. The colored craft matches are blunter than toothpicks and relatively safe, but they still have points. - Use colored craft match sticks only, never real strike-anywhere or safety matches with heads. - Beads, cut straw pieces and match sticks are small parts and can be choking hazards. Keep them away from children who still mouth objects. - Adult cuts the straws into pieces. - Styrofoam can crumble into small bits. Keep pieces out of mouths and sweep up after play. ## Before you start - Cut the straws into short pieces. - Trace a few letters your child is working on onto the Styrofoam board. You can add arrows to make it more of an independent activity. ## Steps 1. Set out the Styrofoam board with a bowl of colored matches and a bowl of cut-up straw pieces. 2. Show the child how to follow a traced letter's lines and poke the matches into the foam along them. 3. Keep poking matches along the lines until the whole letter is filled in. 4. Move on to the next letter and fill it in with matches too. 5. Slide a cut-up straw piece over each standing match. 6. Keep going until every letter is all "strawed-up". 7. When the letter work wears off, thread beads onto the matches to make people, and poke in more sticks for buildings and trees. 8. Build constructions by laying matches across the tops of standing ones. ## Tips - You can just leave the invitation as is with the materials up for exploration, or trace a few letters your child is working on for pre-writing practice. - Mark arrows on the letters to make this more of an independent activity. - The blunt edges of the colored matches are a better alternative to sharp toothpicks. - The brightly colored matches definitely helped my kid get really interested in this invitation. - Inserting the straws into the matches is the best part and a real challenge. It was gladly accepted and eagerly accomplished. Hand-eye coordination at its best. - The letters look absolutely stunning once they're all strawed-up, like a cool construction project. - The construction projects took an amazing amount of patience and concentration from the 5-year-old. ## The original post by TurkeyMom (2014) Simple [**fine motor activities**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/fine-motor-activities/) you can create for your kids are a great way to strengthen those finger muscles that are going to aid them in writing. In this post we use basic supplies like matches, straws and Styrofoam to make an easy "fine motor activity board" for the children to explore, learn and create Materials - **[Colored Craft Match Sticks](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007OWK86I/?tag=blmemo-20)** - **Cut-up straws** - **[Beads](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OML5OY/?tag=blmemo-20)** - **Styrofoam Board ( packing material)** *{ Update : It has been 5 years since I first posted this. I happened to come across my own post on social media and actually went to the original and read what I had written haha. Now at 11 and 9, I feel all the sensory play and the fine motor activities probably helped in some capacity because the kids currently have good manual dexterity! One loves to create figurines with intricate designs and details with clay, plays an instrument with ease and the other - resident artist loves origami and all enjoys sorts of art mediums. If any new mothers are reading this and wondering if all these effort into creating activities are worth it, I would say from personal experience - an emphatic yes. Even if doesn't really translate into anything all those afternoons were such great memories.. I feel just at 11 and 9 I feel they grew up so fast! I'm so glad I was able to capture a part of their childhood and still am capturing with this blog!}* You can just leave the invitation as is with the materials up for exploration. I simply traced a few letters my child is working on right now. I saw this as a great opportunity to practice those pre-writing skills. { Our [**sensory rainbow writing**](https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-activities-for-kids-rainbow-writing/) was fun, so was [**writing in snow**](https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-activities-kids-prewriting-pretend-snow/) and [**cornmeal sensory writing**](https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-writing/)} Just like this exercise, fine motor activities are a great way to extend your child's current interests. We are working on pre-writing, so I set out those letters and observed if she would be interested in making the letters. I showed her to follow the lines and start poking the matches on the lines. You could mark arrows to make this more of an independent activity. Since this fine motor activity was supervised, neither did I draw the arrows nor was worried about the matches. I thought the blunt edges of the colored matches were a better alternative to sharp toothpicks. The brightly colored matches definitely helped my kid get really interested in this invitation. Next comes the best part - something that makes this fine motor activity a killer of a real fine motor activity. She inserted the cut up straw pieces on each of the colored matches. What a work out! Hand-eye co-ordination at its best. I should tell you, the letters after all "strawed-up" looks absolutely stunning like a cool construction project. Inserting the straws into the matches was a challenge- a challenge that was gladly accepted and eagerly accomplished. Once fine motor practice and pre-writing interest wore off, the children ( now big sister 5 joined) decided to create small worlds with matches and beads. It involved a lot of poking and threading through the sticks. Apparently it is a stick world and the one with the beads are people and the rest are buildings and trees. So much creative play, fine motor play and small world went on and these 2 cuties are actually sisters playing around. Very creative construction projects here which required an amazing amount of patience and concentration from the 5 year old. Thanks for reading. I highly recommend this activity for encouraging so many areas - fine motor skills, math skills, pre-writing skills, imaginative play skills. Note: While colored matches are not as sharp as toothpicks and relatively safe, still supervise your children while they are engaged in these type of fine motor activities.