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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Search Results on Pincer Grip Activities

Ojas & Tejas were to do a lot of pincer grip activities to help them build their pencil hold. So like any other self respecting Internet user, yours truly diligently surfed the net (meaning the below post is a copy paste from various internet stuff) and came up with the following suggested activities. The italics are my thoughts for each suggested activity.

1. Use large tongs to transfer pompoms to a bowl, use sugar cube tongs to transfer beads between bowls, and then tweezers to transfer small flat shapes to a bowl.

I can truly picture my kids poking each other with teh various tongs I give- they will love the tweezers I am sure.

2. Use a large & a small syringe to transfer liquid between containers

Mmmh and have them mess the entire home with their penchant for playing with the dreaded liquid

3. Pouring liquids through funnel/ strainer

Lovely- another water activity

4. Sort beans of various sizes into separate heaps

When in doubt...ask. I just asked them- will you play with beans? They answered- no!

5. Spoon beans into bowls

See 4 above

6. Use a small spoon and place one marble in each section of an ice cube tray

And what do I do when they ask me for ice the moment they happen to notice I am carting an ice cube tray in their direction?

7. Painting. Try to alternate between large, stubby brushes and smaller, finer brushes. The smaller the brush is, the more control they need over their hands. Also try getting them to do some painting with cotton swabs. This affords some really fine work and allows them to develop their pincer grip; needed for learning how to write

First the Mom needs to develop her brush hlding skills- let me start with the eye liner brush
8. Peg Puzzles.

Already graduated that stage. Now what!

9. Playdough. Children will get some great fine motor skill exercise out of Playdough especially if you add some extra equipment such as rollers and cookie cutters.

Gulp. Not yet very hot on play-do. Only Mamma loves it. And who uses those delicate instruments- apna haath jagannath

10. Cutting. Bring out the scissors and some old magazines and let them get to work. Cutting requires a lot of coordination. For younger children who are just getting used to manipulating scissors, you can buy them without any metal. They are sharp enough to cut through paper but not much else.

Now that's an idea- we are already learning to cut our way through chips packets.

11. Threading. Buy some beads to thread or use some colored pasta and string. This activity requires a lot of control and a steady hand. Perfect practice for fine motor development.

Hmmm. I can picture the cries of frustration. (from Mamma)

12. Blocks. Start out with larger blocks and move your way towards the smaller variety. The smaller the blocks, the more control they need to develop. But be careful not to introduce blocks that are small too quickly – they will only get frustrated and give up.

Okay. On the knees, get set, and go and fish them out from everywhere in the house.

16 comments:

Cuckoo said...

Ha ha! Esp the "cutting thro' chips packets" :) Some of the suggestions on websites and in books are so American. Who cleans, sweeps or picks up after these kids? Sigh!

But seriously, my friend just demarcated a wall and allowed her son to draw and paint to his heart's content, till his crayon grip became decent. Also the magic slate might help, only if they sit in one place.

Mama - Mia said...

phew!! too much effort i say! why cant kids just learn at their own pace the way we did?! :(

loved the post!! :)

cheers!

abha

Anonymous said...

This is a truly awesome post. Reminded me of my time with my boys - specially your "on the knees, get set, go"

Mamma mia! Me a mamma? said...

Yes, I'm the mom-on-all-fours too, so been-there-and-still-doing-that!!

Your comments were just wayyyyyy funny!

dipali said...

And the block that they especially want is stuck behind the sideboard, impossible to retrieve....
I'm glad those days are over!

Anonymous said...

Well ladies you wanted to know how to help develop your child' pencil grip and you got a lot of great ides.
These ideas are all play for your child depending on how you introduce them to it. Your attitude affect how receptive they they will be to the "game". If you start doing the activity and show enthusiasm, they may want to join in as well. Isn't your child's learning experience worth a little mess for you to clean?
How sad:(
Sad for the children that they don't get to have a little fun. Get real. Instead of writing on this blog, go have a little fun with your little ones, you may even learn to lighten up!

The Reading Corner said...

oy ye anon troll from Illionis (76.217.111.110)
u just go get a life and do not judge what i do with my kids.

The Reading Corner said...

and the best part is you troll- u hav spent abt 1 hour, 9 minutes, 30 seconds on my page

Unknown said...

Anon: No one could do more mudplay and gardening, and fun 'messy' activities with their kids than Itchy does, and many of us can vouch for that.
You need to lighten up and read the italicised comments in the spirit of fun they were written in.

The Reading Corner said...

thanks Kiran for being my rock! seriously some people cannot understand fun

The Reading Corner said...

or perhaps the said anon from illionis who spent more than an hour on my blog was frustrated that she did not get exact instruction manual advicing her how to play with her child.

the mad momma said...

I am amazed at the self righteousness of the anon comment. either he or she isnt a parent and is talking out of their posterior because they have no idea how much it takes. or they ARE a parent and are wasting an hour plus on YOUR blog while telling you not to.

but most of all they seem to have no sense of humour which is just so sad.. for them!

Anonymous said...

Well ladies,
I see my comments have you a little upset. I came across this blog while looking for ways to incorporate play while strengthening the pinch grip. So I was interested in everything but the personal comments, but thought I'd stay awhile a write. I did check out the other pages to see if there was any other useful information. None
Now who is judging whom?

The Reading Corner said...

anon from illionis-uff u r still here? tch tch
get a life.

the mad momma said...

i see - you came looking for info, you found none, you couldnt relate to the personal posts on a personal blog (!), judged the blogger and left a rude anon comment and after that you STILL came back to comment?!

Yeah - you DO need a life. I'd suggest a course in etiquette if you have so much spare time on hand.

The Reading Corner said...

MM- and why did he think i am providing expert info- beats me!