Tripod Grasp - OTPlan

Sticky Sequin Tongs Pull

OTPlan — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 14:59:43 +0000

This fun activity is designed to build foundational hand strength. Using tongs to peel sticky sequins requires strong finger muscles and precise control. The resistance from the tacky glue provides deep feedback, which helps children learn how to grade the force they use. Holding the cardboard steady improves proximal stability and encourages the use of both hands together. This sharpens eye-hand coordination needed for future tasks like cutting and writing.

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Felt Punch Mosaic Art

OTPlan — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 02:37:25 +0000

This fun art project targets tiny hand muscles essential for writing and self-help skills like buttoning. When your child squeezes the hole puncher, they get strong proprioceptive feedback, which helps wake up the small muscles in their hand (intrinsic muscle development). Then, using tweezers to carefully place the small felt circles onto the glue focuses heavily on their pincer control and hand dexterity. This activity moves from heavy work (punching) to precision work (tweezing), offering a complete fine motor workout in one session.

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Pom-pom Poking Garden

OTPlan — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 03:08:19 +0000

This activity helps strengthen the tiny intrinsic muscles within the hand, which are crucial for developing endurance and control when holding a pencil, crayon, or fork. It also requires careful planning and precision.

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Tracing Stencils

OTPlan — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 15:01:10 +0000

This activity helps to develop pre-writing skills by tracing different types of stencils.

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Pick the Toothpick

OTPlan — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 16:01:03 +0000

This activity promotes tripod grasp by allowing the child to push toothpicks into a styrofoam.

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Nuts and Bolts Tripod Grasp

OTPlan — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 14:36:32 +0000

This activity is a fantastic way to build fine motor strength and coordination without needing expensive toys. By matching and assembling the hardware, your child practices bilateral coordination (using both hands together cooperatively) and refines the precise finger movements needed for daily tasks like writing, buttoning clothes, and opening containers. It also engages visual perception skills as they scan the pile to find the matching sizes.

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Feed Me

OTPlan — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 15:49:54 +0000

Using the tongs to pick up cotton balls or small object helps reinforce functional grasp as the child holds the tongs in the same manner she would hold a writing tool or scissors. In addition, this activity works on visual perception as the child has to place the object through the opening.

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Make a Puzzle

OTPlan — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 14:11:27 +0000

This activity develops fine motor control (coloring within the lines of simple shape), attention to task and following of multi-step directions (following prompts such as "color the star yellow"), fine motor skills (cutting) and visual motor skills (putting puzzle together).

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Acorn Stamper

OTPlan — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 17:44:26 +0000

This activity promotes pincer grasp and visual motor skills by creating and decorating an acorn shape.

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Fruit Building

OTPlan — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 13:40:35 +0000

This is a delicious activity. While this activity promotes tripod grasp and bilateral hand use, it is also a wonderful way to introduce new foods and textures to picky eaters or those children who love and enjoy fruit. Suggested fruit: cantaloupe, watermelon, mango, banana, grapes, plums, and peaches (veggies are welcome as well).

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