Mancala played with pom poms

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I wanted to play a game with a student that would use spring clips in order to work on finger strengthening. I got little pom poms at michael’s (a craft store), and we played the game of Mancala .

Her hands were quite tired by the end of the game. We will play some other games and see how many we can come up with that can be played with pom poms as the game pieces and use the clips to move them around the board. Checkers would work well, and Chinese Checkers too.  Pinching the spring clip uses the muscles that are used to control a pencil during handwriting and the scissors during cutting.  It is important that these muscle are strong.

Materials:

• Game (I used Mancala )
• Pom Poms
• spring clips

Skills:

• Hand strengthening
• Fine motor
• Finger isolation
• Crossing Midline
• Handwriting
• Scissor Cutting
• Visual Perceptual