Fine Motor Activities to Facilitate Handwriting at Home
At home parents have the opportunity to facilitate their child’s development in so many areas. This information is intended to provide you with suggestions for aiding your child’s fine motor skill development and have fun in the process!
First, think about posture
In order for a child to be successful in drawing and writing it is necessary to have finger and hand strength as well as postural stability (strength in the trunk and shoulder muscles). It is important for a child to be seated in a chair that is at an appropriate height for the table. When a child has a good sitting posture the feet are flat on the floor and knees are bent at a 90 degree angle.
Next, think about attention
Some children find it challenging to remain seated for tabletop activities. If this is the case, it is helpful before sitting down at the table to have the child be in a “ready” state, in terms of attention and ability to sit for a period of time. It is also helpful when a child is doing homework to take movement breaks such as, get a drink of water, take a brief walk outside, or even do a set of jumping jacks. Using periodic movement breaks helps to facilitate attention.
Activities to facilitate a “ready” to work position:
• Try hand “warm-ups” such as manipulating Play Doh, or clay for several minutes.
• Finger play games such as Itsy, Bitsy Spider, Where is Thumbkin, or thumb wrestling.
• Stretch and move your whole body before sitting down for tabletop activities.
• Help your child create an organized space for homework that is quiet, with limited distractions or interruptions.
• Find out if your child works better with background music.
Activities to promote trunk and shoulder stability:
These activities can be incorporated into your free play time at home.
• Lying in a prone position (on the tummy) while watching t.v. or looking at books.
• Wheelbarrow walking races (holding onto feet or upper thigh for more support)
• Crab walking forward or backwards (on hands and feet )
• Carrying weighted objects, such as helping to water the garden with a hose or a watering can.
• Tug of war
• Swimming
• Yoga animal postures for kids
Activities to promote finger and hand strength:
Many of these fun activities can be placed into a container that your child can select on their own during times of free play. Drawing with your child is also a way to encourage their exploration.
• To help develop the web space (the circle that forms with the index finger and thumb –necessary for holding the pencil correctly) try these activities: popping the bubbles on plastic packing sheets, opening/closing ziplock bags, winding up wind-up toys, spinning tops, using an eye dropper to make pictures with colored water, ripping magazines or wrapping paper to make a collage, rolling pieces of tissue paper to make a picture.
• To help develop the muscles of the thumb, index, and middle fingers (the fingers that grasp the pencil) squirt water from a spray bottle while in the bath, pick up cotton balls with tweezers. Cut Play Doh with a plastic knife or child scissors.
• Create a rice bin with small items such as animals, beads, and wooden letters hidden inside and use tongs to pick up.
• Hide items in Theraputty (varying degrees of resistance) and poke holes with fingers to find them.
• To increase finger strength use a hole punch to make a design. Insert pegs, beads, buttons into clay or putty. Play games: Lite Brite, Kerplunk, Jumpin’ Monkeys.
Activities to facilitate drawing and writing which require the integration of vision with fine motor skills:
• Dot to Dots (letters and numbers) and Mazes for specific ages.
• Building with Duplos, Legos, or Bristle Blocks all help to develop the integration of vision with fine motor control.
• Draw designs, letters in wet sand, shaving cream, finger paints, or soap foam. Use paintbrushes or popsicle sticks for those children who display tactile sensitivity to messy media.
• Use Wikki Stixx, wet sand, clay, popsicle sticks, or Play Doh to form shapes and letters.
Materials that can be helpful
• Use a slanted or a vertical surface to write on, such as easels or blackboards. This provides the necessary support to the wrist as well as helping to develop muscles in the shoulder. When doing homework use a 2 ½ inch empty binder which will create an appropriate slanted surface to place the paper on.
• For younger children use large, sidewalk chalk, wide pencils, large crayons, wide markers and large brushes when drawing or painting. Tape paper onto an easel or on a wall.
• For the children who are still developing a grasp, triangle shaped pencils (available @ Staples, Therapro) can be helpful. You can also wrap Wikki Stixx around a pencil to provide a tactile cue for the child to position their fingers in a “pinch”.
• Using a Mov-n-sit cushion on a chair can provide a fidgety child with some movement input while remaining seated. Some families also find that using a Tripp Trapp chair (`Stokke company -several are in our waiting room) is a good option as the chair’s seat and foot rest can be adjusted as the child grows.
• Handwriting Without Tears is a handwriting protocol used by our occupational therapists. The protocol includes wooden pieces for forming letters, and books for each level of writer with specific approaches for formation of upper and lower case letters.
By providing these activities for your child at home you can support the development of fine motor skills which form the foundation for handwriting. Consult your child’s teacher or occupational therapist for more information.
Have fun!
Elvira Fulchino, MS. OTR/L, MSW, LICSW
