Finger exercises

These activities strengthen hand muscles and improve finger dexterity.

Combine fun and difficult together for more fun and integration.

• Using a blackboard,  make large movements with chalk in your hands. Chalk gives much resistance, which helps with strengthening.
  You can also use a big piece of paper and  make large drawings using crayons instead of magic markers. Crayons give more resistance
   
• Using one hand, holding the pencil on the table climbing up and down the pencil. Once you are good at it, then do it with two hands at the same time.
   
• Twist the pencil back and forth using the fingers and the thumb.
   
• Roll a wire or a rubberband or a pipecleaner around the pencil.
   
• Small beachball in between 2 people, pushing the ball, using hands and arms, towards each other and pulling away from one another
   
• Kneading dough, but this can also be done with a small ball and yet a smaller one. The bigger one for the hands, the smaller one for the fingers and the thumb.
   
• Putting scotch tape on the nails of your fingers and taking it off the nails by using your thumb, one hand at a time. After the tape is off the nails then make it into a ball, using thumb and fingers.
   
• Activities such as baking cookies or making pizza are great. It is then also important to also knead little trimmings for the dough, using thumb and fingers especially.
   
• Playdough.  knead, shape, pinch, squeeze, and pound it; roll snakes, from balls, and flatten pancakes. Offer coins, keys, paper clips, and hair to press imprints into the dough. Provide cookie cutters, blunt scissors, a rolling pin, a garlic press, and an egg slicer. . Cutting playdough is fun, too. Draw or form shapes, letters, and numbers in different materials, such as playdough, finger paint, shaving cream, soap foam, sand, clay, string, pudding, or pizza dough.