COMPLETELY OT: Ideas for improving motor skills

[Benducci]

My girls' kindergarten teacher said they are far behind in their motor skills - using the pencil, cutting, etc. Can any one think of exercises for me to do with them to improve this area? We are cutting coupons in the paper and valentines right now. We also write a sentence each day. Thanks!

 

[bellarella]

One thing that really helps with proper pencil grip is to have them use broken crayons. The "bits" of crayons force them into a good grip. Many OT use this technique with children.

 

[Barbers2005]

Dd4 likes to copy down words from her books (even though she can't read most of them yet). Maybe you could have your girls do some copying our of their favorite books.

 

[pha1226]

My kids (preK and 1st grade) love to cut out pictures from catalogs, magazines and toy circulars from the Sunday paper. They use glue sticks to glue them on to construction paper to make collages and hang them in their rooms.

They also LOVE to play waitress...they have small spiral-bound notebooks and write down what we want to eat. The oldest is a decent speller but the youngest just makes up the spelling using the letters she knows.

 

[PlutoPony]

Did the teacher mention whether they were behind in gross or fine motor skills, or both? DS was a little behind in gross skills the year before K-garten and at the teacher's recommendation we put him in basic gymnastics classes - definitely helped and he was fine when he started school.

 

[RumpleMom]

Some ideas:

fold tissue paper and cut designs that make a snowflake when opened

You take a marker and draw a spiral design on paper, DD cuts along the design. It will be like a spring and can be hung up as a decoration.

Cut around the design from old Christmas cards, place them between clear contact paper to make place mats for the family. Or cut pretty pictures from magazines for the place mats and give them to local nursing home or Meals on Wheels organization.


Cut pictures from magazines of everyday objects, place between sheet protectors and give as a present to a youngster who is learning to talk. My elderly aunt did this for DD and it was a treasured gift.

 

[NotUrsula]

Play jacks.

 

[Disney_Dreaming]

I found some sites but I guess I can't post links to them here. I did a search on "fine motor skills exercises" and a long list of sites came up.

 

[aclass]

using tweezers to move rice grains from a pile to a cup

balling up a piece of paper (or foil) using only one hand

I remember doing the crab walk was on the list but that seems like it's more of a gross motor skill.

 

[drivencrazy]

Play-doh is great for fine motor, they can roll, squish, pull it apart and cut it.

Also have them lay on their belly when coloring, this makes them use their hand, not arm to color making stronger hands/fingers.

Picking up small dots (hole punch some and "make a mess" have them help pick them up one at a time)

I know there is much more... can't think right now.

My son is what the preschool teachers call borderline with his fine motor and these are a few things that they told me to work on with him.

Also you can get clay that is somewhat stiffer than play-doh to work with. If I think of others, I will add them!

 

[ntink]

Does your school have an occupational therapist that could work with the girls or could you find one through your pediatrician?

 

[Mouse House Mama]

How about Cheerios/fruit loops or Macaroni necklaces? Make them color the macaroini and string them!

 

[daisyduck123]

Get an easel, pin up a pad of paper, & have them write, paint, draw on that.

My school's OT says this is great for writing practice...soemthing about the positioning of the wrist while writing on the easel.

 

[LoriMomx5]

All Of the Ideas posted are Great! I am a mother of 5 and an occupational therapist. Often it is not just a matter of decreased fine motor skills but also visual spatial and eye hand coordination issues as well. Some experts in visual issues with children believe that children are often exposed earlier to visual challenges that previous generations have not such as computer at an early age that they are not ready for and it causes visual issues especially important with hand writing and reading. Often also there is a lack of muscle tone at core muscles in the trunk/back and these muscles stabilize the whole arm for function at the hand. It is often best to start with a gross motor type task then work on fine motor skills. OTs often do this within the same treatment session. When choosing fine motor activities it may help to pick activities that also have a visual component such as puzzles, board games, age appropriate arts and craft. It is also helpful to start with the least challenging activity first then progress to more difficult eapeically working up to the handwriting after more fun activities. Your kindergarten teacher seems proactive in trying to work on these issues as early as possible.
Good luck -Lori

 

[badblackpug]

Oh jeez *cringe* video games. All those little buttons and controls.........You could do the educational ones VSmile and the like......

 

[lovehoney]

They had my DS6 working with an eye dropper and water. Moving it from cup to cup. His motor skill have improved this year.

 

[Esteri]

Our son had similar problems in Kindergarten. The school sent us to a pediatrician that specializes in these sorts of assessments. Turns out his gross motor skills were way behind as well (couldn't skip, drug his right side when "snaking" across the floor). It was felt this was due to the tremendous ear problems he had as a 2-3 year old.

Our therapist focused on balance first, then bi-lateral movement. We were encouraged to send him outside to play - especially to play ball. In fact his "homework" was to play ball with us using small bean bags. They wanted the focus on hand-eye coordination. With the improvement in his gross skills the fine skills came along. Also, horseback riding (on a pad - no saddle).

You might ask your school for a referral. If they can't get one - find your local Waldorf based school, I can guarantee they'll know who to talk to. Their philosophy focuses on physical development in the young child.

Good luck!

 

[Princess Roo]

Some great ideas have been posted! Also...

Using a turkey baster (or those infant "snot suckers") to have cotton ball races using the air to move the cotton ball.

Using chopsticks (one in each hand) to move progressively smaller things from one container to another. (Start with the containers close together and with things that are easy to pick up and progress from there.)

As I'm sure you know, if you can make it seem like a game (you play, too!) they probably won't fight it as much. Good luck!

 

[mexican-mouseketeers]

If you buy on of those Montessori in the home books, they will have tons of exercises that are both fun and help with motor skills.

HTH

Julie