​If you are looking for activities to do with your child to have some fun and improve their fine motor coordination, here are some suggestions from our school Occupational Therapist:

·    Use an eyedropper. Can draw the liquid up and let it out slowly. Using coloured water onto a piece of paper lets the child make a nice colourful picture.

·   Use tweezers to pick up and release small objects like buttons or beads.  Large tweezers can be purchased from stores like the “Dollarstore” or “Endeavours/Think Play”.

·     String beads (the larger the easier). Can also string cut up straw segments, cheerios, buttons etc. This activity also works on using both hands together in a coordinated fashion.

·       Use playdough: place quarters in the dough and encourage the child to dig them out only using the thumb and fingers.

·       Pick up cheerios from an egg carton

·      Encourage the child to snap their fingers to music (make sure 2 last fingers are tuck).

·       Encourage independence in self-help task like buttoning and zippers.

·       Put coins into a piggy bank.

·       Play with puzzles that have knobs on them.

·    Penny flip: arrange pennies heads up on table. Using the thumb, index and long fingers, flip the pennies over quickly. Try with dominant hand first followed by non-dominant hand.

·      Cut with scissors (thumb in top loop, index and long fingers work bottom loop, while ring and little finger are folded into palm)

• Squeeze bottles: squeeze the trigger with index & long fingers and hold the bottle with rest.

• Play with Spinning tops

·   Pick up small objects (pennies, small beads) with index, thumb, & long fingers and try to hold as many in hand as possible.  To make this fun, record the number and try to increase that number the next time.

·       Turn over cards, checkers, coins etc., without sliding them to the edge of the table

Games to play with friends and family:

-Perfection

-Pop up pirate

-Connect 4

-Marbles

-Snakes & ladders

-Trouble

-Operation​​