Cardboard Coin Mail

Ages:: Preschoolers (3 to 5)
Play time:: 10 to 15 minutes
Setup:: 5 minutes
Where:: Table

Why it helps

Squeezing the hole puncher builds the hand strength that later helps with scissors. Picking up small cardboard coins and pushing them through a tight slit works the thumb and pointer finger and teaches careful control of force. Holding the container steady with the helper hand gives both hands a job, a skill used for buttoning and writing.

Steps

Before play, cut a slit in the container lid about as long as a pencil is wide. Tape the lid onto the container.
Cut a few strips of thin cardboard from a cereal box, about 1 inch wide. A hole puncher cannot cut thick cardboard.
Ask your child to hold a strip with the helper hand and squeeze the hole puncher again and again to punch out cardboard coins.
Tip the coins out of the hole puncher onto the table.
Invite your child to pick up one coin with the thumb and pointer finger.
Ask your child to hold the container steady with the helper hand, line the coin up with the slit, and push it through.
Keep mailing coins until the pile is gone. Open the lid to count them.

Safety tip: Punched cardboard coins are small enough to choke on, so stay close and count them into the container. Keep fingers out of the hole puncher's slot while squeezing.

Make it easier

Punch strips of paper or index card, which take less force to squeeze than cardboard.
Cut the slit a little longer so the coins slide in with less careful aiming.
Take turns: you punch the coins and your child posts them, then switch jobs.

Make it harder

Hold five coins in one hand and post them one at a time without dropping any.
Color some coins with a marker and call out which color to post next.
Post a round of coins with the non-dominant hand.

What to watch for

Notice how your child works the hole puncher. Some kids squeeze with one hand, others use both hands or press it on the table.
Watch the fingers that pick up each coin. Using the tips of the thumb and pointer finger is harder than raking coins up with the whole hand.
If the snap of the puncher is too much, let your child post coins you punched while they hold the container steady.

Where this helps in daily life

Squeezing a hole puncher builds the hand strength used for scissors and squeeze bottles, and posting small coins gets fingers ready for a piggy bank and snaps.

These activities are for home practice and don't replace the guidance of a licensed therapist.