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Angie Mc
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How do you help encourage fine motor skill development with older children, 10+?
I hope to research this question myself this week and will share what I learn. Please share your finds and successes. Thanks!
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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Mackfam
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Montessori work is great for this, Angie. I had really great success using Montessori work for my 7/8 yo and also for my 10/11 yo. I saw great development of fine motor skills and saw dramatic improvement in their writing.
Anything that encourages pincer grasp...
** eyedropper with food coloring and transferring liquid between small bowls
** small tongs/tweezers and small objects...I like wool puffs, but small beads can be quite challenging for the older child. I can always find an abundance of different sizes/shapes of tongs at the thrift store. Different sizes require differing levels of hand/finger coordination and strength to use successfully. Start with large tongs and progress to small tweezers.
** Metal insets...don't be put off by the idea just because it's an expensive Montessori material. You can do this with any puzzle/stencil/shape you have. Here is an example of a presentation. I like having the insets because of the little knob, but you could look around and use simple geometric shape puzzle pieces, or even cookie cutters to duplicate this exercise. Just follow the basics of the presentation to encourage good use of the color pencil.
** Tracing country/state puzzle pieces. Same application as the Metal insets, but using geography puzzle pieces (any puzzle maps will do!). The child can build their own set of maps. Encourage slow progress and quality work. Trace a state and use thinly spaced parallel lines to fill in that state/country to build an attractive map.
** Polishing activities - a container of nice beeswax/mineral oil (you can make your own or purchase some at Nova Natural) and some wooden pieces from around the house - cutting boards, candlesticks, wooden jewelry boxes, wooden figures. Encourage attention to detail and polishing in the small cracks and turns of the wood.
** (If this is a boy...)...and even if it's not...a small tray of matching nuts and bolts is very appealing. Dad sets everything up to make sure pieces all go together and then disassembles and places all individual pieces on a tray. Set out the tray for the child to match nuts and bolts together.
** Sewing basket with large needle and embroidery thread and embroidery hoop with fabric. Trace their name or IHS or JMJ on the fabric and let them sew with a contrasting thread.
** Two medium sized bowls, rice, and a teaspoon. Transfer rice from bowl to bowl...this is harder than it seems.
Hope these help, Angie.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Mackfam
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Oh...one thing I learned...I set out many of these for my younger child, but encouraged anyone to use the materials. If I had presented the tongs and 2 bowls of wool puffs to my 10 yo she would have been insulted, so instead, I asked her to teach my little fella by presenting and assisting and invariably at some point she'd join in. She enjoyed assisting in presenting to her little brother and benefited at the same time. Encouraging the geography puzzle work and the metal insets didn't seem young-ish and worked out fine.
I didn't link a lot because I didn't want to imply that you HAD to buy something with these Montessori ideas - you can find a lot of these materials around the house or in a thrift store, but if you're interested in more links I can provide them.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Becky Parker
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Jennifer idea's are great! Another option for the metal insets are scrapbooking templates. I have a bunch of these (made of plastic) and the kids like to use them.
I have an 8yo with small motor skill struggles, and something else that helps him is drawing. We use lots of drawing books, including Draw Write Now. We also do alot of tracing. I give the kids a clipboard with any picture they want to trace and they clip a piece of tracing paper over it. My goal for the tracing isn't that they learn to draw, but that they develop their fine motor skills. Using Dover coloring books for the tracing exercise is great for older kids because the pictures are detailed. My dd likes the one about Civil War fashions because of all the pretty dresses. My ds likes anything to do with wars, like the Revolutionary War.
We make drawing a daily activity if possible. I'm trying to get my kids into the habit of waking up and getting out their drawing materials instead of turning on the tv.
Legos and snap together models are always good small motor development tools too!
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Becky
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Mackfam
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Becky Parker wrote:
| Another option for the metal insets are scrapbooking templates. |
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 Hey! That's a really great idea! They're generally nice and big and easy to hold and trace and their edges are smooth! Perfect! Great, great idea Becky! 
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Jen Mackintosh
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Kathryn
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Ok...please forgive me for asking what may seem like a dumb question but how exactly do you know a child needs fine motor skill development? I have my DS 9 do some cutting exercises b/c he still can't cut without a lot of misses and he does have poor handwriting so do these things help that?
Thanks for letting me hijack the thread w/ my question....
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Donna Marie
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What about having the child build with Legos? Many of those parts call for the same kind of pincer movements and it's fun too!
...just an idea...
I have a few others, but it is waay past my bedtime! 
Is this a boy or girl?
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Donna Marie from NJ
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ALmom
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I can vouch from firsthand experience about the helpfulness of the things mentioned above. 5 of our 6 had vision problems which interfered with a lot of the normal eye - hand - brain or visual processing type skills including fine motor. We did have to correct the underlying vision problem first or in conjunction with the other. We also discovered that one of our children was left handed and when we got him a pair of left handed scissors his cutting went from tearing the paper to some semblance of cutting. (A huge improvement but nowhere near his 2 year old brother who was cutting everything in sight and had not had the vision problem).
We did a lot of cut and create - trace patterns from the book onto tracing paper, use that as the template for cutting out the pieces in the appropriate color construction paper and gluing. This was fine and fun while they were younger - not so much so as they got older so you do use some of the strategies of having the older help the younger - but in our case, the younger could trace and cut far better than his siblings so that would only go so far in our plan to get them to exercise those writing muscles and build the skills needed to be efficient and neat at the same time.
I made a lot of the above mentioned Montessori materials - the practical life came primarily from the thrift store so it wasn't as expensive. Some of the favorites of my older children:
I bought a set of shot glasses and used water and food coloring and an eyedropper from a homeopathic remedy or medicine bottle (I save all the eye droppers and bottles and wash them out carefully). I put an artists palete on the tray with these and they experimented endlessly with making new colors using 3 or 4 colors - always had red, blue and yellow. I also included a sponge for self clean-up.
I found very tiny beads and tweezers that they practiced moving in an ice tray - going from top left to right then bottom left to right. My children did not develop good directionality with the vision issues so this also helped with forming the habit of doing things the way you have to move your eyes to read.
Everyone loved helping me drain the grease off the hamburger meat with a baster. They collected the grease in old cans and then made candles out of them. I promise you, they stunk - but it did make the activity a competed for one among boys who wanted to make and burn candles, so the stench and sometimes mess was worth it to me. This along with the eye dropper exercise appealed to everyone from the toddler to the 14 year old.
I did invest in the metal insets from a Montessori supplier and of all the things I got, this was by far, my best investment. I know most folks can use substitutes and they work fine. We had tried this at different points earlier, but my children had a hard time coordinating both sides of the body simultaneously so they avidly avoided any kind of art projects, stencils, tracing, etc. If it involved a pencil or pen in hand, they ran. These kind of things all ended up being an exercise in frustration and they'd simply stop because they couldn't both trace/write and hold the thing still at the same time. The Montessori insets have sturdy, well-placed pegs that allow a young child to accomplish this without help. This aspect was an essential part of getting my children to use the things. My 11 year old (who started out this venture just learning how to cut with lefty scissors) spent hours and days doing these - I think his interest lasted several months. This child who would previously run from a pencil began experimenting with narrower and narrower lines, with placing shapes on top of shapes to create 3-D effects. At the end of this, when he finally seemed ready to move on, he totally floored me by asking for art. This was a child who would have run from a pencil of any sort for any reason. I got him art books, and he loves art and draws rather well. He asked to take an art class. I noted immediately that he was no longer resistent to written work (though still having a habit of doing most things in his head), he could be efficient and much neater than before. He is certainly not my neatest handwriter, but he is the only one who actually likes to write in cursive. I think the neatness thing now is more a temperment thing; he's in too much of a hurry to explore the next thing. He is legible and he does write in cursive most of the time. I noted a direct connection between all the time he spent with those metal insets and his wiliingness and ability to control a pencil on paper whether drawing or writing.
Some of my other children whom I just couldn't entice into this (they were closer to 14 and older) have had to do other things - gross motor type exercises to a metranome - doing things with alternate feet and hands, etc. I still think that the insets were the most efficient means to accomplish the goal - just couldn't force/entice an older child - though maybe I should check out the stencil stuff. Maybe if there were various accurate models of fighter planes, something might happen. Some of the inset thing was that we simply caught our 11 year old while he was intrigued by math and geometry and this was serving some inner curiousity of his own that he was willing to do the laborious work of shading one thin line at a time. The others didn't think the activity itself was worth the effort it took them. They avoided this and simply stuck to the eye dropper or the baster and very occassionally the tweezers. Actually my 14 year old is quite good with the tweezers and is the resident tick and splinter remover. They also used them to catch fleas - believe it or not, though a lot just used their fingers too.
My youngest would do the lacing activities - my older boys, no way.
All my boys were lego fans from early on and I honestly don't know or understand why the lego work didn't really make a difference for them in writing. Neither did the buidling of models. Perhaps it was the backdrop and contributed, but I never quite saw the direct change like I did with the insets.
Janet
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melanie
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These are all great ideas. Also, my 9yo is in occupational therapy for fine motor skill issues, and she has had him do things like...
---holding a few coins in one hand, and picking them up one at time with the other hand. He is to keep the ones he picks up in his other hand as he's picking up the rest, does that make sense? The challenge is using your other fingers to hold onto the already-picked-up coins while you use your thumb and pointer finger to pick up the rest.
---hiding a coin in a lump of playdough...builds hand strength to dig it out and get off the little bits of dough.
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Mackfam
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I wanted to return and offer this link from my bookmarks...
Handwork Projects
Kathryn wrote:
Ok...please forgive me for asking what may seem like a dumb question but how exactly do you know a child needs fine motor skill development? I have my DS 9 do some cutting exercises b/c he still can't cut without a lot of misses and he does have poor handwriting so do these things help that?
Thanks for letting me hijack the thread w/ my question.... |
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Anything that requires the precise use of the small muscles of the hand, fingers and thumb falls under fine motor skills. If your son is challenged using this group of small muscles (and, most boys are btw!) then some of the exercises listed on this thread might help. And, yes, the cutting exercises you've given him will probably help as well. Think of anything that requires use of the fingers and hand and precise movements. Kitchen work beside mom is another great opportunity for development of this small group of muscles.
HTH! 
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Jen Mackintosh
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Angie Mc
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Ladies, I'm just checking in quickly to say...
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
melanie wrote:
---holding a few coins in one hand, and picking them up one at time with the other hand. He is to keep the ones he picks up in his other hand as he's picking up the rest, does that make sense? The challenge is using your other fingers to hold onto the already-picked-up coins while you use your thumb and pointer finger to pick up the rest.
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A quick scan of this topic and now my ds has a handful of coins and is doing the above exercise while watching MLB playoffs! We're really needing to work on the strength of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers so this is perfect. Yes, I'm talking about my boys and yes, having a fistful of money is pretty mature and manly  . I'm looking forward to lining up other activites noted here. Thank you all and....
Keep the ideas coming, please!
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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mooreboyz
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We also polish pennies and clean rocks using q tips, toothbrushes, and small cloths...these are some more boyish activities.
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Waverley
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We have also used a Light-Bright for fine motor skills. When we ran out the black patterned backgrounds, I made some using black construction paper. The older kids enjoyed making their own patterns, again using black construction paper.
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Waverley
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Angie Mc
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This is just great. Thanks so much!
Any more brainstorming on strengthening the 3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers?
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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ALmom
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Oh, we did use a tug of war game - buttons on the end of string and held by thumb and finger you are working on. You try to pull it out of each other's hands. Or there is another similiar thing but you use those clothes pins and just move which fingers push it closed.
We've done the penny thing too.
Therapy putty is good for strengthening hand and fingers and comes in 3 different difficulties. You spread out the fingers to stretch the puttly.
Musical instruments also help this (or need this) and I've seen different things for developing finger strength in various music catelogues. Don't know if they are any good or not
I'll let you know if I think of any other ideas.
Janet
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Kathryn
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My son did one of those little excavation digs today. It's a hard block of chalky material about half the size of a board eraser and inside is some kind of special object. The one today was a dinosaur. He used the little bitty brush and the little bitty digging tool and worked on it for prob. at least 20-30 minutes. Note though if working on it outside in the wind, they'll need goggles from the dust!
I only wish I remember where I bought this. The dollar store may be? Dollar spot at Target? I think it was in his Easter basket. If anyone else has seen them, please reply.
Anyway, it seemed to be a good fine motor skill effort for an older child.
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Kathryn in TX
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Becky Parker
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Hey Angie, here's another idea. I thought of doing this with my kids but instead of shapes, having them punch the different shapes of the states. I would also just use a piece of cork board behind it. I thought that using a push pin instead of the stylus they recommend might help with strengthening the fingers, but maybe not the 3rd, 4th and 5th.
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Becky
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melanie
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"I only wish I remember where I bought this. The dollar store may be? Dollar spot at Target? I think it was in his Easter basket. If anyone else has seen them, please reply."
I think we've gotten some of these in the little dollar toy section in Walmart...my daughter once had a big one that had an ancient Egypt theme and you could chisel out an Egyptian death mask, a sphinx, etc. I saw a big one with gemstones in it that I was planning on getting my 9yo for a Christmas gift this year. Oh, what cataloge was that? Here it is...not sure how to do links here....
http://www.youngexplorers.com/itemdy00.asp?scat=Y&c=03&SKW=s cience+earth&TKW=YE12&GEN1=Rocks+%26+Crystals&T1=Y120487&Pag eNo=1&pos=5
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Melanie
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Is that the mystery rock kit?
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Kathryn in TX
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melanie
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Yes, that's it. He loves rocks and gemstones and such. I was thinking about a rock polisher kit too, but wondered if they were any good. My mom said she had one as a kid and it wasn't very good, but that was a long time ago, maybe they've improved.
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Melanie
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: fine motor skill for older children
