Here’s the thing about therapy: all of these wonderful tools and techniques are useless if your kiddo has no interest in doing them. My little guy is a running, climbing ball of energy. But that also means he does not want to sit and do Occupational Therapy (OT) exercises for fine motor skills. We realized during his Early Intervention (EI) assessment in August, he has some delays in fine motor skills now. Because he hated to lay on us tummy after his surgery, he didn’t build up the muscle strength and coordination in his hands to do fine motor tasks. Watching him try to grasp a crayon was like watching him try to grasp water; it would just slip through his fingers. His aversion to tummy time, along with sensory issues has made it challenging for him to attempt fine motor skill activities. With the help of his OT, I’ve had to get creative with his therapy exercises, and it’s working. (Mini celebration)!  Here’s what is working for us.

To Improve Hand Strength:

Wheel-Barrel Walks – This is a great technique to build strength and coordination in his hands. For this exercise, I hold him by the waist and let him walk on his hands. (Once he builds up strength, we will try holding him by the legs). He really couldn’t do this at first, but now that his endurance and strength is improving, he loves it. His favorite toys are baby soccer balls and baseballs, and we use this to our advantage. I let him throw a ball, and then use wheel-barrel walks to get it.

Playdough – Playdough is great for building up the strength in his hands and fingers. However, he hated this at first and wouldn’t touch it, likely due to sensory issues. The usual cookie cutter shapes and playdough tools didn’t help. Again, I decided to use his love of playing ball to get him to hold playdough. I would roll some of the playdough into a ball and play catch with him. Then we started rolling it on the table and playing mini hockey. Slowly, he started pulling it apart to make his own hockey pucks and balls. Win!

Pull Apart Toys – Mr. Potato Head and Legos are great for him to use two hands at one time to pull and twist. This is an area we have struggled with because he prefers to use only one hand at a time. With the Legos, he’s still tempted to put toys in his mouth, so we have to closely supervise him, but it’s working and likes it.

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To Improve Coordination:

Puzzles –  I first make sure he’s had plenty of time to run and burn off energy before we attempt knob wooden puzzles. This allows him to sit and focus for longer. When we play with the puzzles, I make funny noises when he gets a big wooden puzzle piece in the correct spot. He laughs, and is more willing to try and turn the next piece to fit if he knows a funny noise is coming. Otherwise, frustration sets in and he throws the puzzle piece.

Coloring – We use broken crayons because they’re harder to hold. Then we have him lay on his tummy which stabilizes his arm and forces him to work from his hand and wrist, not his arm. When we color, I have each crayon make a different sound. Again, he loves the funny noises and tries to imitate the sound when he colors.

Raised Stickers –  Regular stickers were very difficult for him to pull out, but the raised stickers are easier. Now that he can do it by himself, he’s much more excited to put them all over my face. Also, it helped to buy stickers of trucks which he loves.

Beads into a Container – His OT showed us an activity using an old parmesan cheese container for him to practice putting beads into. At first this was frustrating for him. He would get upset and dump the entire bead bucket. After a few of these messes, I bought small dinosaurs to hide in the big bead container. He was excited to look for the hidden dinosaurs and put them in the parmesan cheese container. Then he would put a few beads into the container to “feed” the dinosaurs in there. We started with the side of the lid that has the larger opening, and now he can do the other side of the lid with the three small holes.

Diaper Wipes Container and Puzzle Pieces –  We use an empty diaper wipes container and have him put little puzzle pieces and popsicle sticks from the craft store into the small opening. There are many cute ways to make a game out of this, and I’m sure we’ll reinvent this game as he gets older.

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Our little guy isn’t caught up with his fine motor skills yet, but he seems happier. It’s  heartening to watch him enjoy sitting down to play, and not avoid fine motor play or become frustrated. Hopefully, our little guy will continue to improve in this area of development and more importantly, and have fun playing.