
It’s fun to play with, and also fun to make! Contact Chicago Occupational Therapy at (773) 980-0300 to learn more about our services and how we can help your child flourish and grow. Resistive putty is a great way to practice lots of important skills at home. Use alphabet stamps for spelling practice.Use paper or play dough stamps in putty.Use cookie cutters and push them into the putty.Use an unsharpened pencil to draw pictures in the putty.Use the palms of both hands to flatten out putty into a flat surface.If your child is still learning shapes and letters, use a visual model or an outline for the child to copy.Pinch along the line to give the putty “mountains”.Cut the putty using scissors to also improve cutting skills.Form the lines into animals (Like a snake!).Use both hands to roll out putty into a long line.Find 10 coins – after your child finds all of the coins, they can insert them in a coin bank for continued fine motor practice.
Time challenge – use a timer to time your child while they remove 10 items from the putty, challenge them to see if they can beat their previous time!. Find 10 beads – after your child finds all of the beads, they can make a bracelet on a string or a pipe cleaner for continued fine motor practice. Hide small items in the putty and have your child use both hands to pull it apart to find them. Below are some easy theraputty fine motor activities that you can do with your child that work on developing important fine motor skills! There are also many places to buy resistive putty in stores or online, Amazon carries a good product, Purchase it here. When used during fine motor activities, it helps children develop hand strength, grasp patterns, bilateral coordination, and problem-solving skills. (Images for demonstration purposes only, actual product may differ in appearance).Resistive putty is a great therapeutic tool in pediatric occupational therapy. Hand Strengthening : Therapy putty can be used to strengthen the muscles in the child's hands, which can improve their ability to grasp and manipulate objects.īy using therapy putty to facilitate these grasp patterns, therapists can help paediatric clients improve their hand function and fine motor skills, which can have positive effects on their overall development and independence. Therapy putty can be used to strengthen this grasp pattern by having the child squeeze the putty with their whole hand as hard as they can. Power Grasp : A power grasp is when the child uses their whole hand to grasp an object with force. Therapy putty can be used to strengthen this grasp pattern by having the child squeeze the putty with their whole hand. Finger Spread: Form a flat disc with the putty and lightly press on top of pinched fingers and thumb. Straighten the finger against the putty to stretch it to improve finger strength. Finger Extension: Make a loop of putty over a bent finger. Palmar Grasp : A palmar grasp is when the child uses their entire hand to grasp an object. With putty in your palm, squeeze and flatten putty with all four fingers to improve grip strength. Therapy putty can be used to strengthen this grasp pattern by having the child pinch the putty between their index finger and thumb. Pincer Grasp : A pincer grasp is when the child uses their index finger and thumb to pick up small objects.
By having the child push down into the putty with one finger at a time, they can improve their ability to isolate and control each finger. Here are some ways that therapy putty can be used to improve grasp patterns:įinger Isolation: Therapy putty can be used to isolate and strengthen individual fingers. Therapeutic Putty is used to strengthen the hands and fingers to improve finger strength in all planes of motion, hand grip force, and thumb opposable. Therapy putty is a versatile tool that can be used to facilitate grasp patterns for paediatric clients. Small containers are also sold in a set of 5 (one of each). Each colour of putty has a different consistency, ranging from xx soft for strengthening weak grips to extra heavy for developing a stronger grip. It is non-toxic, unscented, non-oily and latex-free. Pleasant to the touch, this silicone putty will not dry out. It can also be used to facilitate grasp patterns with paediatric clients. Therapy Putty can be used for a variety of finger, hand, and wrist resistive exercises. This is the standard in resistive hand exercise material.