It’s more common than ever; children lack the strength in their hands to hold a pencil correctly because of their reliance on touch screens and keyboards. It’s the reality of the time in which we live, but, it’s essential to keep the gift of handwriting alive as an everyday skill and to do that, we need to develop our children’s fine motor skills.
But beyond the risk of not being able to write properly, problems with pencil grip can hinder a child from performing academically. When this happens, it can be a vicious cycle. Anxiety and frustration can occur, as well as a lack of self-esteem due to falling behind and children not being able to do the things that their peers can.
As we prepare to return to school for another year, there is still time to work with your child in helping them to improve their pencil grip. Here are some fun activity ideas you can do at home that can help give them the head start they need. It’s time to flex those finger muscles!
The best craft activities to build fine motor skills are the ones that focus on strengthening the finger and hand tendons; these are the muscles that will enable better writing as well as hand/eye coordination with everyday objects.
Fine motor activities for improved pencil grip
Craft stick tweezers
Craft stick tweezers are a fun DIY way to create a workout for finger muscles. All you need are some coloured popsicle sticks and rubber bands to create the tweezers and small pom poms to pick up. Why not make it a race against the clock? See how many pom poms your child can pick up in 30 seconds!
Aluminium foil
Who would have thought that good old aluminium foil could be used to build fine motor skills? This foil activity is a fun way to develop hand muscles and fine motor strength by cutting out squares and rolling them into balls.
Hole punching
There’s something so satisfying about hole-punching. Using handheld-style punchers is a great way for children to build muscle strength in their hands. Even better, if you visit Spotlight, you can find hole punches with different shapes, pick up some coloured paper, and you have a fun craft activity.
Playdough
Playdough is so much more than a colourful blob! It’s amazing at strengthening fingers and introducing imaginative play. And don’t just stop at the playdough. Introduce even more ways to build fine motor skills with things like googley eyes, pipe cleaners, sticks, shells, pebbles, leaves and flowers.
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