1. Animals walks, wheel barrel races, Twister or any activity that causes weight bearing through the upper extremities.
2. Play-doh, silly putty, bread dough, modeling foam (Crayola Model Magic) or Theraputty (www.sammonspreston.com) (pinching, poking, rolling, squeezing, and flattening)
3. String beads (the smaller the bead and string the harder the task will be)
4. Play with small cars, trains, or animals that require hand manipulation
5. Screw lids on/off and open/close containers
6. Use a turkey baster to blow ping pong balls
7. Use tweezers to pick up small objects (marshmallows, cheerios, etc.) and place in ice cube tray
8. Pick up small objects (pennies, beans, bingo chips, etc.) and put into bank or small hole in a jar. CHALLENGE: hold 5 or more items in one hand and place in bank with use of thumb and first finger only
9. Put Legos/K’nex/Tinkertoys/etc together and take them apart
10. Make pictures with stickers and sticky foam shapes
11. Tear pieces of paper and create artwork
12. Encourage child to complete own dressing with buttons, snaps, shoelaces, and zippers
13. Puzzles
14. Play with finger puppets
15. Play cards (War, Go Fish, etc.)
16. Play with shape sorters
17. Pop plastic packaging bubbles
18. Orgami (paper airplanes, newspaper hats, etc)
19. Have child open own snacks
20. Have child practice opening doors with keys
21. Cut paper with scissors (increase thickness of paper to make more difficult)
22. Draw in sand, shaving cream, finger paint, etc.
23. Have child put caps on markers
24. Play games that require shaking dice in hands
25. Play clapping games
26. Play with Mr. Potato Head
27. Spin tops
28. Encourage child to climb, swing, hang from playground equipment
29. Eat finger foods
30. Play piano or musical keyboard
31. Play games that require in hand manipulation of small objects (Mancala, Connect Four, etc.)
32. Have the child help make cookies (stirring dough, pulling off a piece, making a ball)
33. Peel and eat string cheese