Using Games as Fine Motor Practice to Improve Handwriting | Pediatric Therapy Tv

In today’s Webisode, an Occupational Therapist introduces us to beneficial games and tools to aid efficiency of handwriting practice for children.  For more on your child’s handwriting, click here.

In this video you will learn:

• How certain game pieces prepare your child for writing
• Which games are recommended to use for handwriting practice
• Useful tools to warm up hands for writing

Video Transcription:

Announcer: From Chicago’s leading experts in pediatrics to a worldwide
audience, this is Pediatric Therapy TV, where we provide experience and
innovation to maximize your child’s potential. Now, your host, here’s
Robyn.

Robyn: Hello, and welcome to Pediatric Therapy TV. I’m your host, Robyn
Ackerman and today I’m standing here with a Pediatric Occupational
Therapist, Lindsay Miller. Lindsay, can you explain to us what are some
games that you can play with children to help with their fine motor and
handwriting?

Lindsay: Sure. Some of the games that I like to play with children involve
small pieces and small pegs, such as this piece right here. This is from a
game called HiHo CherryO, and you use it by holding your thumb and your
index finger and middle finger to hold onto the piece. So that kind of
mimics the way that you would hold a writing utensil, such as a pencil.
Other games include Lite-Brite and Battleship. This is a piece from Lite-
Brite, and, again, you can see that I’m holding it with my thumb, index,
and middle finger. So it’s kind of a way to warm up the hands, before we do
handwriting tasks.

Some other games that I like to use with children involve tongs or
children’s’ chopsticks or tweezers. These are tongs, and, again, you can
see that I’m using it with my thumb, index, and middle finger, which mimics
the way that you would hold a writing utensil. Some examples of games that
use tongs and tweezers would be Operation and Bed Bugs. So those are just
some of the ways that I like to warm up the hands before we do handwriting
tasks.

Robyn: All right. Thank you so much, Lindsay, and thank you to our viewers.
And remember, keep on blossoming.

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