Hand strengthening activities (1912)

What can I do to help my child improve hand strength?

Your therapist will tell you which activities your child should do.  Be sure to supervise young children when doing these activities.

Have your child:

• Play tug-of-war with a towel or small rope.
• Pull a wagon with a friend or heavy toys in it. 
• Hide objects in Playdoh® or Silly Putty. Knead it, squish it and roll it out.
• Play with a squirt bottle in the bath.
• Squeeze water from sponges.
• Stack shoe boxes or plastic containers filled with heavy material like bags of dried noodles or beans.  
• Snip different thicknesses of paper with a scissors.
• Snip Playdoh or putty with scissors.
• Help carry groceries. Have your child carry the bag close to their body/stomach.
• Pop bubble wrap. 
• Climb on monkey bars or playground equipment.
• Color or write on vertical surface like a chalkboard or standing easel. 
• Use small, broken crayons to color and write.
• Turn over rows of pennies as fast as possible.
• Use clothes pins to hang up clothes or art work on a piece of yarn or rope.
• Use different size tongs or tweezers to pick up small items.