Pencil Grip Games
- Have the children work with their dominant hand. If you don't know which is their dominant hand, try both hands and ask them which feels more comfortable, or observe which one seems to work better for them. It is possible for a child to be able to use both hands equally at this stage. It is a good practice to observe the children in normal play. Notice which hand they use more often to help determine their dominant hand. You can even just ask the child to grab a toy or something off the ground to see which hand he uses.
- Tell the children to bring the pads of their thumb and index finger together. This action should form into a raindrop shape. Instruct them to bend their middle finger at the knuckle. With this action, they should form a triangle with the thumb, index and middle fingers. For fun, tell the kids to look through their triangle at the kids around the room. This will make the activity more enjoyable as well as more memorable. Give each child a pencil and have them pinch the pencil with the thumb and index finger in an upright position. Tell them to tilt the pencil so it rests on their "couch," which is their middle finger. Have the kids practice making their pencil get up from the "couch" and lay back down. This fine motor muscle exercise helps the children intentionally manipulate the position of their fingers to make the pencil move. Let them play around with this exercise a few times. Pass out an activity such as a maze printed on paper. Tell the kids to rest the pencil on their couch and complete the maze.
- Have the kids hold up the thumb, index and middle finger on their dominant hand. Instruct the children to use those fingers as pincers to pick things up, like a crab. Have them practice in the air with random objects, and then move to grabbing the pencil with their pincers. Give them some alphabet tracing sheets to practice their writing skills. Have them implement their pincer hold on the pencil as they work on completing the exercises.
- Purchase some pencil grips for your child or class and put them on a bunch of pencils. You can find these at many different school supply or department stores. They are usually made of rubber or foam and slip over the end of the pencil to help guide an individual's hand into the proper hold. Give each child a pencil with one of these grips on them. Have them place the pencil in front of them without touching them. When you say "go", the children should grab the pencil and put their hand in the proper position with the help of the gripper. This activity will help train the child to know where to properly place her fingers. Pass out some writing exercises after you have played the previous step for a while. You can choose from mazes, writing sheets, matching pictures or any other writing activity that requires the child to hold the pencil properly to complete the task. Make a game out of seeing who can properly grab the pencil the fastest, and then move on to implementing the new skill through practice and repetition to solidify the lesson.