Your child is just beginning to master writing and typing but did you know they should warm-up their hands before they begin practicing? It doesn’t have to be hard or expensive to create kits, in fact, you can get many things to help warm-up their hand muscles at the Dollar Tree! 

Why Warm-Up Hands? 

Having your child complete simple warm-ups helps give them a better sensory input of what their hand muscles and joints do, increase their hand strength, and improve their fine motor skills. All three things are important in helping to develop handwriting and typing skills. 

Dollar Tree Warm-Up Kits 

Play-doh 

Squishy Toys 

Wooden Clothespins 

Modeling Foam Beads 

Light Up Top

Fling Shot Chickens 

How to Use Your Kit

Play-doh 

Have your kiddo roll the play-doh into little balls and then have them use their fingers to squish the balls flat. They can also use play-doh to create different shapes. 

Fling Shot Chickens

Exercise the hand muscles by having your child stretch the chicken out and fling it, just make sure there is nothing breakable around! 

Squishy Toys

Have your child hold the toy in their hands with their thumb on the bottom, then touch each finger on the toy. Repeat on both hands so each finger gets a chance to warm up! They can also toss the toy from hand to hand. 

Light Up Top 

Have your child practice spinning the toy on a table, try and have them use both hands for extra pratice! 

Wooden Clothespins 

Have your child use their fingers to practice opening and closing the clothespin. Alternating fingers helps to warm-up each finger! You can also use the clothespins with the play-doh. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/TErCCXvHYjU

These are just some examples of how to use the items in the kits but there are so many other options! Get creative and comment below on how you used the items! 

Check out more videos from our Pediatric Therapists!