• Fine Motor Skills

    Fine motor skills are needed to manipulate small objects and scissors.

Upper Body Strength

  • Upper body strength (neck, shoulders, arms) is very important as a foundation for hand skills. Lying prone on elbows or sitting in sidesit position (leaning on 1 hand) helps to build upper body strength & stability in order to promote fine motor skills. Playing games, reading, and even watching TV in these positions can help increase strength & stability.

Strengthening Activities

  • Other ways to increase upper body strength are through ball games (catch, volleyball, basketball, etc.), coloring/drawing on a vertical surface (easel, paper taped to a wall/door, etc.), and helping to carry or push things that have some weight to them (watering cans for the garden, wagons or baskets with items in them, help to carry groceries or laundry, etc.) Encourage playing and climbing on jungle gym sets at home or at the park.

Hand & Finger Strength

  • Improve hand and finger strength by offering opportunities to work with playdoh, clay, construction sets (Legos, Tinker Toys, Kinex, etc.), Lite Brite sets, spray bottles, paper punching (A GREAT WAY TO USE JUNK MAIL!), popping bubbles in packing materials, and scrunching paper into a ball with 1 hand (ANOTHER WAY TO USE THAT JUNK MAIL! Scrunch and toss into waste basket for a game of "basketball".)

Finger Grasp

  • Encourage two or three finger grasps by stringing items (beads, cut up straws, macaroni, etc.), playing games with small pieces (Trouble, Perfection, Sorry, etc.), sorting beads, marbles, coins into containers and even popping bubble wrap with thumb and index finger (great for finger strength too!). Crafts using small items are also great, like mosaics with bits of paper and lacing cards. Lite Brite and peg activities also encourage the use of thumb and index finger.

Scissor Skills

  • Scissor skills include how to hold and use use scissors as well as how to guide the paper you are cutting. The last 2 fingers should not be in the scissor handle, but slightly closed during cutting motion. If the whole hand opens and closes the scissors, try having the last 2 fingers hold a small item such as a marble during cutting. ALWAYS ENCOURAGE HOLDING THE SCISSORS AND PAPER WITH "THUMBS UP" - BOTH THUMBS TOWARD THE CEILING DURING CUTTING.

Scissor Activities

  • Cut stiff materials such as straws, junk mail, tagboard, etc. for strengthening. Also try cutting playdoh or clay - roll it into a log and then cut into pieces!