Hand Strengthening Exercises for Kids - The OT Toolbox (2023)

Fine motor skills are importantfor so many reasons! From holding a pencil to opening and closing scissors, buttoning, making brooches, tying shoes, coloring a picture withoutNon-stop, for almost everything we do... hand strength counts!

hand strengthening activities

Today contains a collection of activities to strengthen hands that can be used asHand strength activities for adults and to develop hand strength. Scroll through the activities below to find creative hand strengthening ideas to improve grip strength, pinch strength, or as part of a finger typing practice program.

What affects hand strength?

Hand strength is influenced by several components. When it comes to manual power, there is a lot to discover. Many aspects of motor skills affect the strength and endurance of the hand. Some of these areas include these concepts:

• intrinsic hand strength
• thumb strength and stability
• engine control
• Separation of the sides of the hand.
• Handmanipulation
• wrist stability
• wrist extension
• finger strength
• Range of motion of the arm: upper arm, forearm, wrist, fingers and thumb
• muscle tone of the hand

A hand therapist takes various hand strength samples with a dynamometer to measure the grip strength and clamp force of different grippers. It is also important to have an understanding of the musculature of the hand and the anatomy of the hand and upper extremity.

First, take a look at our hugeOnline library for fine motor skills🇧🇷 This is a collection of all fine motor activities in The OT Toolbox. There is something for everybody.

One thing that makes a big difference in fine motor skills is the separation of the sides of the hand. This post explains more about itmanual engine disconnectjHere's another fun activityreally strengthens those muscles.

intrinsic hand strength

That isOT activities with tweezersThey are great for developing and strengthening the hand arches to improve intrinsic strength.

In fact, the intrinsic muscles are the muscles in the hand that define the arches of the hands, flex the knuckles, and counteract the thumbs. activities like thisintrinsic muscle strengthening activityit can be easily recreated at home or in the therapy room.

Among these muscles is a group called the lumbricales. The psoas muscles have the function of flexing (flexing) the MCP joints and extending (stretching) the PIP and DIP joints. When the lumbricals are in action, it may appear as if the hand is holding a platter with the major knuckles flexed and the fingers extended. Read more aboutstrengthen the intrinsic muscles.

When children write or draw while their thumb's webspace is pinched, it's a sign of trouble. So they may be compensating for thumb instability, underdeveloped hand arches, and/or weak strength. Each of these problem areas leads to difficulties with handwriting, dexterity, handling small objects such as beads, and handling pencils.

thumb strength and stability

Here are more ideas for promoting thumb stability and tone.impostorActivities aimed at opening up the thumb webspace.

Hand strengthening can be done through a variety of pinch and grip exercises. Here you areIdeas for strengthening hands with clothespins.

Manual handling force

HandmanipulationIt's a skill that requires strength in your hands. activities like thismanual manipulation activityYou can improve these skills.

There are several aspects of manipulation in hand:
▪ Translation from finger to palm:Movement of an object from the fingers to the palm, d. H. Picking up a coin and moving it toward the palm.

▪ Palm-to-finger translation:Movement of an object from the palm of the hand to the tips of the fingers. (e.g. moving a coin from your palm to your fingertip to insert it into a vending machine).

▪ Shift:Easily adjust an object on or through your fingertips. (i.e. moving a pen up and down in your hand).

▪ Simple rotation:Rotate or roll an object 90 degrees or less with fingers moving as one. (e.g. unscrewing the cap of a toothpaste)

▪ Complex rotation:Rotate an object more than 90 degrees with isolated finger and thumb movements. (e.g. rotate a clip)

Any of the above abilities can occur with "palm drag" items using the pinky and ring finger. This is referred to as "with stabilization". If no other objects are held in the palm during manual manipulation, it is called "unstabilized".

Wrist stability and strength

wrist stabilityIt's one of the key areas that affects hand strength.

Due to the anatomical nature of the tendons in the forearm and hand, a stable wrist affects hand strength, especially gripping and pinching.

When the wrist is flexed (leaning forward toward the fingers bent in a grip), there is little room for fine motor skills. A flexed wrist during functional tasks limits use of the fingers because the tendons in the fingers shorten as they stabilize the wrist. Fingers just can't move like they should.

There are many exercises and activities that can be doneBuild wrist stabilityThis allows you to maintain a slightly stretched position during fine motor activities.

Upper body strength affects hand strength

Upper body strengthIt consists of the muscles of the upper chest, the muscles of the upper back and the muscles that attach to the shoulder joint. All of these muscles work together to create stability in the shoulder joint. This stability of the shoulder girdle is essential to create a solid anchorage for the rest of the arm. Without this anchor it is difficult to develop good control in the forearm, hands and fingers. In therapy language we talk about developing proximal stability before we can achieve distal control.

The stronger body enables functional performance in goal-directed activities, especially strong and efficient hands.