What You Need

1. A deck of regular playing cards – only use the numbered cards, cards with 2 through 10. For younger preschoolers, start with only cards 2 - 6 and add higher number cards in later games as preschoolers increase their number knowledge.

2. A sheet of paper for each player's score sheet

3. Stickers – Use any kind of stickers you have. Circle dot stickers work well.

4. A pen or marker

Game Preparation

1. Remember to use only the numbered cards from the playing deck. Only use cards with numbers 2 – 10 or the numbers that your preschooler can recognize.

2. Draw a heart shape on each piece of paper. This will be the score sheet for each player so try to make all of the drawn hearts the same size.

3. Give each player the same assortment of stickers. If you are using a sheet of stickers on which the stickers are different sizes, then try to give each player the same sheet of stickers.

How to Play

1. Shuffle the cards and place them face down the table.

2. Players lay their score sheets in front of them.

3. On each turn, a player draws a card from the deck and turns it over face up in front of them. The number on the card determines the number of stickers that players stick onto their score sheet. Stickers must be placed on the outline of the heart.

Example – If a player turns over a 5 card, the player places five stickers on the heart outline of their score sheet.

4. A player is finished when the heart outline is completely covered on the player's score sheet. No lines must be showing through the stickers.

More Articles on Fine Motor Fitness for Preschoolers

Writing on the Wall - Fine Motor Development

Preschool Stocking Stuffers for Fine Motor Fitness

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Helpful Tips for Parents

• The recommended minimum for preschoolers is 3 hours of physical activity per day — 60 of those minutes should be vigorous (heart rate elevated, breath quickened).

• Playground equipment (climbers, swings, slides) develops specific physical capabilities — vestibular (swinging), proprioceptive (climbing), and strength (monkey bars). Time on playground equipment is irreplaceable.

• Set up permanent physical activity invitations in the backyard or play area: a balance beam, stepping stones, a low climbing structure, a tire swing. Permanent setups encourage daily use.

• Physical fitness in preschool predicts academic performance in elementary school. The brain-body connection is direct: active children concentrate better and learn more effectively.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is yoga appropriate for preschoolers?

Preschool yoga is not only appropriate but genuinely beneficial — it develops balance, strength, flexibility, and body awareness. More importantly, it teaches preschoolers the foundational self-regulation skills of breath awareness and still-body practice. Children's yoga programs (Cosmic Kids Yoga on YouTube is a popular free resource) frame poses as animals and characters, making the practice engaging. 10–15 minutes of child-appropriate yoga is appropriate daily from age 3.

At what age can preschoolers begin organized sports?

Most developmental experts recommend delaying organized competitive sports until age 6–7, when children have sufficient cognitive development to understand rules, the social-emotional maturity to handle competition and teamwork, and the coordination for sport-specific skills. Before age 6, multi-sport physical literacy programs (where children try many movement skills) are preferable to single-sport specialization. Early sport specialization (before age 10) is associated with higher injury rates and burnout.

Related reading: See also our preschool yoga guide and our dance party activities for more ideas on this topic.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• ❤️ Cardiovascular Health — Vigorous physical activity that elevates heart rate and quickens breathing builds cardiovascular fitness — and active preschoolers develop not just physical health but the energy, sleep quality, and mood that support learning.
• 🏅 Physical Confidence — Successfully completing a physical challenge — climbing something scary, jumping a gap, learning a new skill — builds physical self-efficacy: the belief that effort leads to capability, which transfers to all learning domains.
• ⚖️ Balance & Coordination — Activities that challenge balance — hopping on one foot, walking a line, navigating obstacles — develop the vestibular and proprioceptive systems that underlie all coordinated physical movement.
• 💪 Strength Building — Age-appropriate strength challenges — climbing, pushing, carrying, and holding body weight — build the muscle development that children need for endurance, injury resistance, and the hand strength that fine motor tasks require.

by Kelly Pfeiffer

Filled with fine motor fitness development Sticker Hearts is an educational preschool game that combines math concepts and fine motor skill practice.

Preschoolers will improve fine motor skills as they turn playing cards and place stickers during this fun learning game. In addition, Sticker Hearts requires preschoolers to develop math knowledge such as number recognition and counting skills. The rules are simple for the game of Sticker Hearts and this hands-on card game has plenty of visual learning to reinforce math concepts.