Early Fine Motor Activites – Mod-Severe Readiness Level

Fine Motor Skill Development for Children with Mod-Severe readiness issues

Development of the ability to isolate your index or pointer finger is an important stage in the development of gross grasp and early prehension. Isolated finger action is the ability to move fingers apart and separately from the rest of the fingers.

Isolating fingers in sequence is a skill that older children acquire, usually before 5 years of age. Finger isolation is a needed skill before other manipulation skills can be gained as well as being essential for the development of pincer grip patterns.

Children begin using their hands as a unit, where all their fingers move together at approximately the same time. As your child’s skills develop they begin to use their fingers separately when pointing or when playing.

Being able to use your fingers individually develops into the ability to hold and control a crayon, button and unbutton their jacket, play with toys, pick up finger foods, push buttons or levers on toys, point to what they want or to help tell you something.

Fine motor delays have many causes, but is always helpful to give a child a variety of opportunities to practice their fine motor skills. Try to give your child many chances to play, use objects, and try new skills with your help.

Activities to promote use of their pointer finger, then working to develop more control and coordination follow.

You can work up to any of the activities presented in the Min-Mod Readiness List – small steps, short exposure, give frequent opportunities, encourage and promote without forcing, repeat, repeat, repeat!

The variety of activities and ideas provided here are by no means the only things you can try - personalize, adjust, and modify to fit your lifestyle, and your child’s needs and abilities. Use the suggestions given as a “springboard” to coming up with more ideas you can try.

Giving your child variety, exposure, change, and experience are ALL growth and learning opportunities. Remember, as always, stay calm, have fun, allow your child a variety of experiences, and repeat, repeat, repeat the opportunity! There is no right or wrong – just learning experiences for your child. Never force a child to touch or feel something they find overstimulating or distressful. Work with what is tolerated and try to expand from there

In addition to the activities under Min-Mod – Try the following for Mod-Severe readiness issues and concerns:

Early Fine Motor School Readiness Activities

for Mod-Severe Level ~ TheraPlay4Kids.com

o Try pressing switches, doorbells, toys with push buttons

o Have your child put small circular cereal pieces (like fruit loops, cheerios, apple jacks, and the like depending on diet and food sensitivities) on the ends of their fingers – they can eat them off one at a time, and keep on stacking them on

o Playdough play – poke into the dough, try to have them make “doughnuts” out of small balls of playdough using one finger

o See the Blog on Playdough for more ideas!

o When looking at a picture book ask your child to point to the object or person you are reading about

o Spread playing cards, memory game cards, etc around on the table and have your child point to each one as you ask them to find a specific card, number, shape, etc

Continue scrolling down for more ideas!

o Finger paint (through a sensory feely bag if they do not want to touch the paint) – See Blog on making Sensory Feely Bags

o Put the finger section cut off of an old glove onto their pointer finger and let them finger paint, or draw lines through shaving cream

o Play with finger puppets

o Put cute pencil toppers on their ends of one or more fingers for some fun silly play

o Cut a slit into the plastic lid of a disposable container – let your child push pom-poms, buttons, other small soft and flexible items through the slit using only their pointer finger; if this is too challenging you can make the slit wider or larger, or get it just started through the slit and then let them complete pushing it through

o If they can tolerate, draw circles all over a piece of paper then have your child touch some finger paint with just their pointer finger and “dot” each open circle; they can change colors used to create their own work of art

o Press stickers onto a piece of paper or into a sticker book using their pointer finger only to press the sticker flat

o Pop bubbles with their pointer finger – let them pop them high, low, to the side, and chase after them to pop them

o If you allow squirt guns or bubble guns, let them work on pressing the trigger / level to spray out the water

o Have them trace with their one finger along a drawn line (you can draw lines that are straight, curved, looped, etc., using large colorful markers)

o Have them use their pointer finger to “erase” a chalk line on a blackboard

o If they will tolerate wearing a glove, or just the finger end of a glove, have them erase lines and shapes made with dry-erase markers on a white board

Continue scrolling down for more ideas to try! TheraPlay4Kids.com

o Have them use their finger to follow a wide-spaced maze from start to finish

o Have your child try to slide little pieces of colored paper, paper circles, bingo chips, across the table using only one finger and sliding them into a bigger bowl or box

o Hide items in playdough (marbles, coins, buttons) and have your child try to dig them out only using their index finger

o Make small playdough “meatballs” and let your child smash them as flat as they can by using only their pointer finger

o Place a variety of dried pasta (elbows, penne, rotini) in a small bowl and let your child try to place their finger on a piece of pasta and drag it over to the side and up and over the edge of the bowl