Small Muscle Coordination

The ECLE manual contains numerous activities to use to enhance seven aspects of a child's small muscle coordination: scissors grasp, radial-digital grasp, inferior and fine pincer grasp, turning of wrist, assembly skills, pre-writing skills, and coordination of general skills.  A few examples are listed below.

Salt Shaker Fun (Inferior and Fine Pincer Grasp) 

Put several empty salt shakers on the Small Muscle table.  Give each child an empty salt shaker.  Have the child pick up toothpicks and fill all the holes in the salt shaker with the toothpicks.  Have each child remove the toothpicks and place them back into the box when he/she is finished.

Materials Needed - Salt shakers and toothpicks.

Bean Bag Play (Turning of Wrist)

Each child doing this activity should have at least one bean bag.  However, one bean bag for each hand is better.  The children shake the bean bags they are holding.  A fun "Follow the Leader" game could be played.  Shaking the bean bags high above the head or stooping down and shaking them near the floor or out to the side could be modeled by the "leader."  The others follow and shake their bean bags however the leader does.  The shaking movement encourages the turning of the wrist.

Materials Needed - Bean bags for every child.

Paper Clip Chains (Assembly Skills)

Provide a variety of colors of paper clips (silver, gold, blue, and red).  Each child connects paper clips to make a long chain.  The chain can be made into a necklace and worn.

Materials Needed - Paper clips in different colors.

Vegetable Prints (Radial-digital Grasp)

Cut a variety of vegetables in half.  Large mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and celery make interestingly shaped prints on paper.  Other vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, leeks, egg plants, and acorn squash can also be used.  Mix poster paints so the paint is thick enough to pour onto flat plates.  Have the children dip the cut end of the vegetable into poster paint and make a print on white construction paper.

Note:  The child should pick up the halved vegetables between the thumb and finger tips to dip into the poster paint.

Extra slices of vegetables should be served to the children before making the vegetable prints.  This enables the children to taste the food before they begin to paint.

Materials Needed - A variety of vegetables cut in half such as green peppers, celery, carrots, potatoes, leeks, egg plant, and acorn squash.  Thickly mixed poster paint.  Use bright colors such as red, magenta, yellow, orange, blue, red for the paint.  Plates for poster paints.  White construction paper.  Plastic aprons for the children.

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