Fine Motor Development Ideas
Hand Strength
What is Hand strength?
Hand strength is the ability and power of the group of muscles contained in the hand. Grip strength refers to the entire hand whereas pinch strength refers to the thumb and index finer strength only. As children grow, the muscles in their hand need constant stimulation and movement in order to take part in everyday activities. Activities can range from getting dressed, using a knife and fork independently, using scissors, climbing and using pencils/crayons to complete paper based activities.
There are a range of problems if children do not develop the strength in their hands. These include;
- Becoming tired during fine motor skill activities
- Being unable to reach age expected milestones such as opening/closing scissors and pulling zips up and down.
- Long term, children may find it difficult to endure good quality written work for a longer period of time.
- Therefore, children may struggle to keep up with the pace of written work in comparison to other children in their class
Some strategies for strengthening hand muscles while at home are:
Dough Disco!
Dough Disco is a fun fine motor strengthening tool… all you need is some playdough and music! Below, we have included some hand movements you can use throughout your chosen song in order to strengthen those hands, as well as some songs to Dough Disco!
This activity can be as silly as you like, but make sure your children are completing each action as they go!
You can squash it, roll it, pinch it, dance your fingers, pat it, ball it, splat it, squeeze it!
Dough Disco video which relates to our topic in May… Incy Wincy Spider!
