Activities to strengthen the musculature of the upper body and hand The following activities help to strengthen the

muscles of the trunk and shoulder. Students need a stable base of support in the trunk and shoulder to provide stability for the act of writing.

1. Extra curricular activities such as swimming, gymnastics and karate help to strengthen many
muscle groups in the body.

2. Playground activities such as using the monkey bars, and climbing equipment help to 3.
strengthen shoulder and upper arm musculature. Your child can do chair push-ups anywhere that there is a chair. Have your child grab onto the sides of the seat of a chair and slowly push down while pulling their body up off the chair. Then have them slowly lower their body back to the seat. The following activities help to strengthen the web space of the hand (the webbed portion of the hand between the thumb and index finger). This is very important for pencil control, as a strong web space helps students hold their pencil with a mature grasp.

1. Store snacks in zip lock bags. The action of pulling the zip lock portion apart and squeezing it 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
back together with the thumb and index finger (keeping the space enclosed by them in an open circle) strengthens the web space. Have your child use a hole punch for home art projects. Have your child fill salt and pepper shakers or any other container with a screw top. Have you child use tongs at the dinner table for salads, etc If you have a garden in the summer, pulling small weeds is a great way to strengthen the web space of the hand. Have your child shuffle the cards before a family card game. Have your child dry silverware with a towel. The following activities help to strengthen the arches of the hand. The arches of the hand are very important for directing movements and grading power of the fingers.

1. Have your child cup their hand with the palm up. Put small items in his/her hand one by one 2. 3.
4. (e.g. Paper clips). Count how many your child can hold without dropping any. See if your child can beat a previous record by trying to increase the depth of the cupped hand. Have your child hold a large marble with palm facing up, and move the marble within the hand from the palm to the fingertips and back. Hide small objects such as pennies in PlayDoh. Have your child find them and pull them out. Once they are all found, have your child pinch them and push them back in to hide them again. To make this activity more difficult, use silly putty instead of PlayDoh. Have your child squeeze a squirt bottle with soapy water to spray the kitchen table. Then have your child wet a sponge, squeeze it out and wipe the table clean. Have your child try to pick up small objects with tweezers and place them in a container. Have your child participate in baking activities involving mixing dough, kneading bread, or pinching pie crust edges. Play board games where dice are involved. Cup hands over the dice to shake. The following are activities that promote use of the fingers for precise manipulation and for strength.

5. 6. 7.

1. Have your child sit at a desk or table with their palms flat on top and fingers spread slightly 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
apart. Ask your child to raise and lower fingers from the table one at a time. Have your child rest his/her hands on a table top with palms up. Instruct your child to touch the tip of the thumb to the tip of each finger in sequence. In the summer have your child use spring-loaded clothespins to hang up beach towels to dry. Have your child take a sheet of newspaper and crumple it into a ball using only one hand. Have your child play board games. Try origami (paper folding). Many books on origami are available at the library. Have your child flip coins from heads to tails, then back to heads. Time your child and see if they can beat a previous time.

Section 2: Alternative ways to practice letters, words, and sentences. Single letter practice 1. Practice single cursive letters by playing a game of tic tac toe using two cursive letters instead of "x" and "o". ( Click on the picture for a sample page) Play a game of hangman. Instead of having your child guess a letter by telling you the letter, have him/her write the cursive letter on paper to guess. When just beginning to learn cursive letters, instead of having your child practice on paper, make a salt tray to have him/her practice in. To make a salt tray, take an old cookie sheet with " sides and pour a container of salt in it, spreading it evenly. Your child can isolate his/her index finger to form the letters. Trace letters on your childs back with your index finger and have him/her guess what letter you wrote. Then have your child trace on your back.

2. 3.

4.

Word Practice

1. If you have a concrete or tar driveway, have your child draw cursive words with sidewalk chalk 2. 3. 4.
for you to read. This is a great way to practice spelling words. Have your child make a grocery list in cursive. If spelling is an issue, print the list for them and have them convert it to cursive. If you have a small dry erase board, have your child write one spelling word each day as a password to getting after school snack. Have your child write each spelling word from their list on an index card in print and then write each spelling word on an index card in cursive. Play a game of concentration with the index cards. Lay all index cards face down and have your child turn two over at a time. Have your child read each word that was turned over. If the print word matches the cursive word then the child keeps them. If they dont match, they are placed face down again. In the summer, a great place to practice cursive formations is at the beach in the sand.

5.

Sentence Practice

1. Have your child write a short letter to a relative in cursive.

Section 3: Games and Activities that can help your child Children learn many skills through playing. There are many toys and games that can be used to help your child develop body awareness, eye-hand coordination, visual perception and writing skills. These

suggestions may be helpful in choosing games and toys for holidays, birthdays or other special occasions. Most items can be purchased at local toy stores or on-line. Consider your childs needs when shopping for them so you can make the activities fun, meaningful and help them developmentally. Games/Activities to Develop Eye-Hand, Memory & Visual Spatial Skills Air Hockey Ants in the Pants Balls/ beanbags Battleship BoppinBasket Ball Boggle Bop It Brain Warp Card Games Checker/ Chess Clue Junior Connect Four Dont Break the Ice Dont Wake Up Daddy Elefun FastTrax/ Rush Hour Flip Flop Faces Hidden Picture Books Hands Down Hi Ho Cherrio Hi-Q Hungry Hungry Hippos Kerplunk

Life Lucky Ducks Mancala Marble Works Memory Missing Link Mousetrap Mr. Mouth Mr. Potato Head Mr. Potato Head Pals Operation Perfection Ping Pong Rubiks Cube Scrabble Shoot the Moon Simon