10 Activities to Work On Hand Strengthening

Here are 10 activities to give the muscles in the fingers and hands a workout:

1.  Ways to Use Clothes Pins with Craft Sticks from http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freeclothespin

2.  Clothesline Numbers from http://www.yourtherapysource.com/clothespinfree.html

3.  Clay Marble Mazes from http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2014/04/14/clay-marble-mazes/

4.  Hole Punch Palooza Sample Page from http://yourtherapysource.com/holepunchpics.html

5.  Hand Strengthening Activities in the Kitchen from http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2014/07/16/3-hand-strengthening-activities-in-the-kitchen/

6.  5 Things to Do with Loom Bands from http://yourtherapysource.com/freeloombands.html

7.  Bubble Wrap Story Time Printables from http://yourtherapysource.com/freebubblepop.html

8.  Water Squirt Race at http://yourtherapysource.com/videosquirt.html

9.  Spray Shapes and Patterns at http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2012/05/09/spray-shapes-and-patterns/

10.  Hatching Birds Clothespin Activity at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freehatch.html

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Simple Shape Turkey

After seeing this craft over at Toddler Approved, I figured this would be perfect for little fingers to work on scissor skills, shape identification and simple drawing skills.

We started out by cutting out a circle and some colorful shapes from construction paper.  We glued the shapes into the white circle.



Next, cut out a simple turkey body shape and glue that on top of the turkey "feathers".



This child choose to draw some eyes, a nose and a smile.  You could add a orange triangle and google eyes.



And here you have the finished product -



 

Need some movement to go with that Turkey?  Check out Thanksgiving Brain Breaks.



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12 Printable Halloween Freebies

Need some last minute Halloween activities?  Here are 12 free printable activities:

1.  4 Pages from Halloween Handwriting Activities at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/files/Halloween_free_sample.pdf

2.  Halloween Clothes Pin Mat at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freehalloweenmat.html

3.  Pumpkin Patch Fine Motor Game at   http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freepumpkinpatch.html

4.  Jack O Lantern Challenge Maze at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freejackolanternmaze.html

5.  Copy the Clay Monsters at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freeclaymonster.html

6.  Halloween Handwriting Hunt at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/hwhuntshalloweenfree.html

7.  Halloween Door Hanger at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/fmhalloweenfree.html

8.  Halloween Mummy Pose at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/halloweenposesfree.html

9.  Halloween Group Game Lesson Plan at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freehalloweengame.html

And one more I forgot to add in the picture above - Monster Mazes Free Pages at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/monsterfree.html

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Flower Fine Motor Activities for Spring

Here are three different ideas using the same materials to encourage fine motor skills.  To find out how to make the activities go to Your Therapy Source at http://www.YourTherapySource.com/freeflowers

Gross Motor and Fine Motor Activity Using Colored Dot Stickers

I am not sure why but I just LOVE colored dot stickers.  They are cheap and versatile for all sorts of activities that combine movement with learning.  Here is my latest idea using these awesome stickers:

1.  Write some numbers on colored dot stickers.  For this example, I wrote the numbers 1-4 twice.  Draw matching circles with the same numbers on a piece of paper.  For this example, the matching numbered circles were horizontally across on the paper.

2.  Place the colored dot stickers randomly on the floor (carpet works best so you can pull them off easily and they will still stick to paper).  For this example, I placed the colored dots around a balance disc.

3.  Ask the child to squat down to get a colored, number dot.  The child then matches the sticker number dot to the ones on the white paper.  Continue until all the numbered dot stickers are matched up to the numbers on the paper.

4.  Finally, the child draws a line connecting the matching colored number dots.

There are so many ways you change up this activity to challenge children in terms of reinforcing academic material (letter matching, color matching, etc.) and different movements (wheelbarrow walking, prone over a ball, up/down stairs to retrieve stickers, etc.).

How about use this activity to encourage some upper extremity weight bearing before handwriting practice?  Place the colored dot where you start to write a letter and the child has to practice writing the letter starting at the dot. 



Need more activities that include fine and gross motor skills?  Check out Motor Magic - Turn Fine Motor Skills into Gross Motor Skills at http://yourtherapysource.com/motormagic.html.



Love colored dot stickers just like I do?  Check out Dot Phonics Mazes at http://yourtherapysource.com/dotphonics.html

Research on a Collaborative Fine Motor Program

Ingrid King, OT, has written research on a collaborative fine motor program for 5 year old children in New Zealand.  A two phased mixed method design was utilized with 19 students in a 5 year old classroom (none of the students were receiving occupational therapy nor had a diagnosis).  To measure changes in fine motor skills a group pre- and post-test was performed.  A five year follow up study was completed to determine the teacher's perceptions.  The intervention consisted of a fine motor program for the entire class led by the occupational therapist (which were then repeated by the teaching staff) one time per week for 8 weeks.  Following the first 8 weeks, an additional fine motor program was completed for 12 weeks for only 6 of the students.  

The results indicated the following:

• a significant difference was found in the groups fine motor performance following the the collaborative teaching training


• the teacher continued to use the knowledge and activities after the training was complete.

You can read the entire study here http://docs.com/ZH6H.  Find out more about the fine motor program used for the study at www.myfantasticfingers.com

Reference:  King, I. Then and Now: Addressing Young Students' Fine Motor Needs Through a Collaborative Modelling Teacher Training Intervention.  Copyright 2014. Ingrid C. King www.myfantasticfingers.com

 



Need other ideas for a collaborative approach to school based occupational therapy?  Check out the Coleman Curriculum for School Based Occupational Therapy at http://yourtherapysource.com/coleman.html

 

DIY Fine Motor and Visual Perceptual Toy

Here is a simple fine motor and visual perceptual toy to create.  Using a small juice bottle, place velcro dots all around the bottle.  Use fun foam shapes with velcro dots and place them on the bottle.  Glue matching fun foam shapes to a piece of cardboard.

Have the child pull off each velcro fun foam shape.

Place it on top of the matching shape on the board.

Here they are all matched up.

You could just remove the fun foam shapes and place them inside the bottle.

 

All done!

Air Mister Fun and Functional

After seeing these Air Misters from Target over at Play Counts, I knew they would be lots of fun.  For only $2.50 these Air Misters are available at Target in the dollar section.  Basically you fill the air mister with water, pump it to increase the pressure then press the button to gently mist the water.  Not only does this strengthen the arm, wrist, hand and finger muscles it is just plain fun.  The younger kids did need two hands to engage the mist so children with moderate weakness in the fingers may have trouble pressing the button to mist.  The kids thought of so many ideas to use the mister for: cool off your face, spray the hair, air mister tag, wash glasses, water plants and the most favorite water fountain.  The original blog post where I saw the idea, put colored water in and painted with them.  Loads of fun for $2.50. 

Roll and Pull Activity Idea

Here is a simple, cheap game to make that encourages fine motor skills, grasp and grading of movements.  Get the directions at YourTherapySource.com.

Bubble Wrap Printable

Head on over to YourTherapySource to download this free printable to use with large bubble wrap. Kids can tell a story popping pictures as they go or perform exercise repetitions popping numbers. There is even a free blank board to make your own popping game.

Twist (literally) on Puzzles Part #2

 I came across another idea on Pinterest about changing up puzzles.  Basically, using any picture or text that you would like, you can create a twisting puzzle.  For this example I printed out a picture on heavy duty cardstock that would wrap around this container with about an inch of overlap.  Cut the paper into strips.  I glued the bottom strip directly to the container so that it would not move.  Try and use a metal container (recycled can) so that is does not bend when doing the puzzle.

 Pictured below is all the strips already on the container.  I used tape to secure each strip.  You want them to be tight so they don't slip but not so tight that they do not rotate.  That is why the tape came in handy because I had to reposition it to get it just right.

 Now mix up the puzzle pieces.

 Give it to the child to twist back into place matching up the bottom strip. 

 Puzzle solved!

If it is too difficult for the child to twist the pieces of the puzzle you can add little paper tabs to each piece.  You may want to add these anyway for variety of solving the puzzle.

Instead of using pictures, you could put spelling or sight words on it.  It does make a nice fidget to use while learning.  Have fun!

This activity encourages:

• visual perceptual skills
• fine motor skills
• opening of the web space
• bilateral coordination
• grading of movement  

Visit YourTherapySource.com for more fine motor and visual perceptual activities.

Fine Motor Match Up

After seeing this picture on Pinterest, I knew I had to try this activity. Just match up little tags with numbers, letters or shapes to beads using toothpicks. I did not have any Styrofoam so I used some clean, recycled meat trays. This was a real fine motor challenge but a nice twist. You really have to grade the movement along with having coordination to get the small bead onto the toothpick. I did matching letter beads, number of beads and a four in a row vertical game. Just make sure that the beads you are using can fit on toothpicks. If this is too difficult, you could use larger wooden skewers and bigger beads. This is a nice cheap activity that encourage fine motor skills, coordination skills, cognitive skills and grading of movements.

Matching beads and colored toothpicks

Matching letter tags to letter beads

Playing four in a row - you need to get four beads in a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally to win. Here blue won with 4 vertical blue beads in a row. Nice small travel game to stick inside a tin to take on the go.

Have fun!

Good Fine Motor Skills = Good Grades

New research that will be published soon in the Journal of Early Childhood Education and Development indicated that children who scored well on fine motor tasks when in pre-K had higher averages in second grade than those who scored lower on fine motor tasks in pre-K. Data was reviewed on 1000 second graders in Florida. The researchers looked at averages in 2nd grade and compared that to fine motor scores in pre-K. The results indicated the following:

2nd graders with an average GPA of 3.02 in math and 2.84 in reading – B averages, had received good grades in fine motor tasks in pre-K

2nd graders with an average GPA of 2.30 in math and 2.12 in Reading – C averages, scored poorly on fine motor tasks in pre-K

on the 2nd grade SAT the students with better fine motor scores in pre-k scored in the 59th percentile for reading and 62nd percentile for math

the students with poorer fine motor scores in pre-K scored in the 38th percentile on the Reading SAT and the 37th percentile for the math SAT

Although there is no cause and effect relationship is does make a good case for occupational therapy in the early years if delays are present.

You can read more about it at Florida International University website.

Reference: J Prenaud. Good handwriting and good grades: FIU researcher finds new link. Retreived from the web on 1/17/11 at http://news.fiu.edu/2012/01/good-handwriting-and-good-grades-fiu-researcher-finds-new-link/34934?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=good-handwriting-and-good-grades-fiu-researcher-finds-new-link

Simple Portable Clothes Line

Here is a simple idea to sneak in some clothes pin work on a portable clothes line. Just empty out a picture frame and hang some string. Make sure the child clips the clothes pins low down or they will flip due to the short line. Here are some suggested uses:

1. Make a puzzle. Cut it up and hang it in the correct order.


2. Hang numbers in order.



3. Hang art work on the wall. Super easy to change often.


Want some more clothes pin activities? Check out out Clothes Pin Collection, Clothing Match Up or our freebie Clothes Line Numbers.

December Holiday Clothes Pin Mat

Download this free holiday mat to practice visual motor skills and encourage muscle strengthening on the fingers with matching clothes pins to the letters. You can download it at YourTherapySource.com.