Time To Play- Activities To Enhance Hand Skills "Play is the highest form of research." -Albert Einstein
"Play is the work of the child." -"Maria Montessori
A child's work is play. It is important on so many levels that children have that opportunity.
Toys and Games: As occupational therapy students, we understand the importance of play to the development of fine and gross motor skills. This is a list of our favorite toys and activities that enhance these skills:
Infant
Soft infant toys that offer the opportunity to pull or squeeze
Activity matts and mobiles that require infants to bat at toys
Any activity where the infant is supervised on their tummy...TUMMY TIME!
Bath toys that squirt water when they are squeezed
Rattles
Toddlers
Pop beads
Abacus/Bead mazes
Puzzles with large knobs
Play dough-cut shapes, make balls, pinch or poke it, roll it up and down the wall and form shapes and letters with it
Puzzles
Finger painting
Pre-School Aged
Geoboards
Legos or similar building blocks
Tweezers and clothespins...great for picking up small items
Squeeze eye dropers filled with colored water onto coffee filter
Hi-Ho the Cherry O
Candy Land
Go Fish
Old Maid
Memory
Hungry Hungry Hippos
Chutes and Ladders
Operation
Bedbugs
Perfection
Lite Brite
Connect Four
Tidly Winks
Bop-it
Rock Paper Scissors
Wind-up toys
Spinning tops
Jacks
Marbles
Mancala
Dominos
Wiki Stiks
Don't Spill the Beans
Cootie
Scatterpillar Scramble
Use your pointer finger to "write" letters, lines, and shapes in shaving cream or pudding.
Finger painting
Use a flashlight to draw shapes and letters on the wall
Use craft sticks to make letters
Push coins through a slit in a covered plastic container
Cut a slit in a tennis ball and squeeze it to open the mouth. Then feed it small items like beans and coins.
Use a hole puncher to make holes along the edge of a paper plate and then lace the holes with yarn.
Pop bubble wrap from packages by pinching with the index finger, tall finger and thumb.
Time To Play- Activities To Enhance Hand Skills
"Play is the highest form of research." -Albert Einstein
"Play is the work of the child." -"Maria Montessori
A child's work is play. It is important on so many levels that children have that opportunity.
Toys and Games:
As occupational therapy students, we understand the importance of play to the development of fine and gross motor skills. This is a list of our favorite toys and activities that enhance these skills:
Infant
- Soft infant toys that offer the opportunity to pull or squeeze
- Activity matts and mobiles that require infants to bat at toys
- Any activity where the infant is supervised on their tummy...TUMMY TIME!
- Bath toys that squirt water when they are squeezed
- Rattles
ToddlersPre-School Aged
Click this link for a guide to help you choose toys that are developmentally appropriate for your child:
AOTA'S Checklist For Developmentally Appropriate Toys
Click this link for more information regarding the importance of learning through play:
Importance Of Learning Through Play