Fine Motor Skills Occupational Therapy

We Hope You Enjoyed These Fine Motor Skills Activities

As self-directed and hands-on play, the list above is perfect if youre looking for OT fine motor activities. You could even incorporate these fine motor activities for preschoolers at home. We hope you have fun trying these fine motor activities with your 1, 2, or 3 year olds! Its no secret that parental involvement in the occupational therapy journey provides better results. By integrating fun fine motor activities at home to help boost fine motor skills into your childs everyday routine, you can add tremendous value to your childs therapy program.

Summer Fun With Water And Chalk For Fine Motor

I have been seeing kids this summer for an early intervention program, and have been playing with sidewalk chalk and water. Some younger kids will have trouble with squirt guns, so we are going to try a regular spray bottle. I broke all of the brand spankin new sidewalk chalk into smaller pieces. There was

Activities For The Development Of Fine Motor Skills In Young Children

FINE MOTOR SKILLS refer to the ability to use the small muscles of the hand, with adequate strength, dexterity and coordination, to grasp and manipulate objects of different sizes, weights and shapes. These skills are important for a childs success with school-based activities, such as writing and manipulating classroom materials. They are also an integral part of everyday functional tasks such as dressing, using utensils and tools, playing musicalinstruments and games.We recommend at least 15 to 30 fun minutes of fine motor activities daily to improve hand skill development in children ages 2 to 6 years. The following section describes some of the different aspects, components and skills which are considered to be part of fine motor function.

PALMAR ARCHES provide the hand with mobility and form a support surface for the fingers to move with isolated control. Palmar arches allow for the cupping action of the hand to hold objects such as a pencil, or do manipulative activities like string beads and build with blocks. Toys that involve squeezing, pinching, putting small objects together and pulling them apart, are all examples of activities that will strengthen the palmar arches. Playdoh and silly putty can be used in many ways to develop hand arches.

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Finish The Holiday Pictures December Edition

There is a new item in the store from Your Therapy Source. It is called Finish the Holiday Pictures December Edition, and it is an activity to work on visual perceptual skills and copying pictures, with a December theme. It includes 20 pictures of patterns to copy with a December holiday theme. There are

Using Stickers In Therapy

When pulling up pants or getting your shirt aligned, or trying to get your socks on, sometimes it is just hard to reach some spots. I am not sure why, but stickers are a big motivator for kids. Some children with tactile hypersensitivity do not like having stickers put on their skin, which of course

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What Affects My Child’s Fine Motor Development

Fine motor skills do not develop in isolation from other skills. As withall areas of child development, a lag or delay in one area can impact onother areas of development.

If your child has experienced birth trauma, serious illnesses,physical deprivation or emotional trauma, he or she may be at risk for adelay in fine motor development as well as delays in other skills.

Poor core stability, weak shoulder girdle muscles, weak handmuscles, and poor coordination skills can all impact on your child’sability to use the hand and finger muscles effectively.

References and Resources

Cornhill, H Case-Smith, J. Factors That Relate to Good and Poor Handwriting. 50:732-9 · November 1996

Ohl, A. M., Graze, H., Weber, K.,Kenny, S., Salvatore, C., & Wagreich, S. Effectiveness of a 10-week Tier-1 Response to Intervention programin improving fine motor and visualmotor skills in general educationkindergarten students. AmericanJournal of Occupational Therapy, 67, 507514. Sep/Oct 2013

Sharp, G. and Thompson, D. Biomechanics of the Hand.Retrieved from

Weintraub, N. Graham, S. The contribution of gender, orthographic, finger function, and visual-motor processes to the prediction of handwriting status. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research 20:121-140 · March 2000

Why The Ot Practice

We recognise the importance of knowing that you and your child are in safe hands. That is why, when you first make contact with us, you will straightaway be able to explain your concerns to a member of our client management team who will be able to provide relevant information about our services, answer any questions you may have and provide guidance on next steps. This dedicated paediatric team will then remain in charge of your case through any subsequent assessment and treatment we provide.

Other reasons to rely on The OT Practice include:

• We visit you and your child at home or school at a time convenient for you, with no clinics or waiting lists, offering after-school and weekend appointments where necessary
• We devise home and school-based treatment plans to ensure that our assessment and advice is relevant to each childs unique environment
• Our nationwide network of registered childrens occupational therapists allows us to find you the right local therapist
• Intensive treatment available during the school holidays
• We believe our role is to equip you and your child to become as autonomous as possible ultimately independent of, and not dependent upon, the help we provide

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Why Are Fine Motor Skills Important

Fine motor skills are important because without them, children have difficulty:

• Writing/coloring
• Fastening clothes
• Using utensils to eat
• Cutting with scissors

We all want our kids to be independent and feed and dress themselves. We want our kids to write their names and be able to use a computer efficiently. To do all these things, the muscles in the hands need to be strong and coordinated.

Standards For Writing And Typing

There is a set of standards that have been worked out for what is expected with writing and typing per age group. These are called the Written Production Standards for Handwriting and Keyboarding grades k-8. They are research based, and were Sponsored by Zaner-Bloser in partnership with the American Association of School Administrators. These are

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Fine Motor Wiffle Ball Creatures

This is a fairly open ended activity that works on fine motor skills, motor planning, visual perception, and planning in general as you try to make creatures and structures that will stand up. I used practice golf balls that have the holes in them and some pipe cleaners. I wish that I had brought some

Suggestions To Warm Up Occupational Therapy For Kids At Home

Often times, children benefit from starting out occupational therapy activities at home with proprioceptive exercises . Here are 10 suggestions for proprioceptive input suggestions for small spaces. You can download a FREE printable of 25 heavy work ideas for small spaces below.

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What Is It About Cursive That Can Make Us Crazy

Cursive handwriting is like a sleeping dogdont wake it up unless you want to hear some barking! As innocent as it may look, it conceals a great deal of energy and power. It certainly must because it can cause a lot of discussion among handwriting advocates. Discussion is a good avenue for sharing and learning

Fine And Gross Motor Skills Pediatric Ot Services

Motor skills are actions that require collaboration between the brain, the nervous system, and the muscles. Gross motor skills consist of larger movements such as throwing and catching a ball, climbing stairs or hopping. Whereas, fine motor skills include smaller actions such as grasping objects.

Strength, coordination and dexterity of hand muscles may not develop properly during infancy, leading to difficulties in completing tasks that require fine and gross motor skills.

You can tell there are problems with fine motor skills if your child:

• Has an awkward or immature pencil grasp for their age.
• Has messy, slow or laborious drawing, colouring or writing skills.
• Fatigues quickly when typing or using a mouse on a computer.
• Has difficulty when using scissors.
• Has difficulty performing precise manipulation tasks .
• Tires easily when engaged in fine motor tasks.

You can tell there are problems with gross motor skills if your child:

• Is late in reaching developmental milestones .
• Moves stiffly and lacks fluid body movement or alternatively looks awkward and appears clumsy.
• Avoids physical activity.
• Participates in physical activity for only short periods .
• Cannot maintain an upright posture when sitting on a mat or at a table top.
• Cannot perform the same skills as their peers .
• Is less skilful than their peers in sports.
• Is not able to follow multistep instructions to complete a physical task .
• Is not able to plan and correctly sequence events or steps in a process .

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Fine Motor Skills Explained

What are fine motor skills?

You may have heard your occupational therapist, and sometimes teachers, use words such as fine motor strength, and dexterity when discussing your childs OT goals. But what do they actually mean?

Put simply, fine motor skills refer to a persons ability to control the small movements of the hands and fingers, as well as the small muscles of the face and mouth , and feet.

However, when OTs use the term, they are generally only referring to the small muscles in the hands and fingers. Dexterity is a common term under fine motor skills, which refers to being able to manipulate objects efficiently, using our hand and finger muscles. Activities involving your childs fine motor skills include, using pencils/pens, scissors, construction with lego, doing up buttons, tying shoe laces, and of course, handwriting.

Why are fine motor skills important?

Fine motor skills are necessary for performing everyday academic, play, and self care skills.

In early childhood years, being able to cut with scissors, colour with crayons and pencils, paint using a paintbrush and play with small objects such as lego, beads and puzzles, are essential to your childs development. Your child needs to use their hand and finger muscles accurately in order to keep up with peers in these activities.

How can I help build my childs fine motor strength and dexterity?

Other activities:

Is It Necessary To Improve Fine Motor Skills

Many kids have fine motor delays, like my son. Some are very minor, and some are bigger. It takes a lot of time and practice to improve skills. If youre concerned about your childs fine motor skills, or their teacher is, then using these tricks and other activities can make a big difference.

Even if your child doesnt have any fine motor delays, the tricks youre about to learn will help to prevent any potential delays and only strengthen their skills!

However, if your child doesnt have any delays or fine motor concerns, then these activities arent necessary, but regardless, theyre beneficial for their development.

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Spider Craft For Cutting Folding Gluing And Writing

Halloween is coming up soon, so I am having the kids make spiders this week. The spider bodies require cutting out circles, and the legs require cutting rectangles. You also have to fold the legs on the marked lines, which is a great activity for visual perception and motor planning. I put a light web

How Can You Help Your Child

Speak to a therapist. Follow their advice for activities and exercises catered to your child’s developmental needs. As they go through therapy, you can help your child in many ways , such as:

• Guiding them to use tools such as zippers, buttons, and clothespins

• Encouraging them to repeat and improve hand-eye coordination activities

• Create an enjoyable environment and make activities fun so that your child is more receptive and enjoy practicing independently

• Speak and work out problems with your child to promote cognitive development

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Do Occupational Therapists Do Handwriting

A guest post from regular contributor Katherine Collmer. Now therein lies the question! What exactly DO we do with handwriting? When I was a new pediatric occupational therapist, I found that question to be both disturbing and intriguing. It disturbed me on two levels. First, that I didnt really know if we did? Second, why

Play Doh Connect Four

Play Doh Connect Four is a fun activity that was created by Marie Logan, an Occupational Therapist with UAB Pediatric Neuromotor Clinic. This activity is a great way to combine the benefits of using play doh, and the fun of playing connect four while working on hand, wrist, and forearm skills. In order to play you

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Handwriting Remediation Tips From The Size Matters Handwriting Program

Beverly Moskowitz has developed a handwriting program called Size Matters Handwriting Program and she has put together some quick tips that use her programs concepts. You can find her program at Real OT Solutions. I have taken one of Beverlys classes and it was full of good information and full of energy. I have incorporated

What Can You Do To Improve Your Fine Motor Skills

The key to recovering fine motor skills after a stroke is to do high repetitions of targeted exercises on a regular basis. This activates neuroplasticity, the brains rewiring, and recovery mechanism. Start with passive exercises and stretching if you have significant spasticity, which typically results in clenched hands after a stroke. The passive exercise entails guiding your affected hand through a movement, either with the assistance of a therapist or with the use of your non-affected hand. Both passive and physical exercise stimulates the brain and promotes neuroplasticity, which aids in the recovery of impaired functions. Your fine motor abilities will develop as you practice more. The brains neuroplasticity never runs out, so even if its been months since your stroke and your recovery appears to be slowing, theres still hope. Participating in occupational therapy is one of the most effective strategies to practice targeted hand exercises and strengthen your fine motor skills.

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Wikki Stix For Fine Motor And Writing

Wikki Stix, in case you havent heard of them, are string that are covered in colored wax. They are bendable, sticky, but easily pulled apart, and can bring hours of entertainment. In fact, I am not sure what category they fit in because they are a handwriting activity, but they are also a craft, and

How Do Fine Motor Skill Developmental Issues Manifest In A Child’s Daily Life

The coordination and control of activities that involve smaller muscles play an essential role in your child’s developmental process. A delay in a child’s fine motor development may affect the child’s daily activities in many ways. , For example:

• It affects your child’s action, perception, and cognition, which means they may have difficulty with the movement of a small objects and their ability to control it.

• They might lack the manual dexterity necessary to dress up and other social abilities to interact and play in teams.

• They might face difficulties writing legibly or drawing.

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Fine Motor Requirements For Handwriting

What exactly are the fine motor movements that are used in writing? In a mature dynamic grasp, the fingers do the majority of the work, but the whole hand is required in order to stabilize and provide strength for the activity. The most important muscles for efficiency when making the actual pencil movements, are the

Fun Fine Motor Turkey Activities

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, so it is a great time to use turkey crafts in your therapy sessions. Most of these turkey crafts/activities work on fine motor skills, and some incorporate writing into the activity in the form of writing about what you are thankful for. Mama OT has a really cute bottle

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Incorporating The Whole Body In Therapy

When working in therapy, we usually have many things to work on and to accomplish in one session. That is why I like to target multiple skills within one activity. It is really quite easy to take almost any activity and build in some whole body movement and strengthening. I use a scooterboard, wheelbarrow walk,

Using The Button Sandwich For Sequencing And Writing

I love using the button food for practicing buttoning and working on fine motor and visual perceptual skills. I made some order forms so that the kids can practice writing and sequencing their sandwich toppings as well. The kids can take your order and put the fixings on the sandwich. I also made some sandwich

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Fireworks Coloring To Practice Writing Lines

Fourth of July is this week, and what better way to practice writing different types of lines than drawing fireworks. You can make fireworks out of different colors, and make squiggly lines, straight lines, curly lines, circles, and spirals. You can use colored pencils to color the fireworks. I recommend that you use broken crayons