Tips from an Occupational Therapist for

Parents of Preschoolers

Parents are often concerned about making sure their preschooler has all the skills needed to start school. Here are some fun activities that can help improve fine motor skills.

• Buy some good scissors (children's Fiskars work well) that can be used by either right- or left-handed children.
• Let your child snip off pieces from a 1-inch wide strip of paper. Vary the types of paper. Try sandpaper, butcher paper, construction paper, and aluminum foil. Thicker paper is easier to control. Also, try snipping Play Doh to in order to better develop hand strength.
• Use wide pencils. Use markers instead of the thin crayons.
• Have your child use a pencil grip on his / her pencil in order to gauge the proper amount of pressure on the pencil while writing.
• Try some stencil or plastic templates for making crayon rubbings (often found in toy stores).
• Place several coins on a table. Have your child pick them up with one hand, store them in his / her hand, and then deposit them in a piggy bank, still using only one hand. This develops the child's in-hand manipulation skills.
• Give your child a shirt to button. Let him / her practice buttoning while facing the shirt rather than while it is already on him / her.

Remember that children are more interested in learning and performing these projects when you are doing them together. Doing projects together turns learning time into fun time.