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Activities

To Improve Hand Skills

            Strength and stability in the body, shoulders and hands are important for hand skill development.  Some heavy work activities include:            

•Ø      Push ups, pull ups

•Ø      Handstands, wheelbarrow  and crab walks

•Ø      Jungle gym for climbing, swinging and hanging

•Ø      Laying on your stomach with forearm weight bearing during TV watching, reading or playing games

        Working in the vertical position helps strengthen the whole arm and naturally promotes wrist extension during activities.  Try these:

•Ø      Draw on wall mounted easel or chalkboard

•Ø      Draw on the bathtub walls with soap or shaving cream

•Ø      Draw letters and numbers in the air with a flashlight

•Ø      Position toys on slanted surfaces such as :  Battleship, Lite Brite, Lights Alive or Magnadoodle

        The hand muscles are vital for skilled movement, speed and an efficient, functional grasp.  As the hand develops, the thumb side becomes more skilled while the other side becomes stronger.  This is important to develop writing grasp and hand dexterity.  Some activities to develop hand muscles are listed below:

•Ø      Mold, roll and play with play-doh, clay and putty

•Ø      Play games that use cards, coins, chips or pegs

•Ø      Work on threading, lacing and stringing activities

•Ø      Use a hole punch or tweezers with art projects

•Ø      Use a cup to hold dice during games

•Ø      Practice dressing skills:  buttoning, tying, snapping and zipping

•Ø      Use scissors with correct grasp

•Ø      Try games like:  Bed Bugs, Spaghetti, Operation, Jacks, Marbles, Pick Up Sticks

•Ø      Use the correct grasp on writing tools and use the cue "Pinch the pencil"

•Ø      Use the school form when modeling or teaching letter and number formation

Compiled from Give Yourself a Hand, IDEA 97-0147:OT in the Classroom

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Suggested Activities to Improve

Fine and Visual Motor Coordination

•Ø     When cutting, encourage child to hold scissors using a "thumbs up" position and to use his "helper hand" to hold and turn the paper.  Encourage the child to cut in an upwards motion so they are not turning the cutting hand but rather turning the paper and cutting up.

•Ø     To improve the child's ability to see the whole picture, have them complete a variety of puzzles so they can see how the whole picture is made up of many small parts and how they all fit together.  This is a foundational skill for reading and writing.

•Ø     Activity books with mazes, tracing, coloring, hidden pictures and cutting activities can also help with part to whole relationships.

•Ø     Make sure the child knows how to form all basic shapes, cross, X, circle, square, rectangle and diamond because knowing these shapes is important for future math skills as well as forming letters and numbers.

•Ø     Have child trace over line, shape, letter or number in the air, on a chalkboard or dry erase board, in sand