Tight Cardboard Ties
Purpose
This fun building activity provides great resistance and heavy work input for your child's hands. Using pipe cleaners to tightly wrap and connect cardboard pieces strengthens the small muscles in the hand (intrinsic muscles). These muscles are essential for developing a strong pencil grasp and managing buttons or zippers. Holding one piece steady while the other hand performs the twisting action also encourages bilateral coordination. Successfully building a unique structure boosts motor planning and confidence.
Activity Steps
Steps:
- Ask an adult to cut 6 to 8 small, sturdy shapes from the cardboard (squares and rectangles work best).
- Encourage your child to use markers to decorate and color each cardboard piece.
- Help your child break the pipe cleaners into shorter, 4-inch strips. This breaking provides good heavy work input.
- Take two cardboard pieces. Hold them together firmly with one hand so the edges overlap.
- Use your working hand to wrap one pipe cleaner strip tightly around the overlapping edges, twisting the ends together until the connection is secure.
- Continue connecting pieces. Build a 3D structure like a cube, a robot, or a tall, zig-zagging tower.
Safety Tip:
Pipe cleaners can have sharp ends after being cut or broken. Constant, direct adult supervision is required. Ensure children do not place these small materials near their mouths, eyes, or ears.
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