Fine Motor Strengthening

Fine Motor Strengthening

When we think Fine Motor strengthening we immediately think about the development of emergent writing.

While academic skills are necessary; construction play and self help skills are just as important.

Fine Motor movements a child also learns;

•  Self care –  feeding themselves, putting on shoes, buttoning, zippering, brushing their teeth, opening lunchboxes and lids etc;
• Allows a child to play with small objects;
• Encourages creativity;
• Improves hand-eye coordination;
• Fosters independence; and
• Builds confidence.

Apart from scissor cutting skills, construction skills and all things playdoh; we have been focusing on pencil control and strengthening activities such as Pop it, squeezing objects and finger trigger movements.

 Pencil Control

Pencil control is a huge part of handwriting legibility.

• Holding the pencil;
• Manipulating it within the hand;
• Efficiently and effectively stopping and starting on lines;
• Forming letters with turns in direction; and
• Managing minute pencil strokes within a given writing space.

All require pencil control.

Learning to hold and use a pencil or crayon does not develop in isolation from other fine motor skills.

Studies have shown that dexterity of hand and finger muscles has a big influence on handwriting ability (along with good visual-motor integration skills).

Pop it’s

The Pre-Prep class has jumped on the Pop- it’s bandwagon.

The Pop – it or fidget popper as they are also know as is a sensory toy that has little “bubbles” that you can push through and pop, similar to bubble wrap.

They were initially designed to provide a sensory and tactile experience, however have many more classroom uses.

The children have been using the Pop- it’s to build up the muscles in their wrist and fingers in an activity we can “piano playing”.

This activity requires the participant to stabilise their wrist on the table and use each finger independent to pop the bubbles.

They are encouraged to use their dominate and non-dominate hand.

At first their finger movements are sharp and deliberate with more force than required being used to pop the bubbles and the participants wrist bending with each movement.

After more repetitions of the pressing and popping action their movements become soft and smooth as their fingers move quickly across the surface and their wrist remains in a fixed position.

When you hold your wrist in a slightly extended position, the muscles operating the fingers can pull the tendons (and therefore the finger bones) more easily, which results in better control of the fingers.

Pop it’s are only one of the many tools used to develop your child’s coordination and hand strength.

Classroom favourites to try at home

1.   Squeezing a Ball – Have your child squeeze a soft ball or toy for one minute which strengthens both their hands and wrists.  Switch to a firm rubber ball, as an extension exercise.
2.   Rolling Play Dough– Encourage your child to perform activities with rolling pins, plastic knives, cookie cutters and scissors. As an extension exercise; make little balls out of the play doh by rolling it and then use fingers to press it down, hide objects in it and pull them out or pull the play doh apart.
3.  Squeezing and Picking Up Objects–  Clothes Pegs ; have your child squeeze and pick objects up with them.  Switch to clothes pins ,as an extension exercise. Encourage your child to work on opening the clothes pins up from the side that is closed.
4.   Spraying with a Water Spray Bottle– This activity is great for strengthening up wrist and hand muscles. Your child can use the water spray bottles to spray things like plants, windows, the wall outside or in the bath tub.

That’s all this week from Miss Patti and the Sea Turtles

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