The following clothespin activities will help your child strengthen the fingers, which will likely improve fine motor skills and help with handwriting and other manipulative tasks. Vary the activity to work on matching colors, improving math skills, and spelling.
You Will Need:
A ruler or paint stirrer
Different colors of Sharpie markers
Different colors of stickers
Clothespins
To Make the Activity:
Place colored stickers on the clothespins and the paint stirrer. You can also use a Sharpie to write/draw shapes, numbers, math symbols and letters on the clothespins and paint stirrer.
Activity Instructions: Have the child match and place the corresponding clothespins to the sticker colors.
Have the child spell words.
Have the child complete simple math problems.
Have the child can alternate which hands when placing and squeezing the clothespins.
If the child can't differentiate colors/numbers, etc. you can help them identify which one to match.
Position the stick to encourage the child to cross their midline.