Building Blocks

As school days are approaching, pencils are gearing up for a full time job!  Below are activities often used by pediatric occupational therapists that you can also use at home to help your child gain the strength and skills necessary for efficient pencil use in school.

Activities to Improve Wrist and Shoulder Stability/Strength

• Animal walks, wheelbarrow walks, scooter board pulls, play games in hands/knees position
• Using a hammer
• Fishing with large diameter stick attached to string with a magnet at the end.  Cut out fish from posterboard or construction paper and attach paper clips to them.  Fish by using to hands to wind and unwind the string.
• Climbing activities, tug of war, hanging from playground suspended bars
• Drawing/writing on chalk board or another surface that is above eye level
• Work in a vertical orientation (easel, slantboard, inclined surface) whenever possible to do small manipulative tasks - pegboards, Lite Brite, Magna Doodle, coloring, painting
• Use a rolling pin to flatten Playdoh, cracker crumbs, cookie dough, etc. and make sure that the hands are open rather than closed around the handles

Activities to Improve Hand/Finger Strength

• Spray bottles - fill an empty spray bottle with water.  Spray target or take outside and let your child "paint" the sidewalks, walls, and other objects with the water.
• Clothespins - clip clothespins to large coffee can or bucket
• Playdoh, clay, putty - hide/find objects; form shapes, letters, food; use small cookie cutters
• Play with interlocking beads or legos
• Play tug-of-war with small objects (i.e. coffee stirrers, drinking straws, popsicle sticks, etc.) using only fingertips
• Hole punching, stamps
• Place pennies or marbles in a plastic container or tennis ball with a slot cut in it.  Try increasing the number the child is able to pick up and hold within one hand and place them one at a time in the slotted container/ball without help from the other hand.
• Pop bubble wrap between "pincher fingers" (index & thumb)
• zip up ziploc bags with "pincher fingers" (index & thumb)

Activities to Improve Pencil Grasp

• Tongs/tweezers - let your child use kitchen tongs to pick up small objects such as cut up sponges, ice, small blocks, golf tees, packing peanuts, etc.
• Eyedroppers - pinch to transfer colored water into ice cube trays or to make a tie dye picture
• String beads, cheerios, fruit loops, etc.  Could even make a bird feeder with cheerios on a string!
• use a pencil grip

Activities to Improve Pencil Control

• mazes
• dot-to-dots
• tracing activities
• color by number activities

These are just a few activities that are frequently used in pediatric occupational therapy to help children prepare and practice for efficient pencil use in school.  If you have questions about these or additional activities, please ask your Child and Family Development Occupational Therapist.  You can also visit www.skillbuildersonline.com for a free handout on pencil grasp activities.