Power of Play-Doh
This past year, I opted to bring my four year old to Occupational Therapy after noticing some frustrations and challenges with his hands. Prior to 4k, he never would opt to color or play with anything that required detailed work with his hands. Things like zipping his coat, opening ziplock bags, and other things were challenging for him. At the beginning of his school year, his teacher shared that he shed some tears during work with fine motor skills one day. That was all I needed to set up our work with the OT, and I am so glad I did.
Our amazing OT confirmed that there were some areas that he could use some strengthening. She taught me a lot of things about hand strength, writing, and grip that I hope to share along the way, but one big thing she taught me was that Play-Doh is magical. To be honest, when she told me this I wasn’t too surprised.I often heard from others how great play-doh is for kids’ hands, but the truth is I never really felt like it was doing much for Graham.
I learned that encouraging a few skills with the play-doh can go a long way with building the strength I was looking for.
I hope these can help some of you as much as they helped us.
It’s worth noting, homemade play-doh can be easily made and is often much better than store bought! A simple google search yields many options.
