Food Preparation Activities for the Pincer Grasp
Harness The Child's Love of Eating to Prepare Him for Writing
Jul 6, 2009
Children who can prepare their own snacks are developing the necessary skills of independence they need to function in life. Many of these food preparation activities also strengthen the hand muscles, which lead to better pencil control when learning how to write.
Kneading Dough to Exercise Hand Muscles
Preschools often use playdoh or modeling clay for children to strengthen their hand muscles. As the children manipulate the clay they are exercising all of those muscles that are used in writing. Get the same effect by baking bread from scratch. Part of the bread-baking process is kneading the dough.
When baking bread from scratch, the child can learn about using natural ingredients. When it is baked, the child can learn about how to make his own sandwich. Experiment with a variety of flavors and recipes to expand his tastebuds.
Picking Grapes from a Stem
Give the child a bunch of grapes. Have him pick them off of the stem. When picking grapes, the tripod grip used in holding a pencil is used to get the grapes off of the stem. He can put them into a bowl for himself, or to serve to others. This same grip can be used when picking up small pieces of just about any kind of food, including Cheerios.
Using Tongs to Exercise Finger Muscles
Serving tongs can be quite useful in developing the writing muscles of the child who is preparing to write. Ice tongs have teeth for gripping ice cubes, and are manipulated using the same three fingers for the tripod grasp. The child can fill a bucket of ice cubes, and serve them to family and guests at mealtimes or during parties.
Tongs also work well for serving cheese cubes, meatballs, apple slices, and more. Be creative in preparation. Ask the child what he can serve using those tongs, or provide him with a bunch of tongs as serving tools and let him determine which one works best.
Using a Strawberry Huller to Exercise Finger Muscles
People tend to eat strawberries by holding the stem and taking a huge bite. But a strawberry huller can be used to pull out the stem and leaves, while also exercising the finger muscles. It is held in the dominant hand, using the tripod grip. The other hand holds the strawberry. The huller is gently pushed around the stem and leaves. Then, while squeezing the stem, a quick twist allow the stem and leaves to come loose from the rest of the strawberry. The huller can also be used to serve other small foods, such as blueberries.
Food preparation activities that involve kneading, such as bread-making, allow the child to exercise the muscles in the entire hand. Those involving tongs exercise the fingers used in the tripod grip that is used to manipulate a pencil. All of these exercises prepare the child's hand for better control when writing.
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