The device pictured above is, indeed, a hand strengthening tool.  I rarely use such a device as it is boring and limited in the way it strengthens the hand.  Generally I would use this for older children when they want to feel “grown up.”  Hand strengthening really begins on the floor when the baby begins to prop up onto the forearms and then hands.  Weight bearing is critical to hand strength so the first thing to do to address hand strength is to go back to Trunk Strengthening and review all of those activities.  Paradoxically, almost all of them facilitate strengthening of the muscles in the hand.

Listed below are specific activities which address the hands.

Infants:

Expose the infant to various shapes and textures.  This activates nerves  which “wake up”  the hand.

As the infant grows, the hand will begin to straighten on its own.  Wrap the hand around various sized and shaped objects.  This facilitates grasp.  With different sized objects, the muscles stretch different distances thereby, strengthening muscle fibers in different ways.

Babies and Toddlers:

Weight bearing activities:  propping up on forearms and hands

                                          crawling

                                          bear and crab walking

Hand play games:  “Open Shut Them ...”  (There are books with hand play) 

                                Waving

                                Counting fingers

Picking up progressively larger objects (requiring the hand/fingers to stretch)

Photos:  Eileen Counihan

Isolating thumb movement:  Where is Thumbkin? 

                                              Guided poking (e.g. blender button)

Preschool and Early Elementary:

Typical school/play activities:

More weight bearing activities

Scissor cutting

Clay and Playdough

Crimper (found at arts and crafts stores)

Sanding (with a sanding block)

Peeling carrots (easy)  round veg/fruits (more difficult)

Grating carrots (easy)  cheese wedges (more difficult)

Stirring

Hand mixer to make smoothies  (Thumb presses and sustains hold while fingers wrap around)

Pushing on/off buttons with index finger and/or thumb

Zesting (difficult) but wonderful for working little muscles in the fingers and hands

Cleaning counters/table with large sponge.  Squeezing/wringing out

Untwisting jar tops/tighten up

Spreading (butter) with butter knife

Kneading dough

Sifting flour

Most children I work with are required to use a plant sprayer for a minimum of 5 minutes per day.  The younger children use two hands.  Older children use one hand.  This builds the strength necessary for the thumb to move away from the hand (which is required for a good pencil grip).  Note how the thumb wraps around the nozzle head and the fingers stretch.

Toys:

Lego/Duplo

Snapblocks

Shoveling sand/dirt/mud

Sifting sand

My favorites are the inexpensive toys found at the checkout counter in many stores.

I always visit the shops connected with museums.  They usually have the most

interesting and unique toys and they are usually fairly inexpensive.

Cards:

For the younger child, learning to hold cards in a fan is a challenge and a great workout for the little muscles deep in the hand.  Dealing out the cards one by one by holding the deck in one hand and sliding the top card with the thumb is a great challenge as well. For the older child, learning to shuffle is a nice preoccupation.  I spent an entire summer working out how to execute “the bridge.”  Paul Newman has a wonderful rendition of fancy shuffling in the classic film “The Sting.”  More on card playing in the Travel entry of the blog.

NOTE:  Many people use tongs, tweezers and clothespins to strengthen the hand.  In my experience, if the child’s hand is not strong enough, the fingers are stressed and the child compensates by using the wrong set of muscles to do the job.  This is counter productive.  If you see the child clutching the object into the palm of the hand-the thumb pressing into the palm and/or the thumb tip bends backwards (hyperextended) it means that too much demand has been placed on the muscles and more harm than good is being done.

Older Children and Adults:

You can go back to the boring hand exerciser ... OR ... you can review the activities listed above and choose something more interesting:

Playdough .... sculpting/ceramics

Spreading butter .... decorating cakes

Shoveling sand ... Gardening

Playing cards