I am very excited to announce our partnership with Toys & Co!  As you know, Toys & Co. has two great stores in Charlotte (both within 2-3 miles to Learning Charms).  My kids absolutely LOVE going to the stores and playing with the demos, riding the plasma cars and making birthday wish lists.   As a therapist, I am always testing out new toys and games to see which ones are the best for boosting specific developmental skills.   Toys & Co. will be assisting Learning Charms in a few ways:  1) they will be graciously letting us demo new toys each week in our Mommy & Me

Classes.  Yea!  In our Baby Sensory Smart, Toddler Sensory Smart, and DoodleCharms classes your child will give to experience new toys in a structured setting.   If you find a toy(s) that your child loves, we will hope you will support Toys & Co. and buy from them (they even offer on line shopping). 
2) If your child is enrolled in occupational therapy and there is a toy or game that we recommend, you can now go to Toys & Co. and find it, with the help of their knowledgeable staff.
3)  We will also be working to get a small handwriting /fine motor section of approved pencil grips, paper, ergonomic pencils, and such.  

Yea!

I recently completed kindergarten screenings for a few private schools.  I look for age appropriate copying skills, pencil grasp, sensory motor, fine motor and self help skills.  One of the most "flagged" areas is pencil grasp.  Yes, about 50-70% of our kindergarten kids are not using a functional pencil grasp.  Why is holding your pencil correctly so important?  The way we hold a pencil determines how much pencil control we have as well as which muscles are being utilized during handwriting.   Holding a pencil ineffectively changes handwriting/coloring from a task using finger muscles to a task using the large muscles of the hand, arm and shoulder.   The latter causes muscle fatigue, especially as they reach 2nd grade.  How can you help?

Changing a child's pencil grasp gets more difficult as they get older. It is possible to implement a change in pencil grasp up to about 2nd grade given the child is motivated to do so.  The easiest way to change a poor grasp is by changing the tools they use to draw and write with.  Throw out those "choo-choo" pencils and crayons and stick to small crayons and pencils that are no more than 2" long.   Reducing the length of the shaft to 1-2" ensure that the child cannot get all their fingers on the shaft and requires them to practice a "pincer" grasp (thumb and index opposition) which leads to increased muscle strength in the small finger muscles of the hand.  Skip the pencil grips.  I haven't had good luck with those.  I feel it is best to train the muscles and the child to hold the pencil correctly, rather than rely on a pencil grip to help.  Besides, when they pick up a crayon at a restaurant it won't have that special grip on it, and you are back to square one.  For pictures of functional and not so functional grasps, go to our OT page near the bottom.  

Make a "sensory salad" activity with your child. Hunt for scrap pieces of foam and paper that can be torn into small pieces. Ripping and tearing is perfect to strengthen little fingers. This dinosaur has a mixed salad with raspberries and blueberries! He also has a big strawberry (milk lid) on top!  The variety of textures allows hands to experience and work with work unusual mediums.