Tips: 10 Ways to Strengthen Weak Wrists

Six months into homeschooling Aaron-Ethan (now 2 yrs 8 months..sigh) and I’m still quite astounded by the things that I learn about him. In a previous post, Homeschool Tot School vs Nursery School, I mention that one of the pros of homeschooling is having focused attention on your child’s strengths and weaknesses.

 

It reminds me of the cycle of relationship building we experience everyday with our spouses/significant others, friends, siblings and co-workers. We learn something new about the people in our lives each day. The information we accumulate gives us deeper understanding of the person’s character, interests, strengths, weaknesses, needs, wants and expectations.

 

Random analogy? Yes, I know.

 

Even so, the journey of homeschooling is not that different.

 

After a couple of months into our homeschooling journey, I noticed that Aaron had very weak wrists. It is quite a big detail in all that is Aaron-Ethan (and I’ll tell you why in a moment), and yet at the same time, it’s that one extra thing like every day before that you learn about your kid. Everyday we play and interact with each other (frustrations and tantrums and then some. It’s not all cake and ice cream).

 

So it’s only natural right to notice that for Aaron:

 

  • Pressing down on play doh produced a light imprint or did not result in flattening,
  • Writing or coloring showed up very lightly on paper,
  • Pressing down on pegs like these resulted in frustration because they were falling out of place and

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  • Squeezing and pulling things apart things was difficult.

 

Try the above activities with your child to determine whether or not you need to up your game on fine motor skills activities. You can determine you child’s weakness if any.

 

Why is any of this important?

 

Our wrists play an important role in our hand and finger strength which are much needed to do things like writing, using scissors, playing sports or any type of manual work or simply gripping anything.

 

If you find that you do need to up your game, then here are some activities you can do 2-3 times a day for about 10-15 minutes. If you need to hold your child’s hand while he or she does it, don’t worry, they are still getting the exercise they need.

 

1. PAINTING ON A VERTICAL SURFACE (i.e. wall or an easel). You can have your child do so on a flat surface like a floor or a table, but a vertical surface creates more resistance. As you workout buffs know, more resistance = greater strength training. Having your child practice side to side strokes and up and down strokes will work those little muscles in his fingers, hands, wrists and forearms. Painting should be fun so let him or her just have at it and get creative.

 

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2. PLAYING WITH PLAY DOH. Teachers rave about this one because of its texture, versatility and natural resistance qualities to build strength. I have done so many activities with Aaron using play doh just to keep our time interesting.

 

  • Roll it into a long piece and support your child’s hands to then cut the play doh into pieces with a pair of child safe scissors. I like to use this fiskars brand because it has an adjuster at the center to cater to your child’s grasp level.
  • Help your child flatten the play doh and simply poke holes in it.
  • Help your child simply squeeze the play doh with one hand at at time.
  • Rolling small pieces of play doh with fingers only.
  • Using play doh tools to create, create, create.

 

3. RIPPING PAPER.  Assist your child to effectively rip paper using an up and down motion in the wrists.

 

4. USING A SPRAY BOTTLE. You can make this fun and mix food coloring and water in any spray bottle appropriate for those little fingers. Then spray a covered wall or large coloring book.
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5. USING PLASTIC TWEEZERS AND/OR TONGS. You can either use professionally manufactured ones found here or use any tongs you have lying around the house. The open and closing action of the hands will do the trick.

 

6. STUFFING A PLASTIC WATER BOTTLE. Your child can stuff a plastic bottle with anything that will fit. Here are some ideas: crumbled paper, pom pom balls or buttons wide enough that will require a bit of pressure to push through. The item should be slightly challenging to push through the bottle. Have your child use his or her pointer finger to do it. For the buttons, an alternative would be to get a coffee can and poke a hole in the lid for a makeshift challenging piggy bank.

 

7. SQUEEZING A PLASTIC WATER BOTTLE.

 

8. COLORING.

 

9. INTERLOCKING BLOCKS/LEGOS. We have owned Mega Blocks for a long time, but now that Aaron can separate and put them together pretty easily, it’s time to take it up a notch. Smaller lego blocks or bristle blocks would be the way to go once your little one masters the mega blocks. The bristle blocks especially require extra strength to pull apart and put back together. Both motions will strengthen those little wrists.

 

10. USING AN EYE DROPPER. This will force your little one to use his pincer grasp. That pincer grasp will keep those little wrist muscles moving. You can get really creative with this one also. One way is to create different containers of colored water using food coloring and having your child use the eye dropper to mix the various colors together and experiment with color changes.

 

If you want these to exercises to be even more effective, limit the use of electronic devices. The time spent can be used to find creative ways to do regular everyday things. Remember homeschooling is a lifestyle.

 

Happy Trails!

Wife to an amazing husband, mother to an exploring toddler and an MPA graduate aspiring to impact the world with encouragement in mothering and in social entrepreneurship.

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