Using Playdoh
a “heavy work” activity that strengthens hands and fingers and improves body awareness and bilateral coordination
I see many children who have difficulty accurately sensing their own bodies, including where body parts are in relation to space, other objects, and other body parts. These kids often have a hard time sitting still or attending to tasks for any length of time, unless the task helps them feel their body and the space around them better. For this reason, I’ve become adept at finding ways to use tools and tasks that provide that input (proprioceptive input). Finding the “just right” task can be particularly challenging because when a child’s focus is on sensing their own body, less attention is on everything else, or what anyone else is doing (unless that activity looks appealing and helpful sensory-wise). Imitation skills therefore often suffer. Also, focusing on one hand or the other is often observed because low proprioception results in more effort needed to coordinate each hand, so it’s done one hand at a time (information about speed and distance is taken in more visually because the physical sense is diminished). One of my activities to address such challenges involves playdoh and related tools:
Playdoh:
Simply squeezing and molding doh provides excellent input and strengthening to the hands and fingers (for this reason, there is even “theraputty,” offered in various strengths/resistances, used with all ages across multiple settings). Playdoh has the benefit of drying up and flaking off surfaces relatively easily, whereas if theraputty “melts” into the wrong surface it can ruin it for good. For variety, theraputty is useful, but needs a very watchful eye and more “ground rules.”
Favorite tools:
Rollers: Simply flattening the hand and extending the fingers (strengthening finger and hand extension) to roll a roller (simple tube) across dough can be challenging, especially when encouraging greater weight or push to effectively flatten dough. Once accomplished, there is a “work surface” for using (cookie) cutters.
Cutters: Once dough is flat, observe whether kids push cutters in all the way or can navigate the space available to place each successive “cut” (a visual spatial skill). Sometimes the sensation that the cutter has hit the hard surface of the table is diminished or absent, so it’s not pushed all the way in. Can your child(ren) remove the dough from around the cutter? Can they carefully remove the cut dough from the cutter without breaking it? Expand the therapeutic benefit by naming and talking about the shapes or characters made: create a farm or ocean population (depending on the types of cutters), or sort shapes and sizes, maybe even colors. See if your child(ren) can imitate a simple design (like a triangle on square to make a “house”, or a circle on triangle to make an “ice cream cone”.)
Stampers: (These alphabet ones are also cool!) Useful for those who need to see benefit more quickly (without skill or patience to roll out dough first). It can be stamped or pressed onto mounds of doh, with the encouragement to press hard enough that the full design is transferred. Just using this amount of prolonged strength can be challenging. Sometimes, kids will use short bursts of full force or momentum (rather uncontrolled) to attempt to do things rather than practicing slower and more controlled use of force, which yields better results (even if it takes practice to notice it). What therapists call “poor gradation of force” often means a child uses very little force (appearing almost dainty) or 100% force (appearing incredibly strong and “committed”), but it points to an underlying challenge with feeling and controlling the amount of strength/force used. Strengthening activities provide the proprioceptive input and adequate strength to start to be able to control and “grade” the force used, to be appropriate to the task.
Extruders: these are particularly useful for strengthening hands and fingers, including fingertips (depending on the kind used). For younger children and one-handed use, the fun factory works well. As a bonus, choosing and sliding the different-shaped openings into place works on dexterity and coordination. For those who need work on fingertip strength and/or coordinating both hands together, the tube and plunger style works well. If the child does not have enough strength to activate the tube and plunger well, turn it upside down so the top of the plunger is pressed into the table (also to better observe the playdoh spurting from the openings, now on top).
Knife and fork: practice bilateral coordination by rolling out a sausage shape (or taking anything extruded) and have the child stabilize the item with the fork while cutting with a knife. I find real knives and forks (as opposed to plastic) work best… the weight is helpful for grasping and feeling its position. Thicker handles are also easier to grasp and control. You can try what is in your silverware drawer or opt for something shorter/smaller for smaller hands (kids’ utensils). Of course, almost any adaptive cutting utensil can also be used.
A note about scissors: I’m not a fan of using playdoh/toy scissors as I find them exceedingly difficult due to generally poor quality. I also find scissoring is best done with paper or cardstock, but if there is interest, I never dissuade its use (though I might hand the child real scissors, if well-monitored).