Fine Motor: Bean Game

The purpose of this activity is to increase eye hand coordination. Helping the eye muscles to become stronger will help your child with the necessary fine motor skills to write, cut, and learn.

Materials Needed:
2 Empty Plastic Cups
Dry Beans (Any kind will work!) About a cup.

To Play:
The game is for one or two players. (The student can play this game along for fun!)
Each player is given a cup .
The cup is placed in front of the player.
Place the dry beans in a pile in the middle of the play area.

Each player puts one hand behind his/her back. (trade hands for a 2nd round of play)
"Ready... Set... Go"

Each player uses his/her thumb and pinky finger to pick up beans one at a time and put them into his/her cup. When all the beans are gone from the middle, count or estimate to see who has more.

Play again using the opposite hand.
Play again using thumbs and middle finger, ring finger, pinky finger.

Have FUN!

Fine Motor: Clip It Game

The purpose of this activity is to increase eye-hand coordination. Helping the eye muscles to become stronger will help your child with the necessary fine motor skills to write, cut, and learn.

Materials Needed: About 15-20 Clothes Pins/Clips

2 Paper Plates (The heavy ones work best!)

To Play:

The game is for one or two players.

Each player holds a plate.

The clips are placed into the middle of the playing area.

Each player uses just one hand to hook each clip onto the edge of the paper plate.

"Ready Set, Play"

Each player tries to put more clips on the plate than the other player.

Keep playing until all the clips are on the plates.

Count to see how many clips each player has.

Play again!

Challenge: Use 2 or 3 different colors of clips. As the clips are put onto the plate, make a pattern (AB, AABB, etc). Have FUN!

Writing Skill Progress

Progression for writing skills (ages 3-5)

Makes marks on paper

Scribbles on paper

Imitates first pre-writing strokes (you make a mark then the child imitates / , _, O

Copies prewriting stokes (you write the strokes on the page and give it to the child to copy)

Imitates later prewriting strokes +, /, \, X

Copies later strokes

Traces First Name

Copies First Name

Writes First Name

More Fine Motor Activities

Progression:

Large to Small ie:

String large objects/rings on a dowel

String medium size objects on a piper cleaner

String macaroni wheels on a string with a taped end (like a shoelace)

String small beads on a string

MANIPULATIVE ACTIVITIES:

PlayDoh

Blocks (snap, Legos, Bristle Blocks, etc.)

Pegboards, LiteBrite, Linking Toys

Puzzles

Lacing Cards

Nuts and Bolts

Stencil Activities

Tweezer and Tong Activities

Stringing Activities

Coins in a Piggy Bank

Buttons, Snaps, Zippers

CREATIVE PLAY

Painting with finger paint, shaving cream, etc.

Coloring with crayons, markers, chalk

Stickers and stamp activities

Paper Clip Chains

Turning over coins, checkers, buttons, etc. without bringing them to the edge of the table

Getting Ready for Handwriting

GETTING READY TO WRITE

How do we prepare youg children to become skillful at handwriting? Not all children take to initial manuscript (printing) instruction equally well. As a parent, you can help prepare your child for a successful school experience in learning to write by providing a variety of pre-writing activities at home.

PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES
Use games like Loob-Loo and Hokey-Pokey to help your child learn to discriminate between left and right.

Arrange pictures that tell a story in a left-to-right and top-to-bottom sequence. Reading story books also helps to teach the left-to-right orientation needed for writing.

Provide play materials that require grasping, such as water colors with large-handled brushes, pencils, markers, chalk, and crayons.

Provide finger paints and show your child how to draw long lines and big circles with his or her fingers. These large movements help to improve the eye/hand coordination and shoulder stability needed for writing. Try adding sawdust, sand, or coffee grounds to the finger paints for added texture.

Encourage your child to draw and play games on vertical surfaces. Painting on easels, drawing on white boards and chalk boards, and playing "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" places your child's hand (biomechanically speaking) in the same position needed for writing. If you do not have an easel for painting activities, tape a large piece of paper to the refrigerator (put a towel on the floor, and give home rules for this activity!). You can also draw roads going different directions on a long piece of paper to the wall. Your child will have fun driving toy cars on the roads while, at the same time, learning to stay within lined boundaries.

Help your child learn how to put stickers on vertical and horizontal lines.

Make a game of matching toothpick patterns. For example: place a toothpick horizontally on a piece of paper, then place two other toothpicks next to it in a vertical position. give your child a supply of toothpicks and aks him/her to make the same pattern.

If your child has difficulty staying on the paper when he draws or paints, use glue in a squeeze bottle to create a border along the edge of the paper. Once the glue has dried, it will provide a raised surface. When the child's crayon bumps into the border, it will remind him/her to stay on the paper.

Increasing Hand Strength in your Child

*Fill balloons with material (flour, rice, cornstarch or beans) and tie to make a small ball. They will be "squishy" so your child can "squeeze" them.

*Use hole punches, staplers, and compasses to provide resistance for hand strengthening.

*Have your child (with your supervision) carry heavy cases with thick handles (purses, small suitcases, brief cases, etc.)

*Have your child help put away groceries.

*Crumple 1/2 sheet of newspaper in one hand and playing basketball with a waste basket.

*Use empty plastic squeeze bottles (ketchup, syrup, etc) for water fun in the tub or outside.

*Squishy bath toys that spray water in the tub.

*Water gun/ spray bottle activities (spray outdoor plants, spray targets or designs on paper made with water soluable markers, etc.)

*Use bubble packing wrap to pinch and pop the bubbles.

*Pull apart toys to provide resistence. ie: Legos, Snap Blocks, Bristle Blocks, Pop Beads, etc.

*Use ink stamps to make art projects, designs, cards, notes, etc.

*Use pushpins with corkboard to disply artwork or make designs.

*Push ar pull toys, games with large push buttons.

@PlayDoh Activities:

Use rolling pins to flatten playdough

Roll into snakes and pinch with fingers

Hide small objects (coins, beads, etc) in a ball of dough and have your child find them and pull them out.

Make pea sized balls using only index finger and thumb

Use toothpicks or golf tees to make designs or pens for small farm/zoo animals in the flattened dough

Cutting dough with a plastic knife, scissors, or pizza cutter (supervised)

Handwriting Posture and Grip

Between the ages of four and four and a half and six, most children develop a mature pencil grasp (called a dynamic tripod grasp). Once this has occurred and your child shows a preferred hand for holding pencils and an interest in writing, handwriting instructions can successfully begin.
Giving attention to your child's writing environment at home will have a major impact on the quality of work your child is able to produce.

FURNITURE: The table and chair your child uses should be the proper height. They should allow your child's knees to fit comfortably under the table, feet to be flat on the floor, and about three-quarters of the lower arm to rest on the table top. The chair should be placed so your child faces the desk squarely. The table for a left-handed writer should be about two inches lower than for a right-handed writer. This helps the left-handed writer to see what he or she has written.

POSTURE: Your child's posture is important for comfort and legibility. He or she should sit with feet flat on the floor, back straight, and leaning slighly forward.

PAPER: Provide paper similar to that used by your child at school. In Kindergarten we will begin writing on blank spaces, without lines. Later we will add line paper.

For a right-handed child, the paper is placed directly infront of the child and slanted to the left. the child should place his or her free hand on the top of the peper to keep it steady on the desk.

For the left-handed child, the paper is placed in front of the child's left shoulder and slanted to the right, placing his/her free hand at the top of the paper.

PENCILS: The pencil should be gripped lightly with the forefinger and thumb and should rest on the third finger. The hand should face down.

The right-handed child should grip the pencil one inch from the point.

The left-handed child should grip the pencil one and one-half inches from the point.

If you have any questions or concerns about your child's posture or grip, please let me know!

Thanks so much!