Thursday, June 14, 2012

Finger Strength

As children work on writing, cutting and the variety of other activities that require coordination and strength to your hands, they can become frustrated. It is not always easy to master these skills, but finger strength is vital.

No one wants to just sit and trace letters and numbers all day to increase finger strength, so why not have some fun.

Some great activities to practice:

1) Have you ever considered the strength and coordination needed to hold several small items in your hands and to just sit down one item at a time? It is not an easy skill. To start, we each picked up 5 beans in our hands. Next we set the beans down, one at a time, onto a piece of paper.

2) The same concept as number one, but a little more difficult, is to have the child hold several coins in their hand and then put them one at a time in a piggy bank. This is more difficult because the coins have to be held just right to fit into the small slot of a piggy bank.

3) Monkey bars. This is not just finger strength, but works for your whole hand. You will need to hold your child to keep them safe. Hold around the waist and have them bend their knees while counting to a predetermined number. This also works on the child's core strength.

4) Play dough. Just the act of manipulating play dough requires finger strength and dexterity.

Have fun and give your child a chance to strengthen those muscles!

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