Cute Chic

Try this cute chic for some spring time art.  Just cut out an oval (have the kids draw one and then cut it out, if they are capable) and cut it in 2 pieces using a zig zag pattern.  Cut out a chic shaped head from yellow paper.  Then put a hinge on the side and have the kids decorate as they like.

Grips on a stylus!

Try using standard pencil grips on your ordinary stylus for help during those ever-motivating apps!

Break apart crayons

So, these are pretty cool.  It is a crayon that breaks down into smaller segments.  All the sections come apart so that you can use them as small pieces to facilitate a mature grasp.  The best part- they are from the Dollar Tree.  Give them a try.

PVC Pipe Crayon Adaptation

Super easy and super effective!  Create an adapted crayon holder for kids with a weak grasp with a PVC pipe T and some foam.  Or use it for utensils too!  The 1 inch diameter PVC pipe works well for young kids, increase the diameter for older kids or adults.  Foam pipe or wire insulation works well for the insert.  If the child can't quite maintain the grasp as he or she is trying to use it, simply put a velcro strip through the PVC pipe to go around the back of the child's hand.  It works wonders.  Get those kids doing some art!

Increase pencil grasp with this pen

A teacher I work with came to me the other day to get my opinion on this pen that she found at the local education store.  It's made to gain a more functional grasp in children and adults.  It has a flat edge where your idex finger rests and it positions nicely in your hand.  While not eliciting a true tripod grasp, it does allow for a functional fit for writing.  It is easy to use and glides smoothly over the paper.  Would I recommend it?  Yes, with clarification.  I have some children that, due to physical limitations, will never gain a true tripod grasp.  This may allow these children an alternative to a tripod grasp to help them function neatly and at a good pace during school   This tool may have break the "fisting" of pencils/crayons that some children have real difficulty breaking.  If these children consistently use this tool, they may just get out of the "fisting" habit.  And for adults with arthritis, or other such conditions that make it uncomfortable to achieve a tripod grasp, this tool could be the key to pain-free writing.

But, this tool is a pen and I do not recommend a pen for early writers.  First, pen can not be erased and we all know how many mistakes children make in the early stages.  Second, pens are more difficult to make a mark with since they must be held at a certain angle in order to create marks.    This tool may  help a child evolve his grasp into a tripod.  If only it was made as a pencil, or crayon.

pumpkin decorating

It's almost Halloween and time to carve and decorate your pumpkins.  There are so many fun, and creative ways to decorate a pumpkin.  Have your child take a small pumpkin and draw something on it using markers or paint.  Bigger kids can help carve the pumpkin (with supervision, of course).  Have your children dig their hands into the inside to take out all the seeds and goo.  Don't be afraid to get your, and their, hands dirty and gooey.  Separate the seeds to bake for a treat.  Pumpkin carving offers many different fine motor and sensory benefits, so carve, and decorate, away!

Good positioning for handwriting

It's the beginning of the school year and kids are starting the learning process.  Now is the time for teachers/ therapists to assess the children and their positioning at their desks/tables to ensure the best possible positioning for handwriting.  If the desk is too high, or too low, or if the child is not sitting well, handwriting suffers.  So, now is the time to assess your students' positioning to allow them to do the best work they can.  Here are some general rules for optimal positioning:

Desk height should be approximately 2 inches above the student's elbow level


   Feet should be flat on the floor when possible

1-      Smaller students may need a foot stool to stabilize their feet

2-      Smaller students may need higher chairs.

3-      Try to group children by size, if possible, when using multiple tables and make height of table appropriate for the group

The child should be positioned in a 90-90-90 position, or as close to this as possible.  A 90-90-90 position is one in which the hips, knees and ankles are in a 90* angle

The child should be positioning squarely in front of the desk and close enough for easy access.

The child should be sitting upright, not leaning one way or the other


Remember that children grow, so their positioning should be monitored throughout the year and adjusted as necessary.

Remember to work on school skills this summer

Yes, we know it is summer, and it is supposed to be time to rest and recharge.  It's a time of easy schedules and time for fun.  However, don't forget to continue working on those academic skills needed for school.  Remember to continue writing and reading.  For the younger children, continue to use those fine motor skills needed for school. Have your child do some cutting every day (or at least once a week).  Draw pictures with your child.  For a variation, take chalk outside to the driveway and draw.  Have the older child write a story about what they have been doing this summer.  They could write a letter to a far away relative.  Be creative so that your child wants to color or write.  Make a mud pile outside and have them use a stick to write, or draw, in it.  Sand is another great medium to write in.  Just be sure to devote a little of each day to some sort of academic/ fine motor activity so that your child does not lose any of his learned skills. 

Hand Dominance

A question that I am asked frequently by parents and teachers is when should kids be forced to choose a dominant hand for writing.  It seems as soon as children pick up their first crayon to scribble, parents begin to wonder whether he/she will be a righty or a lefty.  The older that child gets, the more anxious parents get about forcing a hand dominance.  I tell parents to let your child switch hands if that's what they do.  Some children pick up a crayon and only use one hand from the start.  Others switch hands up until kindergarten, or beyond.  My rule of thumb is this:  let them switch, as long as both are functional, until they either use one hand approximately 75% of the time, or until first grade, at which point it is time to pick (very rarely do children go this long).  Parents and teachers will begin to see a child that switches become much more accurate and sure with one hand over the other.  This will be the sign of which hand will be his/her dominant hand.  When the child begins to use one hand more than the other, and you can clearly see the difference in performance, you can start to reposition the crayon/pencil into that hand.  No worries if your child is 4 and you still don't see this.  Hand dominance has it's way of naturally occuring.

Teaching Young Left-Hand Writers

As the mother of a left-hand writer, I am aware of the difficulty faced when teaching a left-hand child to write, so I wanted to again address these difficulties and offer solutions.  First, lets compare the writing of left-handers and right-handers. Right-hand writers use their elbows as a pivot point to allow for smooth movement across the paper.  The fingers control the pencil while the forearm moves in an arc away from the center of the body.  As letters are written, they are visible to a right-hand writer since the hand moves away from the letters while moving across the paper.    Not so for the left-hand writer if the paper is positioned as a right-hand writer positions his/her paper.  The left-hand writer is not able to use the elbow as a pivot because the paper is slanted the wrong direction.  The entire forearm moves the pencil.  This makes finger coordination difficult if the paper is positioned as a right-hand writer.  The left-hand writer is unable to see the letters since the hand moves on top of them. 
This is especially difficult for the young learner who needs visual prompts to remember what he/she has already written.  Left-hand children who try to write like right-hand children tend to develop awkward grasps on their pencils to allow them to see the writing.  These grasps make smooth writing difficult.
It is very important to teach paper positioning and good grasps to children from the start.  Perhaps group left-hand children together to allow them to see other children position their paper and to allow them to imitate similar peers.  Teach the children to position the paper, pencil and hand to allow them to see the words.  Allow the child to be a part of finding the best position for him/her.  Then, ensure that the child uses a good grasp on his writing tools to prevent awkward grasps that may impact his/her writing as he/she ages.  It is important to teach good writing habits from the beginning, as it can be nearly impossible to change these habits down the road.

Mother Day Craft

Mother's day is right around the corner, but there is still time to make her feel loved. Here's a cute mother's day craft.  Take some cute fabric and trace your child's hand.  Cut out the hand and place in a cute picture frame.  Use some more of the fabric to make a bow hanger.  An older child should trace and cut out their hand by themselves.

Pencil Pressure

Strategies to reduce pressure when writing:

Have a child who uses too much pressure when writing or coloring?  Here are some strategies to try which should help to reduce the pressure used.  Keep in mind, these are not "once and done" cures for this.  You may need to consistently utilize these strategies for a few times/weeks to improve a child's pressure.
1-Place the child's paper on top of a soft mouse pad or towel.  If he/she uses too much pressure, the pencil tip will poke through the paper (try not to use construction paper as it will take more pressure to poke through). Discuss with the child why the pencil poked through.
2-Have the child use a mechanical pencil.  Too much pressure will cause the tip to break. Discuss with the child why the tip broke.
3-Have the child color a picture using a pencil.  Have him/her color part of the picture dark grey, part of it medium grey and part of the picture light grey.  Discuss the different pressures need to produce these colors.  Show him/her the "right" pressure he/she should be using and practice making the medium grey color.

Help with pencil grip

 So the goal is to get children to hold their writing tools in a mature, tripod grasp- or something near that.  Some kids have real difficulty achieving this functional grasp, so we use adaptations to promote a better grasp.  Here is one of my favorites.  It is called a Handi Writer.  It angles the pencil so that children can hold the pencil without using a fist.  The child uses his pinky and ring finger to hold the dolphin against his/her palm to keep these two fingers from being used to hold the pencil.  The goal is to use this tool consistently for a few months (or less, if able) to get the child into the habit of holding a pencil/crayon like this,) and then start slowly transitioning to not using it.  Most children, by then, have developed a better writing grasp.  Another adaptation is to have your child use pencil grips to position their fingers correctly on the pencil.

Valentines craft

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so have your kids make a cute Valentine's Day craft.  Have the older kids draw and cut out their own hearts (the wings are a heart cut into 2).  They can also do the writing. All you need for this craft is a paper plate and some red and pink paper.  You can either use eyes or draw the eyes.

Fishing for Snack

Try this quick and fun way to work on dexterity and eye hand coordination!  Give the child a spoonful of peanut butter in a dixie cup and a small blue plate with goldfish crackers.  Have him pull a small pretzel stick from a large cup using his pincer grasp and scoop a little peanut butter onto it, that's his bait.  Then press onto the fish crackers to 'catch' his snack!

Or try this for motivation.... use half a raisin or fruit snack and stick it at the end of a pathway or maze.

Pencil Control

Now, let's get started drawing shapes, begining with a circle.  Have your child imitate a circle, with the end points meeting.  Next, try a square and triangle, or intersecting lines.  Have your child focus on the corners so that they are not rounded.  Continue with this until the shapes come naturally.  Dot-dots are another great way of improving pencil control.  

Getting Ready For Kindergarten

So, it's that time of year when parents of pre-kindergarteners start to think about their little ones going off to school. Kindergarten is not what it used to be and much more is expected of your little ones. Now days, most kids going into kindergarten are able to write the letters of his/her first name. Some are even able to write the letters of their last names. Most kids are able to cut across a piece of paper, and some can cut out shapes. The most common concern that I find parents having is that their child is not yet able to write their first name. Parents want their kids to have this skill and focus solely on teaching their kids how to write their names. They, as well as their kids, become frustrated by lack of progress. So, I am going to tell you what I tell them- some kids are just not ready to write their names. They just don't quite have the required pencil control to form letters. So, let's back up a few steps and work on the pencil control, then, once they get that, we can start to work on letters. Start by having your child draw straight horizontal and vertical lines across a piece of paper. Once mastered, have them draw these lines within pathways, trying not to cross the lines. Next, have him/her draw within curvy pathways. Try these on paper, with chalk on a chalkboard, or with paint. I will post next time about the next steps.

To improve a child's grasp, try a small, broken crayon (see post "school readiness skills".

Another cute snowman

Here's yet another way to make a fluffy snowman.  Have your child draw the snowman using different size circles then pull apart cotton balls and glue them on.  Great for pencil control, as well as finger strengthening and bilateral coordination.

Hand print Reindeer

Here's a cute idea for a holiday craft.  Trace your child's hand (or have them trace their own) then have your child, if able, cut it out.  Next, have your child draw a heart and a circle and cut them out.  Glue on the parts and have your child draw, or glue on, the eyes and mouth and they have a cute reindeer!

Santa Picture

Here is an easy, but cute, craft to have your kids make.  Find a picture of Santa, have them color in the picture and then glue cotton balls for the beard. For increased fine motor benefit, have them pull the cotton balls apart before gluing them onto the picture.