Developing Skillful Hands

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com
​Updated June 9, 2019

All students need to develop strength and dexterity to complete everyday tasks. This is especially important for future braille learners in order to be able to use the braillewriter and slate and stylus. Remember the Occupational Therapist can be a great resource for activities to develop these skills. The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) has a great list of motor activities to encourage pre-braille skills. 

Importance of Fine Motor Skills

The development of fine motor skills is important for all students to develop, but is especially important for students who are visually impaired and blind as they rely on their hands to learn about their world.  Fine motor skills include palmar grasp, grasp with thumb and fingers, pincer grasp, release, rotary motion, finger isolation, bilateral hand use, hand and finger strength, proper finger position, light touch, and tactual tracking skills. It is important to play with and manipulate a variety of toys and materials that are tactually interesting and to talk to the student about what they are feeling.  Fine motor skills become refined through practice and participating in activities that require manipulation of hands and fingers. Learn more about the development of fine motor skills on the Developing Skillful Hands page of this website. ​

Finger Strength & Grip

Developing finger strength and grip are important skills for all students, particularly for students who will be braille readers/writers. The following are age-neutral activities to help develop finger strength and grip.

• ​Squeeze water out of sponges in water play or to wash the table or a car.
• Use a squeeze bulb syringe dropper to transfer water or as part of an art activity or science experiment.
• Pop packing bubble wrap of various sizes (a personal favorite!)

• Provide clothespins to clip on the edge of cans, boxes, rope or to close snack bags.
• Pick up a variety of small items such as pompoms or marshmallows with toaster tongs.

• Crumple paper of various weight and toss at a target or use in craft activities. Tearing paper is also a great finger strengthening activity.
• Cut with scissors on a variety of textured papers or cut fabrics.
• Use a paper-hole punch or craft punches to create different shapes.
• Squeeze squirt bottles can be used with cleaning, water play, watering plants or for water painting.
• Pick up small items such as cotton balls, small plastic toys, and mini-marshmallows with tweezers.
• "Hide" materials within play-doh, putty or clay and encourage the student to locate and obtain these objects such as beads, pennies, bingo chips, or beans in putty or play-doh. After the student finds the objects, have him count and sort the items if you hide a variety of materials.
• Kneading bread dough is a great hand strengthening activity that is very functional. Consider using a gluten-free dough if any students/staff have Celiac's disease or wheat sensitivity in your class.

Manipulate Objects

​Once students begin exploring objects, encourage them to begin to manipulate the objects by banging, shaking, squeezing, poking, pushing, pulling, and moving various parts. Provide a variety of shaped and sized containers for the students to explore. Place toys/objects inside and encourage the student to reach in and pull them out as well as put them back in. Give the student objects that can be put together and pulled apart. Provide toys and objects that are wrapped and have the students unwrap them. Encourage the students to use two hands in an organized manner to manipulate objects (e.g., grasp/release, twist/turn, rotate and examine, open/close, stack, nest). Demonstrate how to perform different actions with the objects to help expand their play skills.

Developing Skillful Hands

Developing skillful hands is important skills for all students, especially for students who will be braille readers/writers. The following are age-neutral activities to help develop finger strength and grip. Students can also explore items to take apart and examine such as old toasters, flashlights or radios. 

• Have students press the keys on a cash register or calculator.
• Provide stickers or tags and have the student remove price tags or tape from groceries by picking or peel and stick stickers.
• Fill a gumball machine with M&M's or other candy and have the student turn the lever for a reward.

• Encourage students to race wind-up toys/characters to see which one is the fastest.

• Have the student string beads on a reinforced string or on a pipe cleaner. Use decorative beads with a variety of textures and/or shapes.

• Have students hammer pegs into a foam board to create a pattern or shape. Alternatively, have the students hammer on a workbench.
• Have students with low vision create designs using a Lite Bright.
• Have students assemble nuts and bolts of various sizes to match and connect. You may want to choose oversize toy ones for younger students to eliminate a choking hazard.
• Encourage the student to make their own LEGO creations or follow directions to build a set.
• Provide commercial sewing cards or create ones with old greeting cards to practice lacing.
• Encourage students to sequence and place measuring spoons in order on a ring.
• Have the student complete patterns using a pegboard with various shape pegs.
• Provide jars with screw top lids or pop-up plastic lids. Extend the activity by having the student select the correct size lid.

Additional Resources

​Motor Activities to Develop Pre-Braille Skills
You are welcome to print and use this list of motor activities that can help develop tactual skills and pre-braille skills. 

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Hands On Kit: Functional Activities for Visually Impaired Preschoolers This kit, available from APH, provides suggestions on helping children develop skills such as concentration and hand and visual coordination. The work-play trays help define the work space.

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TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC: An Activities Based Curriculum for Teaching Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired
The TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC is a digital pdf available for download. It is designed specifically for fellow itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI’s), and consists of over 400 activities and topic areas of discussion for instructing students in the Expanded Core Curriculum. The activities are age-neutral and multi-sensory and therefore can meet the needs of the broad range of students served on an itinerant caseload serving. The activities can be individualized to the students various learning modalities and scaffold in order to challenge students but ensure success. Select those activities that align with the student’s learning objects based on the student’s unique visual needs and academic and developmental level. In addition to the core activity areas, each of the 32 Thematic Units incorporates additional unique ECC concepts and skills providing you with a years’ worth of activities. These units are cyclical and can be used repeatedly to help students build on prior knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of concepts. Each unit includes suggestions for activity adaptation associated with the unit. These include lists of objects, possible community-based experiences, environmental print, poems, children & young reader books, children's songs, pop culture songs, movies, and websites.


In addition to the book, the following two supplements are included:
·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Concept Checklist
·      TVI’s Guide to the ECC Activities Checklist


For complete product details and additional images, visit the TVI's Guide product page.


TVI's Guide to the ECC Product details
·      Digital pdf download: 346 pages (11 pt font)
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets: TVI's Guide to the ECC Grab and Go Supplements
The Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheets is a Grab and Go supplement to the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC. This workbook is a pdf download that can be printed on demand for use with students. It contains five different types of worksheets for developing visual motor skills and near magnifier fluency skills particularly with the use of a video magnifier. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to each of the 32 ECC Thematic units. The worksheets, along with a list of environmental print for each thematic unit, are designed to help students refine their visual motor skills while reinforcing ECC concepts presented in the thematic units.  


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Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheet Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 210 pages
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Worksheets: A TVI’s Guide to Teaching the ECC Grab & go Supplement
The Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency and Maintenance Grab and Go ECC worksheet packet is a print on demand workbook that contains worksheets in print and simulated braille to use for data collection. Present the student with a hard braille copy and use the worksheets to document accuracy and fluency in reading braille. As a companion to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide. These word lists and sentences will help the student refine their keyboarding or braille reading skills while bridging ECC concepts presented in the thematic units. Although the lists and passages can be produced using a manual braillewriter, you may also copy and paste the passages into any braille translation software for quick production on an embosser. They may also be entered into a typing program such as APH’s Talking Typer to build keyboarding fluency.


For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency & Maintenance Product Page


Thematic Keyboarding & Braille Fluency Worksheet Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 338-page print and simulated braille worksheets
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists: Grab & Go ECC Supplement
The Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Grab and Go ECC supplement is a 446 page pdf downloadable print on demand workbook that includes 2940 vocabulary card on 3 1/2" x 2" templates divided by each of the 32 Thematic Units along with a checklist of each unit words in print and simulated braille. As a companion to the TVI's Guide to the ECC, the vocabulary cards correspond to the ECC Thematic activities presented in the curriculum guide. 


Additional Use:
Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments can have a extremely varied caseloads. It is possible to go several years without having a student on your caseload who requires braille instruction. Like other skills, if you do not practice your braille regularly, it is easy to lose those skills. Use these checklists and cards to maintain your braille skills. Fold the checklist along the line dividing the print from the braille. Choose to either read the print and produce the word in braille using a braillewriter or read the simulated braille and decode it. Finally, these vocabulary cards and checklists may be used with family members or peers who are interested in learning and practicing the braille code.


For complete product details and additional images, visit the Thematic Vocabulary Cards & Checklists Product Page


Thematic Vocabulary Cards and Checklists Details:
·      Digital pdf download: 446-page print on demand resource
·      Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments
·      Author: Carmen Willings
·      Language: English


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The LOTTO Cards Grab and Go Supplement includes 37 theme related unit cards along with activity suggestions that support activities within the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC.


On My Way File Folder Cards
Print and use these cards to represent locations the student may visit that are related to the current thematic unit. Use these with the On My Way File Folder Game outlined in the TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC p. 27.

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