Therefore, it is important that children in this age range have lots of opportunities to explore varied materials and toys that promote the development of the hand muscles.
So, you may be asking, “What is hand development, anyway?” Hand development includes the development of arches in the hand that make our palms form a small bowl. This bowl allows us to fully oppose our thumbs to our other fingers – a skill that makes us uniquely human! We also need to be able to separate the two sides of the hand so we have a stable side (the pinkie and ring finger side) and a precision side (the thumb, index and middle fingers). Once the muscles in the hands are well developed, a child can move small objects from the fingers to the palm and vice versa. He/she can shift objects up and down in the fingers or hand or rotate objects with the whole hand or just the fingers. We use all of these skills everyday, without even thinking about it. For example, it we are writing with a pencil and make a mistake, we flip the pencil around to the eraser side, erase and then return the pencil to the writing position, all in one hand!
Here are a few simple activity ideas to promote good hand muscle development. Be sure your child is holding the pinkie and ring fingers curled against their palm – we like to call this the “secret side” of the hand. If they have a hard time with this, use a sticker, small object or draw something in the palm just below where the fingers join the hand and have your child “hide” it with the pinkie and ring fingers as they do the activity. Some children need to work on shoulder girdle stability, so putting the activity on the floor or on a vertical surface (for coloring or painting) can encourage this. Check with your therapist to see which positions make sense for your child.
- Lite Brite: Seated on the floor, laying on tummy or at the table.
- Playdough: Make tiny balls and have your child pinch them between thumb and index fingers – be sure they are pushing finger pad to finger pad! Make snakes and have your child pinch the length of the snake. Cut the playdough with a scissors.
- Scissors play: Cut envelopes, playdough, paper, etc. Be sure they have the “secret side” of the hand hidden and that the scissors is held so that the thumb is in one whole, the mid in another and the index is the “guide” finger for the index finger. You may need to flip the child¹s scissors upside down to encourage this. Your occupational therapist can show you how to do this.
- Hide small objects (proportionate to your child¹s hand to encourage a neat pincer grasp) in beans, rice or bird food.
- Use clothes pins to make designs or construct structures.
- Play with tongs to pick up objects and place them in containers. Be sure your child is holding the tongs between the thumb and first two fingers to encourage hand separation.
- Play with eye droppers to fill containers with water or to color paper towels with colored water.
- Break your child’s crayons in half to encourage a mature grasp pattern when they are writing.
- Use a push pin or toothpick to poke holes along lines on paper to make designs or pictures. Put the paper on styrofoam, a piece of carpet or another soft surface.
- String beads or pasta noodles.
- Play with actual nuts and bolts.
- Tops, marbles and jacks.
- Use stamps that are small enough to encourage a refined grasp.
These are just a few beginning ideas. As your child plays and explores, they will come up with their own ideas. Just have fun!!!