Skill: Pincer Grasp

The pincer grasp is the coordination of the index finger and thumb to hold an item. Each time you hold a pen or button your shirt, you’re using the pincer grasp.

Pincer grasp is a hand grasp that develops around the time a baby is 8-10 months old. This grasp corresponds to the time a baby is beginning to feed themselves finger foods. The pincer grasp is needed in order to grasp a small item, pinch it between the index and thumb and bring it to the mouth.

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.

Sensory Puzzle

A four-year-old child finds wooden puzzle pieces hidden in a sensory bin filled with rice and beans in a home playroom.

Fill the plastic container with rice and/or beans.

Hide the puzzle pieces in the rice/beans mixture.

Have the child search for the pieces using his hands (if the child is tacitly sensitive, you may try to put gloves on his hands or let him use tongs or tweezers).

Once the child has all the pieces, ask the child to put the puzzle together.

Paper Turkey

On a brown construction paper, trace the child’s hand or have the child trace his own hand using the pen/markers/crayons.

Make sure the thumb is extended and the fingers are spread apart while tracing the hand.

Let the child cut the traced hand. This will be the turkey’s body.

Glue the traced hand in the middle of the paper plate.

Use one bean as the turkey’s eye and glue it on the traced thumb. On the rest of the fingers, let the child glue feathers.

Take a piece of orange or red tissue paper and let the child crumble it. Glue the crumbled piece as the turkey’s wattle.

Using the markers or the crayon, let the child draw the turkey’s legs.

Ribbon Sorter

Tape some ribbon around each cup. Use different ribbon colors for each paper cup.

Cut a few pieces of each color of ribbon.

Put the ribbon pieces in the container.

Ask the child to sort the pieces of ribbon, using the first three digits (thumb, pointer, and middle finger) and put the ribbons into the right container.

For grading: ask the child to use tweezers for picking up the ribbons and dropping each to the right cup.

Shape and Grasp

A 4-year-old child lying on their stomach on a rug uses tweezers to place pom-poms on a hand-drawn house for a fine motor activity.

Draw a simple shape (e.g. house, boat, tree) using the markers on the paper.

Ask the child to lay prone on the floor resting on his elbows.

Ask the child to use the tweezers to pick up the beads or pom-poms and place them on the shape you drew on the paper.