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TWEEZER TRANSFER
If you have a pair of tweezers, you can make a fun coordination game for your child.
- Give him a bowl of dry beans, macaroni, or cereal plus a pair of tweezers and an empty bowl.
- Show your child how to pick up one of the items with the tweezers and transfer it to the bowl.
- Developing small muscles is important for young child. It will enable them to better grasp pencils, crayons and scissors when they learn to write and cut.
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SQUEEZER TRANSFER
For this game, you will need an old eye dropper and two small bowls.
- First, fill one bowl with water.
- Show your child how to dip the eye dropper into the water bowl, squeeze to fill, then empty it in the other bowl.
- Continue until all the water has been transferred from one bowl to the other, or as long as interest lasts.
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STRINGING FUN
You can help your child develop eye-hand coordination by encouraging her to do stringing projects. Such as:
- LARGE BEADS – String large beads onto a shoelace.
- STRAW PIECES – Cut straws into 1” sections and string together with yarn to make a necklace.
- CHERRIOS – String cereal on a piece of yarn to make a bracelet or necklace.
NOTE: When working with yarn, your child will have an easier time if you wrap one end of the yarn with tape for a needle and tie the other end of the yarn around a bead or other object she is stringing. Remember to always keep the yarn pieces short and supervise activity at all times to prevent yarn accidents.
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CLOTHESLINE FUN
Learning to open and close snap type clothespins is a great small muscle developer.
- Rig up a short clothesline for your child, by stringing a line between two chairs.
- Give your child some clothespins and some small pieces of cloth or baby clothes to hang on the line.
- Other items can also be hung up, such as fall leaves.
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CLOTHESPIN CIRCLES
Here is another example of using clothespins to help your child develop small muscle control.
- Take a plain paper plate and divide it into 6 sections.
- Using marking pens, color each section a separate color.
- Then, color the tops of 6 clothespins, the 6 different colors.
- Give the paper plate and the clothespins to your child.
- Have her clip clothespins to the 6 sections, matching pins to section colors.
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ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES THAT CAN HELP WITH SMALL MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT
- Painting at an easel
- Play with a peg board
- Rolling squares of tissue paper into balls
- Writing in sand, salt or paint
- Writing on paper or on a chalk board
- Do “Connect The Dots” Pictures
- Practice catching a ball
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