mamaeast Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Any ideas on strengthening little hands or developing fine motor skills for an almost-six-year-old boy? Something fun?? His brain's way ahead of his hands and he's a super-perfectionist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morgan Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 My 5 yo has similar issues, an OT suggested play doh, modeling clay, rolling/cutting/frosting cookies, cutting and pasting, beading, hole punching (the new ones are way easier for little hands), puzzles, and anything that involves manipulating really small pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Eating with chopsticks-with chop clips, at first, if needed (and it probably will be) is another good one. As is just trying to pick up small items with chopsticks. One trick a mom of a child in my homeschool group taught me (who's son's OT suggested it) was to give her child popcorn or M&Ms or other small snacks/treats to eat with chopsticks :). If you get the Handwriting Without Tears PK or K teacher's guide, there are a lot of suggestions in there. My DD didn't need information on how to form letters when we began HWOT, but she absolutely needed the fine motor practice. She's improved a lot in the last 2 years :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matilda Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Any ideas on strengthening little hands or developing fine motor skills for an almost-six-year-old boy? Something fun?? His brain's way ahead of his hands and he's a super-perfectionist. Lots and lots of legos. My perfectionist ds likes to follow the instructions, because then they turn out "perfectly." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2smartones Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Get craft jewels and hide them in play-doh. Have him dig them out with isolated fingers and/or tweezers. Picking up anything with tweezers (like cotton balls) and putting them in a jar is great as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 For strengthening anything that helps the upper body and core is good. Tug of war, wheelbarrow walking, wall pushups, carrying in heavy groceries, writing on vertical surface - like a chalkboard on the wall. Also, getting kind of a stiff sprayer nozzle that required squeezing and having the child be in charge of watering the garden if you have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amie Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 All of the above and monkey bars. Also, bottles with a trigger spray nozzle--he can Windex the windows or just spray water outside, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Blessings Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Play games with push clip or finger wars with your thumb and forefinger, then move to your next finger and thumb (basically, both of you make an "O" shape and try to pull apart the other persons "O"). Practice, practice, and patience . . . I think it just takes time. Lots of good ideas here though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomatHWTK Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 (edited) Lots of things like these: http://www.eaieducation.com/search.aspx?Keyword=shapes We have a set of flat shape magnets, and also plain shapes (attribute blocks) that the kids can use to create designs. Tangrams would work as well. Legos are a winner here, as are regular wooden blocks. Thomas the Tank Engine wooden trains and track use hands in several different ways. Dry erase markers, or those doodle boards that use a magnet pen to draw, small stamps and a stamp pad... Edited May 8, 2012 by MomatHWTK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Passing small items back and forth through a ring (use two sizes like a roll of sticky/masking tape) without knocking the ring over, pegging items onto a line, cutting with scissors, lego, coloring in, threading beads (even boys will enjoy this if you use boyish beads), egg and spoon races, finger play nursery rhymes and other action songs with finger play, making shadows on the wall with fingers, kneading bread dough, learning to play the piano, cleaning windows (use a spray bottle to practice spraying and then rolled up newspaper to wipe it off with as this also exercises the hand muscles), puzzles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 All of the above, and also time and patience. ;) I've found that as I've continued to gradually increase the writing requirements, writing has gotten easier and easier for my son. We had a big jump in "ease of writing" just before he turned 7, and then a bigger jump just before turning 8 (he's about to turn 8). At just before turning 6, his hand still hurt. :tongue_smilie: So there is hope, but it may be a little while. I just required age appropriate output, used WWE as our writing (listen to SWB's writing lectures - they're very helpful!), and made sure he steadily practiced writing every single day - spreading it out so it wasn't a lot at one time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaeast Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 Thank you all so much for your input! All things that won't make him think we're working on it. :001_smile: He can just think we're playing or doing chores and he'll be happy! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.