Parent Corner

Hand strength and fine motor control are the precursors to writing. Here are some ways you can work on increasing your child's hand strength and control at home.

1. Using the large muscles of the body (gross motor skills) is often underestimated as a foundation for fine motor skills. The core and arms must be strong to support the smaller muscles in the hands. Activities like wheelbarrow walking, bear walking, crawling through tunnels, climbing, hanging from monkey bars and playing tag are super fun and a very important precursor to fine motor functioning.

2. Strengthening the whole arm from shoulders to fingers can be done using a vertical surface like an easel or wall. When your child colors, paints, places stickers, or plays tic tac toe on a vertical surface, she won’t even realize that her arms are getting a workout. Working against gravity, she’s building up strength and stability in her shoulder muscles, which form a solid foundation for coordinated hand skills. You’ll also notice that when she colors or paints, the crayon or brush will naturally fall into the thenar webspace (the soft area between the thumb and forefinger), promoting a tripod (three finger) grasp.

3. The hands themselves also need to be strong. Play dough and putty are great mediums for your child to strengthen the intrinsic hand muscles. Take out some play scissors, rolling pins, and measuring spoons to encourage lots of squishing, squeezing, and cutting.

4. When children pick up and manipulate small objects, they recruit strength from their arms all the way through to their fingers. Legos, Hi Ho Cherrie-o, and Light Bright are all great games for this purpose (and for some family fun).

5. Why throw away what can actually be put to good use? Broken crayons are the perfect size for small hands and force the use of only the thumb, index, and middle fingers to color. If your child struggles and complains when using a small crayon, it likely indicates that those hand muscles are a bit weak. Try short spurts at first to build stamina, and try coloring or drawing high interest pictures, like your child's favorite TV character or animals.

Tips adapted from the website totsontarget.com.