Five Top Hand Skills Activities for Special Education

Hand skills rely on the ability to control and manipulate individual fingers, as well as to use the hand as an effective whole unit. Finger puppets are great for helping students isolate their fingers, and develop finger strength. You can make your own puppets out of felt, buy ready made puppets from an educational supply store, or simple draw on faces directly onto the finger tips with a felt tip pen.

Play games with the puppets (eg. create some dialogue, ask the puppets to join in an activity, or act out a role play).

Sand trays can be made from a flat tin or tray with an edge to keep the sand in. Use an old baking tray, a large, flat plastic dish or a piece of plastic with a home made wooden edge placed around it. Students can draw letters or numbers in the sand, write their name or experiment with tapping out patterns or making shapes and designs with their fingers.

Use a long piece of strong elastic about 10 meters or so in length (can be more or less depending on your student numbers). Thread on some toilet rolls, either just as they are or painted in various colors to add some interest. Sit students in a circle and ask them to push and pull the toilet rolls around on the elastic. Great for whole hand coordination, bilateral hand skills, timing and anticipation, and cooperating with others.

Give each student a supply of chick peas or some other soft bean or pea that is large enough to be held in between two fingers and will stand up to some rough handling. Add to this a supply of match sticks or tooth picks. Show students how to use the tooth picks or match sticks to poke into the chick peas and connect one pea to another. Students can build chains, towers, basic shapes or other patterns as desired.

Many students find the computer highly motivating, and it can be an effective tool for teaching many skills for this reason alone. Monitor skills development across areas such as keyboard use, mouse control, switching and using the power button to turn the computer on and off. Ensure you work with any available therapists to obtian the optimal seating position for a student with a physical disability, and that you work towards an effective way of the student operating the computer independently. Some students may find it easier to use a switch or tracker ball mouse, while others may need on screen adaptations such as a slower moving mouse or larger text, or may like to use a voice control program to direct the computer.