Fine Motor Skill Development Impacts Transition to School

Judy Benz Duncan, Occupational Therapist

Development of the ability to isolate your index or pointer finger is an important early stage in the development of gross grasp and early prehension. Children begin using their hands as a unit, where all their fingers move together at approximately the same time. As your child’s skills develop they begin to use their fingers separately when pointing or when playing.

Being able to use your fingers individually impacts a child’s transition to day-care and school based activities. A child who struggles with fine motor skills will more than likely find that they struggle throughout the day’s tasks and routines.

Fine motor skill development: Some of the main physical components involved in functional fine motor performance involve:

o   the ability to motor plan

o   manipulate

o   coordinate

o   motor strength

o   core/trunk and arm stability (need for a good foundation base for control of the hand/fingers)

o   proprioception (proprioception in basic description is the awareness of position and movement of your body)

o   stereognosis (stereognosis in basic terms is the ability to recognize and identify common objects through touch or tactile manipulation without the use of visual cues/ seeing the item

Some of the daily school-based activities where fine motor skills are important include:

• hold and control a crayon

• button and unbutton their jacket

• zipping/unzipping their backpack

• open/close Velcro shoe fasteners

• managing clothing fasteners and their clothing for toileting

• Using/tearing off toilet paper and wiping themselves

• opening the tab on a lunch box

• play with construction / building toys

• manage opening their food and snack or drink containers

• using utensils to spear, scoop, or cut their food

• color/draw/write

• using glue sticks

• lace, sew, participate in creative craft time

• managing writing materials (markers, pencils, pens, chalk)

• using a computer keyboard for educational tasks and activities

• scissor grasp and cutting or snipping paper

• placing papers into folders

Common signs that your child may be having difficulty with their fine motor development skills may include any of the following:

• Difficulty holding and using a crayon or marker

• Complains that their hands “hurt” or “get tired” when coloring or manipulating small items / toys

• May end up tearing their paper when trying to color or write; or may tear the paper when trying to erase their pencil marks (may press too hard or have poor control)

• Makes marks or colors too lightly (unable to press hard enough)

• Has difficulty with buttons, zippers, Velcro fasteners, laces, snaps on clothing

• Switches hands while coloring or working on craft materials due to hand fatigue or pain

• Difficulty holding scissors properly for cutting or snipping

• Avoids participating in fine motor tasks and activities

• Poor ability to pinch or squeeze items, touch thumb to each finger, or limited ability to hold a sustained grasp

• When they hold your hand, or shake your hand, if feels like they have a weak grip and “smooshy” (low) muscle tone

• May have trouble using both hands to work together in order to manipulate or play with items (bilateral coordination or integration)

• Palm of hand seems “flat” and they are not able to form a “cup-like” shape with their hand

• One side of their hand works better than the other side (you need both sides of hand to work together for more precise fine motor work – this is called motoric separation) Motoric Hand Separation: Both a child’s and adult’s hand can be divided into two separate sides. The pinky and ring finger side is typically used for stability and the thumb, index and middle finger perform the majority of manipulative skills.

Please speak with your child’s pediatrician, OT, ST, PT, and service providers for their input, advice and guidance before making or attempting changes – these ideas may or not be the best choice for your child, and working with those who do know your child is the best bet for success!

Fine Motor Development Activities and Ideas:

The variety of activities and ideas provided here are by no means the only things you can try - personalize, adjust, and modify to fit your lifestyle, and your child’s needs and abilities. Use the suggestions given as a “springboard” to coming up with more ideas you can try.

Activities range from very simple, early development up to quite challenging! Pick and choose which works best for your child and build from there - Have Fun! Play is a Child’s Work!

Giving your child variety, exposure, change, and experience are ALL growth and learning opportunities

Never force a child to touch or feel something they find overstimulating or distressful. Work with what is tolerated and try to expand from there.

o   Draw outlines of simple shapes, straight lines, and gentle curves, onto the paper and have your child use Wiki-Stix to place on and follow the lines you have drawn

o  Do finger exercises where they lay their hand on the table and then try to raise, and then bend, each finger one at a time (you can demonstrate and they can copy you); try having them also separate fingers apart, tap with each finger, stretch and then close into a tight grip; repeat, repeat, repeat!

o  Find hidden items in a Sensory Rice Box (CLICK & GO to Blog on Sensory Rice Box here on TheraPlay4Kids.com)

o  Race your child to see how many blocks they can fit into one of their socks; to make it harder, see how many water balloons they can stuff into a small pillow case (you may want to do this one outside!)

o  If you have a scooter board, they can lay on the board and then pull them self across the room by hand-over-hand pulling their way along a rope or rolled up bed sheet

o  Tear strips of construction paper, thin fabrics; tear off pieces of masking tape from the roll

o  Hold a medium sized ball in both hands and have then spin or rotate the ball around and around, forwards and backwards; you may want to put a sticker or dot on the ball so you and the child can see how fast and evenly they can rotate the ball

o  Use eye droppers filled with kid-friendly food coloring to make cool artwork on coffee filters (frame & hang!)

o  Self-help fabric activity pads for lacing, buttoning, zipping – these are fun and a great practice tool

o  Use a pot holder loom kit and make pot holders for everybody! They do sell large looms and big chunky loops for small hands

o  Place coins or buttons into a piggy bank 

o   Play Pick-Up-Sticks (they sell variations of this game all over the place)

o   Screw/Unscrew bottles, lids, nuts, and bolts (vary size from small to huge! Provide a bowl with a variety that they can sort and match as well as put together)

o   Change the work surface and angle (easel, slant board, chalkboard, sandpaper behind work paper, work on tabletop or on their lap)

o   Stretch out and push back together Pop Toobs – You can twist and turn the Toobs into all sorts of shapes and see if your child can untwist and then squish back into its original straight shape

o   Try taping paper to the tabletop to help with control of paper while they are working on it

o   Fill a bowl or shallow basket with beads, buttons, or marbles and have your child try to pick up as many as they can in one hand, then drop them just one at a time into another container (not easy at all!)

o   Draw a page full of small ovals and circles and have your child try to color or mark in all of the shapes, increasing the number of shapes and the size of the shapes, to improve hand strength and endurance; start with a reasonable number that you know they will be able to finish the whole page to help give confidence and positive rewards!

o   Games and Activity Kits like Barrel of Monkeys, Connect Four, Tiddly-Winks, Operation, Bedbugs, Jenga, Pick-Up-Sticks, Don’t Spill the Beans, Lite Brite, play-dough stampers/construction kits, Bristle Blocks, Legos, Mega Blocks, lacing and craft activities, hole-punch activities, and there are just hundreds of choices out there in the toy and craft aisles!

o   Squish and squeeze small foam balls, rubbery animals, foamy letters and shape

o   Use tongs, tweezers (large size) to pick up small objects like beads, marbles, beans, cotton balls, etc. – have them sort, transfer to another dish or drop into another small container

o   If you have a box of 12 or 16 crayons, have a timed race to see how fast your child can take them out of the box one at a time, AND then put them back into the box one at a time. There is no good or bad time – celebrate the fun and ability to complete the task. (CLICK & GO for Blog on Beyond Coloring on TheraPlay4Kids.com for dozens of great ideas and activities that will help with fine motor skill development)

o   Use a small coin purse that you have to squeeze to open, then have your child hold open and use other hand to drop in coins or buttons; switch hands so both get both types of fine activity

o   Make a Fine Motor Play Bin with a variety of items your child can help make and can make their own choice as to what they will work on at set “fine motor” times

o   Provide craft activities where they need to squeeze out glue, glitter, fabric paint, and so on

o   Use a large baster filled with kid-friendly paints or colored water, and have them squirt out the paint onto a large piece of paper to create some unique art

o   Drawing with their index finger – let them draw lines, circles, arcs, crazy shapes, while using finger paints, shaving cream, through the sand box, at the beach, on steamed up windows, and so on. Anywhere they can make a mark with their finger (not their whole hand or group of fingers) is a great early learning experience

o   Have them trace with their one finger along a drawn line (you can draw lines that are straight, curved, looped, etc., using large colorful markers)

o   Have them use their pointer finger to “erase” a chalk line on a blackboard

o   Squeeze out soaked sponges, wring out soaked wash cloths (can do in the tub, outdoor pool, or in yard)

o   If they will tolerate wearing a glove, or just the finger end of a glove, have them erase lines and shapes made with dry-erase markers on a white board

o   Have them use their finger to follow a wide-spaced maze from start to finish

o  Try to color or draw while holding a small object like a penny, button, or cotton ball under their ring and little finger 

o   Hide items in playdough (marbles, coins, buttons) and have your child try to dig them out only using their index finger (CLICK & GO for Playdough Blog right here on TheraPlay4Kids.com)

o   Make small silly-putty or playdough “meatballs” and let your child smash them as flat as they can by using only their pointer finger

o   Make a papier mache project (CLICK & GO for Messy Play with Papier Mache right here on TheraPlay4Kids.com)

o   Place a variety of dried pasta (elbows, penne, rotini) in a small bowl and let your child try to place their finger on a piece of pasta and drag it over to the side and up and over the edge of the bowl

o   Play “finger songs” where they need to point and wiggle one finger at a time (“Where is Thumbkin" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" as examples)

o   Finger paint across a large piece of paper only using their pointer fingers

o   Use spray bottles to “mist” the plants, or to use kid-friendly colored water in the spray bottle to “make art”

o   Pop bubbles with their pointer finger – let them pop them high, low, to the side, and chase after them to pop them

o   If you allow squirt guns or bubble guns, let them work on pressing the trigger to spray out the water or bubbles

o   Try lacing using different sized thicknesses of string, shoelaces, or yarn – start with thick and wide pieces of cord, yarn, or shoestrings for easier grip

o   Use lacing cards in different sizes and shapes

o   Lace/ thread large sized pasta noodles – Big rotini work great!

o   Lace / thread large beads of ½” to 1” or even bigger

o   Make a big bead and bobble necklace

o   Lace / thread through a variety of different sized buttons

o   Make your own lacing cards by poking holes into a section of a cardboard box 

o   Place paper colored discs, bingo chips, checkers, etc. on the table and have them push them one at a time across the table or through a set obstacle course using only their index finger

o   Scrunch up little tin-foil balls or fuzzy craft pom-poms and have your child “flick” them away with just their one finger (where they curl up their index finger and them extend to “finger kick” the items)

o   Point to specific items in a book – seek and find!

o   If they can tolerate, draw circles all over a piece of paper then have your child touch some finger paint with just their pointer finger and “dot” each open circle; they can change colors used to create their own work of art

o   Press stickers onto a piece of paper or into a sticker book using their pointer finger only to press the sticker flat; then have them try by using each finger separately and then as a working group!

o   Use finger puppets – Have fun with this one! 

o   Cut a slit into the plastic lid of a disposable container – let your child push pom-poms, buttons, other small soft and flexible items through the slit using only their pointer finger; if this is too challenging you can make the slit wider or larger, or get it just started through the slit and then let them complete pushing it through

o   Have your child (if they will tolerate) pick up small, light items on their dampened fingertip to transport them to another area of the table or container (for example use sequins, small beads, paper cut outs from a hole punch, and the like)

o   Fine Motor Grasp Activity Blog (CLICK & GO!) on this site.  

WOW! LOTS OF ACTIVITIES TO CHOOSE FROM!!!

Please speak with your child’s pediatrician, OT, ST, PT, and service providers for their input, advice and guidance before making or attempting changes – they can help modify, adapt, or give suggestions on how to make changes that will be the most effective for your child.

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