Use my Illustration Unit to Strengthen Fine Motor Skills at Age Level!

As elementary teachers, we are used to our students being at all sorts of different levels. We have students powering through and reading at grade levels above their own, you have some that are right on track, and of course, you have a handful that are one or two levels behind where you would like them to be. 

Often, especially when it comes to fine motor skills and writing, it can be incredibly hard to find the time to catch these students up. For example, if you have a second-grade student who is struggling with writing in part because of their lack of phonemic awareness, and in part because of their nearly unreadable handwriting, you as the teacher would likely choose to emphasize phonemic awareness drills. You may not have time for both and often fine motor skills get pushed to the very end of a to-do list. You figure it will get better as they grow and it's fine if they aren’t an amazing artist! 

But here’s the thing… poor handwriting and lacking fine motor skills are not something a student will ‘grow out of’. They need explicit practice and instruction in order to strengthen these skills. 

But how will you find time to practice these skills, let alone get a room full of second graders to actually take handwriting time seriously?!

My Illustration Unit!!! 

This four-week unit focuses solely on drawing illustrations. Making it the perfect way to sneakily strengthen your older students' fine motor skills while they think they are getting a bit of extra art time!  They will practice drawing lines, shapes, and all sorts of objects all while getting in more fine motor practice. Although this is not technically handwriting practice, it will strengthen the same muscles and help them with their writing! 

The product helps develop students into confident illustrators with the skills to draw people with different clothing, hairstyles, and facial expressions. It also teaches students how to use shapes to draw objects they see around them such as cars, buildings, houses, animals, and more. 

You can read even more about what is included in this unit in this blog post! 

Isn’t this for kindergarteners? How would I use it with older students? 

That is a great question! Yep, this was originally created with kindergarten students in mind. However, it can easily be adapted for almost any elementary grade level. 

You will find a full month's worth of lessons when you grab this unit along with a calendar outlining the lessons. When you take a look at the lesson titles and teaching points, you’ll notice that some of them are lessons you may be able to skip. For example, your 4th grade class may not need an entire lesson dedicated to building people and objects with shape blocks. And maybe your second graders don’t need an entire lesson focused on using shapes to draw a house, and another on using shapes to draw a school. 

Instead, you could do one brief lesson on using shapes to create buildings and then give them time to draw and create their own buildings rather than using directed drawings as a guide. 

You may also choose to do more of these lessons independently. For example, you could introduce the concept of directed drawings if your students are unfamiliar. Then, have the directed drawings available for them by creating a center or rotation where they are given time to practice these skills. 

Students at any age level will love having their own drawing notebooks and giving them independent time to fill them up is an excellent way to encourage fine motor practice! 

Should I do this whole group or with just a few struggling students? 

Whichever way works best for your classroom! This unit is flexible and meant to be easy for the teacher to use. If you want to use small group time to teach this unit, go for it! 

Your whole class with love it though! They will enjoy learning to draw all these different people, places, and objects. And you will notice big improvements in their illustrations on all of their work. So it may be worth squeezing a lesson or two in when you can! 

Where can I get my hands on this unit? 

Another great question!! Grab the entire unit here. 

You can also head over to my TpT Store to find even more writing and reading resources. I have so many great options for fine motor and handwriting practice for students who are struggling at any grade level.