Learning is fun for kids. Many pre-schooler kids may have already started using a grip that isn’t proper for handwriting. Parents concern these days is how to get my child hold the pencil properly? Handwriting of a child depends on how he/she holds the pencil. Building block for pencil grasps starts when your baby is just a few months old like 10-11 months is the trickiest thing because children don’t want to be helped by anyone. There are some types of toys and pencil grip activities to develop a habit of holding a pencil without actually holding it. Pencils and notebooks appear boring to little kids so giving them toys and similar things that develop pencil grasp in your child is better. If your child is not holding a pencil in a proper way then, some of the fine motor activities can help them to do so. Pencil grip problems can affect a child’s academic growth in the school.
Here are some techniques through which you can develop a habit and improve your child’s pencil grasping skills.
Improving pencil grasp with fine motor play
There are tons of motor play activities to improve your child’s pencil grasp. One can use simple household things to help their child develop a habit of pencil grasp. Fine motor play and fine motor activities can help a child to develop pencil grasp. Tripod grasp is one of the most efficient ways to hold a pencil. A pencil should be positioned between thumb and index finger, resting on the middle finger and curled up by the other two fingers. Another element is the quadropod grasp where all the four fingers balance the writing. In both of the grasp, there should be a space for little hand movements of your child. A perfect pencil grasp is important in order to learn how to read and write.
1.Exercising with playing dough: Little kids love playing with play dough. Playing with dough builds a flexible thumb IP joint which is essential for a pencil grasp. Ask your child to squeeze and roll it with the palm.
2.Craft stick tweezers: Tweezers can help your child in developing a habit of holding a pencil. Put the ball bearing in a box and ask your child to separate it according to different color or shape using tweezers.
3.Elastic bands: Make your child play with the elastic bands, gymnastics with elastic bands. Put two elastic bands of same size around your child’s thumb, index finger, and middle finger. Add another two elastic bands and so on. Make it harder for your child to move the finger. These exercises help your kids to develop the muscles which will further help them in making space while writing.
4.Beads: Beads help to develop eye-hand coordination in children. Get some different sized beads and threads. Ask your child to thread some beads in the string. It’s obvious that the smaller the hole will be, the harder will be the task. For making it fun, you can also have a race of this task in your child and other mates.
5.Doodle board: Children find pencil and paper boring, so doodle board is just an exciting and fun appearing board to the little kids on which they can practice different letters and patterns without committing them on a paper. You can also provide some shapes and patterns to make them recognize it.
6.In hand manipulation: Coins are one of the best ways for in hand manipulation. They build the skills in your child which he/she needs while manipulating a pencil for the formation of different letters, shapes, and patterns. There can be many other inhand manipulation activities like moving your fingers down and up a pencil, rotating quarters between your finger tips and many more. You can try the maximum number possible.
7.Finger isolation with clay and floam: Playing with clay develops the muscles in your child. These exercises are excellent for building strength and muscles needed for holding a pencil. Spill the beans and ask your child to collect them in a container. Use pickup sticks for an activity to encourage the use of fingers.
8.Stencils: Now, stencils are a necessary part for growing kids. You can use alphabet stencils, shape and pattern stencils and also simple picture stencils to draw it on a board or a paper. It helps to develop the habit to control and manipulate the pencil.
9.Chalk and blackboard: Place a blackboard between the two tables and give your child a piece of chalk in both the hands. Now, ask your child to draw any pattern with both the hands. This task develops bilateral movement. If your child is holding a chalk properly then within no time he/she will be able to hold a pencil properly.
10.Paper strips: Place your child’s palm at one end of the paper and ask your child to only use the middle finger to get the strip to scrunch up under their hand. This activity really helps a lot in developing the muscle tone of their hand and giving space while writing.
11.Stickers: Children love to play with stickers. Just peeling them off and sticking it on a paper or any hard surface can develop eye-hand coordination in your child. You can give your kid some eye-catching stickers. Once your kid get the stickers, he/she will pasting them. It will improve his/her hand-eye coordination considerably and this will certainly help him/her to hold the pencil properly.
12.Toys with tongs: As it is common that children love to play with toys, so buy them toys with tongs. Toys with the stuff like tongs and tweezers help to develop the use of thumb, index finger, and middle finger in your child. Bring your child a toddler toys fine motor tools set and make him play with it.
13.Golf pencil: For the beginning make your children write with a golf pencil, because they are lighter and smaller and your child can easily hold it. Encourage them to write with a golf pencil to improve the pencil grasp. You can notice the improvement after few weeks for sure.
14.Finger warm-up activities: Make your child do some finger warm-up exercise before making him/her writing. Twirling the pencil with the help of fingers and some similar exercises can help wake up the muscles for proper grasp in your child.
15.Playing with blocks: Introduce blocks of various sizes, color, and shape to your baby and encourage your baby to encourage and grasp things easily. Wooden blocks are more preferable and safe than plastic.
16.Search and find activities: Do search and play activities with your kids. Hide some small toys and ask your kids to search and find them. This activity will strengthen the fingers.
17.Lacing cards: Similar to beads there are lacing cards which are used to develop bilateral coordination. It also acts as a great motor play activity.
18.Board games and playing cards: There are so many board games and playing cards for children. These are the activities which can help to grasp things in your child. Make your child play ludo, carom and other board game like jigsaw puzzle and zingo.
19.Do letter formation drills: Make your child practice letter formation both cursive and capitals. Make your child grasp things with the letter formation drills which are fun as well.
20.Pegs: There are different types of pegs like different sizes, small bulldog pegs, clothes pegs and many more. Make your child use only one at a time. Ask your child to put it on their right hand with left. This not only develops eye-hand coordination but also develops muscles in your child.
21.Craft ideas: Craftwork makes kids happy and it encourages your child to learn. You can also use the strips of tape to make a piece if artwork. You can also write your child’s name on the pencil which is appealing to your child.
22.Minicircle pencil control exercise: There are a lot of mini circle pencil control exercises that build small motor movements and improve muscle strength and also a fun activity for kids.
23.Motoric separation of hand: This is important for managing and controlling the pencil while balancing the pencil on the side of the hand. When your child starts writing on lines that is called motoric separation of hands. Another example is zipping up the jacket or a bag’s zip.
24.Pincer grasp activities: Pincer grasp is basically holding an object by the pinch of two fingers that is your thumb and your index fingers. Use any object like small cubes, beads and etc. to make your child learn to hold.
25.Practicing “Go” and “Stop” finger activity: Thumb, index finger, and middle finger are the go fingers and the other two are stop fingers. Go fingers are placed on the pencil and stop fingers are those on which the pencil rests. You can make your child try go and stop activity on tweezers, chopsticks, and other stuff.
26.Pom-Pom transfer: Pom-poms are so colourful and bright. Kids like pom-poms. You can use them in crafts work and also use tweezers to separate them into different containers. This can make your child recognize the shapes and pattern and also it builds concentration and coordination.
27.Crayons and colors: Kids like colors, colouring is fun for them. So make them learn while colouring. Make them learn how to hold a crayon and this will also help in future while holding a pencil.
28.Vertical surface: Activities on vertical surface can increase your wrist balance. Painting, drawing, colouring and doing random stuff on a vertical surface can help your child to increase his\her wrist stability.
29.Inclined surface: Practicing on the inclined surface also increases muscle growth of your hand also increases wrist balance.
30.Twist ties or pipe cleaners: Using twist ties and pipe cleaners with your child can help to strengthen the small muscles of your child’s hand. Introduce twist ties and pipe cleaners to your child.
31.Sopping sponges: Sopping sponges are very common in your home. So a simple activity using a sopping sponge you can do is to make your child use a sponge to sop up the water and squeeze in a container. It helps to develop the small muscles of your child’s hand.
32.Tug of War: It’s the most loving game which kids love to play. Play tug of war with your kids with small and common things one can easily find at home like plastic lace, thin cloth strips, and straws.
33.Squirt bottles: You can make use of squirt bottles. It can be used to water plants. Make your child do that. This will strengthen his/her small muscles of your child’s hand.
34.Puzzles: Puzzles are one of the best ways for mind development, manual hand development, and coordination. Give your kids a puzzle to solve, it can be anything like a large photo cut into pieces or your photo or any cartoon character photographs.
35.Puppets: Kids like puppets. Hand puppets or finger puppets, anyone you can give to your child. Your child’s fingers can be exercised and moreover, thinking ability and skills can be refined.
Conclusion
It’s never easy to make your kids learn new things, so try to add some fun in everything you do with your kids. Grasping things and thinking abilities differ from child to child; just like some kids start walking early and some take time. Holding a pencil incorrectly can be because of a number of reasons like they may not find the grasp comfortable or they might not have taught to do so. Children usually develop their pencil grasp skills at the age of 3 to 6. Engage your kids in fine motor play activities to encourage good habits. Don’t let them develop the bad habits as it can affect their handwriting and eventually their academic performance. It’s necessary to improve your child’s pencil grasp at the right age because later on it will become difficult for your child as well as you. Pencil grip activities are effective and a fun way to make your child learn. Encourage your child to use a pencil for a good pencil grasp.
