Skill: Grasp

How the hand holds an object. A mature grasp allows a child to hold a pencil efficiently for writing, while a strong grasp helps them hold onto monkey bars.

Potato Counter

For this activity you could use different types of fruit and vegetables. If the child has difficulty completing the activity with potatoes, you can use a softer fruit like bananas.

Cover a strip of thick cardboard or card, and draw boxes like those shown in the picture.

Cut small potatoes into halves and quarters so that they can stand without rocking or tipping.

Place one potato wedge on every box and number each box.

Now your child can stick in the right number of toothpicks into each potato.

For grading: Use random numbers instead of numbers in a sequence.

Spaghetti Stringing

Using a paper cup, a styrofoam plate, or a piece of play dough, instruct the child to place the spaghetti vertically.

Provide the child with cheerios or beads and have him string the small objects onto the spaghetti.

If using different color beads or cheerios, you can have the child either sort the items into the different color groups or work on patterns (e.g. yellow-red-yellow-red…)

Stickplane

Use the wooden sticks or craft sticks as the airplane wings.

Let the child paint or color the sticks with markers and decorate with stickers.

Once sticks are dry, instruct the child to glue on stick at the bottom of the clothespin and one stick at the top.

Using pincer grasp, instruct the child to pinch and open the clothespin while placing the third wing in the middle.

You can have the child glue the middle stick or do not glue the middle wing to allow the child to practice his grasp by removing the middle stick for a two wing airplane model.

Paper Fish

Prepare Ahead: 
– Trace a triangle shape from the edge of the paper plate towards the middle part of the plate.
– On the construction paper, draw 2 ovals and one triangle.

If the child you work with has higher skills and can trace the shapes, let him complete this step independently.

Ask the child to first cut out all the shapes from the construction paper and the triangle on the paper plate. the triangle on the paper plate will be the mouth.

Once the shapes are cut out, ask the child to use the triangle as the tail and glue it on the back of the paper plate, on the opposite side of the mouth. Then, use the ovals as the fins and glue one oval at the top and one at the bottom.

Instruct the child to glue the pom-pom as the eye (wiggle eyes or buttons can also be used).

Use the crayons/markers/stickers to decorate the fish.

You can also provide the child with some blue and green construction paper to create an ocean scene

Water Board Tracing

On a chalk board write the letters of the alphabet with chalk.

Add water to the container and place it next to the chalk board.

Ask the child to dip the paint brush in the water and trace the letters of the alphabet. Alternatively, you can use a sponge to enhance the tactile and grasp skills.

For grading, draw shapes on the chalk board instead of the letters of the alphabet.