Pegs and Pegboard

Practicing fine motor skills is essential in Preschool. One of my students’ favorite materials/activities is “Pegs and Pegboards”.

We can learn a lot about the student’s fine motor, visual perception and organizational skills by observing how they organize and carry on with their work.

Some students like to work as a group and they take each piece from the tray, as they need them.

Others like to work by themselves.

This boy likes to select pegs place them in one hand then get one by one with the other hand and place it on the board.

This other boy likes to place the tray close to the board and get one peg at a time.

This one likes to previously separate pegs by color (sorting) and use them as he needs them.

It is fascinating to observe how each child has different ways of doing an activity. Unless the child is having difficulties, like dropping too many pegs on the floor and it is not learning through mistakes then I interfere to help the child be aware on how organizing the work space and materials is important. But I never impose one way or another.

One point I made this time is to have them think about the benefits of working with pegs and pegboards.

Some of the answers I got are:

“It is good for your fingers.”

“It helps you hold the pencil better.” (we have been talking about pencil grip and exercising our fingers)

“It is good for your brain.”

“You use your eyes and hands and even your nails.”

They know it all!

Note: I can no longer find those pegs and pegboards in catalogs. See the comments below for a substitute.