finger strength Archives - Therapy Fun Zone

Activities, child, elementary school age, Gait, games, gross motor, hand strengthening, lower extremity strengthening, Motor Planning, motor planning, OT, PT, Trunk strengthening, tween - middle school, upper extremity strengthening, visual perceptual

Using a Water Gun to Propel a Ball

Water guns are a great finger strengthening tool, and when it gets hot, water is a welcome part of therapy. I had used water guns to fill up a cup with water and make a ping pong ball rise. I was trying to think of other activities that use…

Activities, ADL, buttoning, child, dressing, elementary school age, fall, felt, OT, preschool, season, spring, summer, winter

Seasons Button Tree

I have added another button activity to my arsenal of fun things to button. This one is a seasonal tree, so you can button on the different seasons. It includes white snow for winter, green for spring, orange and red for fall, and fruit of red…

Activities, child, Clothespin Activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, Munchy Ball, OT, Printable, Product Review, tween - middle school

Pond Jump Fine Motor Game With Munchy Ball

I have been doing a lot with Munchy Ball and realized that he could easily be incorporated into games the same way that I use clothespins in games. Munchy Ball is a ball with eyes, and a mouth cut into it that opens his mouth when you squeeze…

Activities, bimanual, child, elementary school age, favorite toys, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, in-hand manipulation, Motor Planning, Munchy Ball, OT, sensory motor, tween - middle school

Munchy Ball Motor Game

I have officially named my tennis ball head Munchy Ball, and I guess he is like a frog because he likes to eat little bugs. I made a little game to incorporate visual motor skills, motor planning, fine motor strength, and writing. I…

Activities, child, Chopstick activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, hand strengthening, Motor Planning, OT

Fun this week with tennis ball mouths

Just a glimpse of the fun had this week with tennis ball heads. I have another post about the tennis ball heads that turn into vampires.

Activities, activity printable, child, Clothespin Activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, Motor Planning, OT, Printable, visual perceptual

Bug Splat Race Clothespin Games

I was searching for small rolling toys to use in a game and I came across these Cars Micro Drifters. They didn’t work for the game I was looking to use them for, but they were the perfect size and have a roller ball under them, so they move…

Activities, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, hand strengthening, OT, summer, teenage, tween - middle school, visual perceptual

Pool Balloon Races Using Squirt Guns

The kids I work with had a great time strengthening their hands with ball races that I posted about here. I thought it would be fun to use the squirt guns in the pool too. We used little balloons, but it would work with larger balloons,…

Activities, activity printable, child, Clothespin Activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, OT, Printable, summer, tween - middle school

Ice Cream Sundae Clothespin Game

When I was making my Clothespin Tower Games, one of the games is a game about building an ice cream sundae. The game easily translates into a flat game without the tower, so I thought that at times I would prefer to use it that way. It is…

Activities, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, hand strengthening, tween - middle school

Stretchy Finger Exerciser

I made a finger exerciser out of Hyperflex Stretchy String . It was really easy to make, and would be perfect to work on strengthening finger extensor muscles in really weak hands. I envision using it with kids who have hemiplegia. Theraputty…

Activities, bimanual, child, crazy cubes, elementary school age, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, OT, Recycled, recycled

Playing plinko to work on hand strength and writing

Last month, I put out a call to have other therapists share creative ideas using crazy cubes. I did this because I saw a lot of potential for these little toys to work on fine motor skills and hand strengthening, but I thought that there should…

Activities, adult, bimanual, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, hand strengthening, teenage, tween - middle school

Theraputty and money

I am going to try something new. Along wifh my weekly activity posts, I am going to do some simple spur of the moment, here is what we are doing today type of posts. So in that spirit, here is one thing we are doing today. Finding money…

Activities, Clothespin Activities, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, Motor Planning, OT, Reach and grasp

Easy Clothespin Board made with Hot glue and sheet protector

This week as I was driving to work, I came up with a way to make the clothespin frame for the games using much more accessible supplies. I had thought of this one before, but thought that it might not work, and might be too difficult, but I…

Activities, activity printable, child, Clothespin Activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, Free Printable, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, Hanukkah, holiday, in-hand manipulation, Motor Planning, OT, Printable, Reach and grasp, visual perceptual

Dreidel Games

The blog at Pediastaff was looking for some therapy games that have a connection to Hanukkah, and I have been making a bunch of games lately. My son was thrilled to help me create a board game using a dreidel to determine the spaces you move. I…

Activities, child, Clothespin Activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, OT, Reach and grasp

Clothespin Games

I have been working on some clothespin games for at least six months now. I wanted to have a board to attach clothespins to, but to have the option to play several different games. I went through a lot of trials and errors before I came up with…

Activities, child, Craft, elementary school age, fine-motor, hand strengthening, Handwriting, OT, Paint

Q-Tip Painting

When I think of therapy activities, I keep in mind what skill I am looking to improve. When trying to challenge someone’s fine motor skills, I try to come up with tiny things to hold. I figured that Q-tips were pretty tiny, so how about we…

Activities, child, Craft, elementary school age, fine-motor, Food, hand strengthening, Motor Planning, OT, Paint, preschool, Sensory, visual perceptual

Salt Painting

Salt painting gives an interesting twist to regular painting, and it makes good use of a glue bottle for hand strengthening. Before you get to the painting part, you squeeze glue onto the paper in the pattern that you want the paint to be in.…

Activities, child, elementary school age, favorite toys, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, in-hand manipulation, OT, preschool, Product Review, toddler, tween - middle school, visual perceptual

My new favorite fine motor toy: connect 4 on the run

I was picking up some sidewalk chalk at the store the other day and just happened to look at this little Connect Four Fun On the Run Game. It is connect 4, which is already a great fine motor game as I discussed in another post, but this new…

Activities, child, Craft, elementary school age, fine-motor, hand strengthening, Handwriting, Motor Planning, OT, preschool, season, sensory motor, summer, visual perceptual

Summer fun with water and chalk for fine motor

I have been seeing kids this summer for an early intervention program, and have been playing with sidewalk chalk and water. Some younger kids will have trouble with squirt guns, so we are going to try a regular spray bottle. I broke…

Activities, bimanual, child, Craft, Craft, elementary school age, fine-motor, Food, hand strengthening, OT, Toothpicks, visual perceptual

Building with Toothpicks and Gumdrops

I saw this on a preschool activity site, and saw a lot of therapy potential in it. You can have a client build their own designs and structures, or you could have them copy a design that you show them. This is a good activity that incorporates…

Activities, ADL, bimanual, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, hand strengthening, in-hand manipulation, OT, preschool

Digital Piggy Bank

I love using money in therapy, since it provides lots of opportunity to work on fine motor skills and visual perceptual skills. I had a little client that had a great time putting coins into this digital piggy bank. The benefit of this…

Activities, child, elementary school age, favorite toys, fine-motor, hand strengthening, OT

Squirt Guns for Finger Strengthening

Squirt guns are good for working on finger strengthening, and they are fun too. A game that is fun to play with squirt guns uses a cup, water, squirt gun, and a ping pong ball. In this game, you fill the cup up most of the way with water and…

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