School is out, have fun playing this summer and engage your child in developmental hand skills!
- Water Play: Squeeze sponges, washcloths, spray bottles, squirt bottles or squirt guns. This is a great activity for hot summer days, or bathtub play. Wet sponges make great tools for drawing and painting on cement, or windows.
- Tongs or Tweezers: Pick up beads, beans, blocks, cotton balls, cereal etc. to sort, stack, count etc. Alternate between objects that take strong pinch and light pinch to pick up. Make a game of it.
- Ball Play: Make balls out of newspaper, wrapping paper, paper towels etc. Scrunch the paper into a ball then squeeze it tightly to make a small ball. These can be used for target practice into a waste basket, or to play catch. Don’t forget to play with beach balls, balloons, playground balls and tennis balls. Balls of all sizes promote hand strengthening!
- Scissors: Cut up straws to make beads for stringing, Don’t forget that scissors can be used to cut up foods such as lettuce, separate grapes, marshmallows etc.
- Precooking: Wrapping and unwrapping packages, use measuring spoons, measuring cups, whisks, and wooden spoons to assist in preparing simple items such as pudding muffins, cookies, sandwiches, jello etc. Allow your child to pour his own milk (from a small pitcher if necessary) and cereal. Let him begin to make his own breakfast or lunch: spread peanut butter or cheese on crackers, cut up fruit with a plastic knife, wash and dry his plastic or metal utensils.
- Stringing: Beads, cut up straws, cereal, fruit, raisins, marshmallows, salad macaroni, buttons, etc. to make a bracelet with the ends stiffened with glue or tape. Let him make fruit kabobs using summer fruit and thin straws for lunch or dinner.
- Jobs: Sort and fold clothes, wash and dry plastic or metal cookware or utensils, use paper towel to wipe mirrors or windows, wash or dry tables, counters and the front of the refrigerator.
- Fish for objects: Float objects (colored ice cubes, beads) in water; fish with a strainer, tongs, salad scissors, slotted spoons etc. Make a fishing rod with a paper towel roll, string and magnet. Fish for paper fish with paper clips to attract the magnet. Fish can be printed with letters, numbers, or words.
- Use tools with play dough: rolling pins or large dowels, cookie cutters, pound with wooden hammer, cut rolled snake with scissors,use popsicle sticks as knives to cut dough, tweezers to move rolled dough- pretend to load a dump truck or make a plate of meatballs.
- Paint with water, outside, using various sizes of paint brushes. Try painting with water on the sidewalk.
Summers are a time for mud pies and sand castles, for play and for fun. Participate with your child in doing these activities and help your child grow.