| Assisting the Child with a Loosey-Goosey Hand Grasp |
Some young children who are "light-handed" have difficulty engaging their hands using appropriate pressure in activities such as pencil holding/writing, using scissors, managing clothing fasteners, and manipulating other basic classroom or household items. Their hand grasp may appear to be weak or limp. Children who are light-handed may even drop pencils and other tools or objects when trying to use them. If this scenario depicts a child in your classroom or family, take heart and take appropriate action!
Get those hands busy in lots of resistive and heavy weight types of activities to develop muscles and neurological inputs in order to get functional results! Here are some ideas:
- Cover a white board with a layer of sand paper and then butcher paper to create a "bumpy" surface upon which to explore coloring/prewriting. Our Crayon Rocks make this activity extra fun! The pebble-shape of the Crayon Rocks supports acquisition of the tripod pencil grasp too!
- Try writing in Play Doh with a pencil - feel the resistence!
- Squeeze the Squishy Fish! Children engage their hands in opening and closing motion by squeezing Squishy Fish to move pom poms across the tabletop surface - so simple, yet meaningful!
- Carry the laundry basket - with clothes in it!
- Carry the grocery bags - the ones with cans in them!
 Regard for pressure-use of the hands is facilitated by a hands-on approach to life and learning! Specifically, engagement in resistive and weighted activities are key to getting children to use different amounts of hand pressure for different types of activities. Writing with a pencil requires firm, but gentle pressure - not too light, and not to heavy. Stay tuned...discussion on the heavy-handed child coming in the next E-Blast!
Have a positively resistive week...Write Out of the Box!
Marianne |
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Fine Motor Grab'n'Go for Families
We have a parent library already in place at our preschool. The parents are able to check out books, DVDs, other parenting resources, and Bible Story DVDs to watch with their families. Our family bags will just be an addition to our library. We have a sign in/sign out sheet to keep track of the materials. The parents can keep the resources as long as they need them. We have an  empty wall where I am going to hang our new bags at child level. So they can see them and help to pick out the bags to take home. I just bought canvas bags from Hobby Lobby and am going to use clear plastic luggage tags to show pictures of what is inside of the bag. Every bag will have an activity, for example the playdoh bag will have our homemade playdoh recipe and fun playdoh tools. We are going to have a spray bottle bag, straw cutting bag, shaving cream bag, squeeze fish with pom poms, tweezers and manipulatives...the possibilities are endless :) I am going to include a note for the parents explaining how all of the experiences are so important for children and invite them to share in the joy with their children. So many of the ideas came from your workshop, thank you so much!
Submitted by:
Jessica Hegman, Director
Houston, TX
Visit the Grab 'n' Go section of our store for great deals.
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Do you have a terrific fine motor activity that you would like to share with other teachers? Send a description and a jpeg picture (if possible) of your activity to mgibbs@writeoutofthebox.com . If we feature your activity in an upcoming edition of our E-Newsletter, you will recieve a certificate for an extra special discount in our online store. |
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Buda, TX Area Workshop
(17 miles south of Austin)
August 26, 2010
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
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Did you know that Marianne presents her workshops at many different conferences and locations thoroughout the year?
Would you like to attend a Write Out of the Box Workshop in your area?
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