Pencil Prep
Activities can strengthen your child’s hand muscles.
by Belinda J. Mooney
Mastering the pencil can be challenging for a preschooler. Parents can help kids prepare for the pencil by providing activities that strengthen hand muscles and prepare little hands to control fine motor movements. Here are some ideas.
Hand Strength and Dexterity Activities
Squeezes. Have your child:
• Squeeze the water out of wet sponges
• Squeeze small exercise balls
• Use spray bottles or water guns
• Scoop up and squeeze sand
• Scrunch up newspaper.
Build Strong Arms and Wrists.
Your child can play games such as
• Tug-of-war
• Swing on the monkey bars
• Lay on her tummy and hold up a book with her forearms
• Walk on his hands in wheelbarrow style.
Boost Index Finger and Thumb Dexterity.
• Play with small blocks.
• Use tweezers of the index finger and thumb only to pick up and
move small cotton balls from one plate to another.
• Place a spring-type clothespin on a string
Art Activities
• Tear small pieces of paper and glue into a collage. This increases dexterity and helps with eye hand coordination.
• Tearing small pieces of colored tissue paper and gluing them onto a picture is a fun activity that can help motor skills.
• Allow your child to use a hole punch on construction paper and use the tiny circles to make whatever he wants. Let him pick up the circles with a tweezer.
• Make necklaces out of colored noodles. (See sidebar.)
• Play with play dough, poking, pushing and rolling out thin rolls. Coil the thin strips into fun shapes.
• Finger painting is another wonderful way for kids to exercise finger skills. Trace shapes numbers, letters and designs onto paper.
Use noodles to string colorful necklaces or if you prefer, bracelets.
You will need:
Large plastic canvas needles (these have blunt tips and large eyes);
colored noodles (see recipe). Use hollow tube type noodles; yarn.
Directions:
1. Cut yarn into 24” lengths. Give each child noodles, yarn and a needle. Encourage them to thread their own needles.
2. Thread the noodles onto the yarn. Tie the necklace together after all the noodles have been strung.
How to make Colored Noodles:
Ingredients: Noodles, food coloring, zip lock bags, rubbing alcohol
Directions:
1. Place pasta in a Ziploc bag. You will need one bowl for each color.
2. Pour rubbing alcohol into the bag to cover the noodles.
3. Place several drops of food coloring into the alcohol. Be generous with the food coloring for rich colors.
4. Allow to soak for several hours. The longer the noodles set, the brighter they will be.
5. When the noodles are the desired color spread them out onto paper towels to dry.
Belinda J. Mooney is a freelance writer.
