RAINY DAY ACTIVITIES

No need to be bummed out by the bad weather when there are great indoor activities. Make the most of the time by doing activities that strengthen the hands and fingers.

• Push pin pictures: Layer a simple line drawing or a Buki picture that has extra thick lines (www.skillbuilders.com) on top of a piece of construction paper resting on a piece of corkboard. Hang the corkboard on the wall, blackboard or easel so that your child is strengthening his hands, wrist, and shoulder. Use a pushpin (start out with larger ones and then progress to smaller ones) to poke holes on the line about ¼ inch apart. Hang the dotted picture on a window as a sun catcher!
• Baking: Mixing and kneading dough with the hands while making bread or cookies will strengthen the hands and fingers. Push cookie cutters down on the dough with fingertips (not palms) to make cookie cutter cookies.
• Crumple Art: Tear progressively more resistant paper. Roll the paper into balls using the thumb, index, and middle fingers while keeping the elbow on the table, to strengthen the hand and isolate control to the thumb side of the hand. Dip the paper into a plastic shot glass filled halfway with glue. Use the paper to make a collage free-hand, or fill in a coloring book page. Start with tissue paper and then progress to newspaper, construction paper, etc. Use the paper to make a collage.
• Necklaces: String fruit loops, macaroni wheels, or beads on string, licorice, or pipe cleaners. Start beading with something that has a large center whole, such as fruit loops, but keep in mind that squeezing too hard will make the fruit loop break. Begin with wider, stiffer string and progress to thinner string. This fun- and edible- project is great for eye-hand coordination and coordinating the two sides of the body to work together.
• Bean Mosaic: Sketch a picture or design on a piece of cardboard or cardstock. Spread a thin, even layer of glue using a paintbrush. Arrange the beans on the glue using over-sized tweezers to strengthen the muscles in the hand and promote finger isolation, a prerequisite skill for writing (www.familyfun.com).
• Custom Stickers: Using name tags or mailing labels create one-of-a-kind stickers by coloring and decorating personalized stickers

(www.familyfun.com). Use finger tip crayons (www.amazon.com), Chubbi Stumps (www.amazon.com), flip crayons (www.hwt.com), pop a point crayons (www.thefind.com), or Ferbies (www.amazon.com) to facilitate a mature grasp.

Blog written by: Aviva Goldwasser, MS, OTR

Chaye Lamm Warburg, MA, OTR, Director POTS