Bilateral Hand Use - Page 29 of 56

Sticker Garden Peel

Steps:

Prepare the ‘garden’ by firmly taping a small piece of cardboard (or a stiff paper plate) to the table surface or high chair tray using masking tape. Securing the surface helps the child focus purely on peeling.
Place several easy-to-peel stickers (like dot stickers or large character stickers) onto the cardboard surface. Place them far enough apart that the child must target one at a time.
Encourage your child to use just their thumb and pointer finger (pincer grasp) to try and peel the sticker off the cardboard. Provide verbal cues like, ‘Use your pinching fingers!’
Once peeled, the child can practice sticking the sticker onto another piece of paper or directly onto a designated container. This shift between peeling and sticking promotes bilateral hand coordination (stabilizing the paper/container with the non-working hand).

Safety Tip:
Due to the small size of many stickers, ensure close adult supervision at all times, as stickers can be a choking hazard if placed in the mouth. Only use high-quality stickers that peel cleanly.

Felt Slot Feed

Steps:

Adult Prep: Cut a felt square to cover the container opening. Glue the felt securely onto the container rim, creating a lid.
Cut 4 to 6 short, narrow slits (about 1 inch long) into the center of the felt lid. These slits must be tight.
Give your child a sheet of construction paper. Encourage them to use both hands to tear the paper into small pieces (about stamp-sized).
Ask your child to hold the container steady with their helper hand to provide proximal stability.
Challenge them to use a strong finger push to insert one torn paper piece through a narrow felt slot.
Continue feeding the container until all the torn paper scraps are successfully pushed through the resistant felt slots.

Safety Tip:
Adult supervision is required when using scissors. The torn paper pieces are small and pose a potential choking hazard for children who still place objects in their mouths.

Slot & Stitch Sculpture

Steps:

Prepare the structure ‘parts’ by cutting several index cards into different shapes (squares, rectangles, triangles). Then, cut small, narrow slots (about 1/4 inch deep) into the edges of each card. (Adult help required for cutting slots.)
Challenge your child to connect the slotted cards by sliding them into each other to create a 3D structure, like a tall building, a bridge, or a fun abstract sculpture.
Using the hole puncher, encourage your child to punch several holes around the edges of the assembled structure. Remind them to hold the structure steady with one hand while squeezing the puncher with the other to strengthen their grasp.
Give your child long pieces of yarn. Demonstrate how to weave the yarn through the punched holes to ‘stitch’ the structure together, reinforcing the corners and decorating their sculpture with color.

Safety Tip:
Always supervise the use of child-safe scissors. Yarn and small pieces of index card can pose a choking hazard for children who still mouth objects; ensure all pieces are kept away from the mouth.

Cap Twister Rings

Steps:

Prep: An adult should cut the pipe cleaners into small 4-inch strips. Place the container and the strips on the table.
Show the child how to firmly hold the body of the plastic container steady with one hand (the helper hand) to ensure it doesn’t move.
Demonstrate how to take a pipe cleaner strip and use the fingertips of the other hand to tightly twist and wrap it around the ridges of the container cap, creating a tight ring.
Challenge the child to continue wrapping the pipe cleaner strips until the entire cap is covered in colorful, tight rings.
For extra practice, encourage the child to use the opposite rotation (untwisting and unwinding) to remove all the pipe cleaner rings before starting the challenge again.

Safety Tip:
Adult supervision is required. Since this activity involves pipe cleaners cut into small pieces, they can pose a potential choking hazard and should be immediately collected and stored safely after the activity.

Sticky Web Smash

Steps:

Prepare the ‘spider web’ by sticking several long strips of masking tape across an empty doorway, a chair opening, or a wall (ensure the tape is safe for the surface). Crucially, make sure the sticky side faces out toward the child.
Give the child large pieces of construction paper and tissue paper. Demonstrate how to tear the paper into small, medium, and large pieces. Tearing paper provides excellent resistance for finger and hand muscles.
Encourage the child to ‘smash’ or firmly press the torn paper pieces onto the sticky web, using maximal effort and pressure to ensure they stick. Challenge them to cover every piece of exposed tape!

Safety Tip:
If using a doorway, ensure the tape is placed at the child’s eye/chest level and not near the floor where someone could accidentally walk through and trip. Always supervise peeling tape off surfaces to prevent paint damage.