Hand Coordination Exercises

Dressing Activities

• Button and unbutton a shirt or pants.

• Zip and unzip your jacket or pants.

• Tie your shoes.

Writing or Drawing Activities

• Copy the ABC’s and numbers 1-10.

• Print and sign your name over and over.

• Draw these patterns over and over again.

Everyday Activities

• Turn the pages of a book or newspaper.

• Cut out ads or stories from the newspaper with scissors.

• Crumple paper into a ball. Try to make the ball as small as you can.

• Pick up small items like beans, pins, nails, screws, bolts, or paperclips.

  • Pick them up one at a time and place them in a small jar or box. You can time yourself and compare your times from day to day to see how you are doing.

Money Management

• Sort dollar bills and stack them in piles

• Flip coins from heads to tails

• Pick up coins and stack them into piles. Try to make a stack of 10.

Crafts and Games

• Turn over popsicle sticks using:

  • Thumb plus first and middle fingers

  • Thumb plus middle and ring fingers

  • Thumb plus ring and little fingers

• String together beads, buttons, bobbins, or spools.

  • Hold the string with your right hand the first time.

  • Hold it in your left hand the next time.

• Wind a piece of string onto a cone or spool.

  • Hold the cone or spool with your right hand and wind with your left hand the first time.

  • Hold the cone or spool with your left hand and wind with your right hand the next time.

• Shuffle playing cards and turn them over.

• Sort and stack playing cards.

• Line up or stack dominoes.