Palm-Flip Treasure Drop

Ages:: Preschoolers (3 to 5), School age (6+)
Play time:: 5 to 10 minutes
Setup:: 2 minutes
Where:: Table

Why it helps

This game helps your child learn to turn their palm upward. This movement is called forearm supination. It is vital for tasks like eating with a spoon or washing their face. Using a 'treasure' cup makes this therapeutic exercise fun. We want to see the wrist rotate without the whole arm moving. Controlling these small movements helps with using hairbrushes later. The pincer grasp used here also builds strength for writing.

Steps

Tape a paper cup to the table near the edge with masking tape so it cannot tip over.
Keep a small pile of coins on your side of the table and hand them out one at a time.
Ask your child to rest their forearm on the table next to the cup, with the palm facing down.
Invite them to turn the hand over so the palm faces up, keeping the elbow on the table. Set one coin in the open palm.
If the arm feels wobbly, your child can hold the forearm steady with the other hand.
Ask your child to pinch the coin with the thumb and pointer finger of the same hand.
Then they turn the hand palm down over the cup and let go so the treasure drops in.
Count the coins as the treasure grows, and switch arms halfway through.

Safety tip: Coins are a choking hazard, so stay close, hand out one coin at a time, and count them all at cleanup.

Make it easier

Use large coins, like quarters, or poker chips, which are easier to see and pinch.
Tape the cup right next to your child's hand so each drop is short.
Use a wide bowl instead of a cup so every coin lands inside.

Make it harder

Flip the coin up off the back of the hand and catch it with the palm turned up.
Hold two coins in the palm and drop them into the cup one at a time.
Cut a slot in a lid on the cup, like a piggy bank, so each coin has to be turned to fit.

What to watch for

Notice how far your child's palm turns. Some kids get the palm partly up and tip the hand sideways to finish the turn.
Watch how your child picks the coin out of the palm. Using the thumb and pointer tips is a precise pinch, and sliding it to the fingertips first is a clever move too.
If the cold feel or metal smell of coins bothers your child, use plastic play coins instead.

Where this helps in daily life

Turning the palm up is the same movement kids use to hold out a hand for change at the store, carry a bowl with both hands, and turn a doorknob or a key.

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