Bilateral Hand Use/Control/Pincer Grasp

Grasp and Match

Description: Hand/Finger strengthening, pincer grasp activity that uses shaped

objects and tongs to place items into home-made shape sorter.
Age and population: Kindergarten, 1st 3rd grade, Developmental Delay, Autism
Purpose
This activity works on pincer grasp and pincer control by playing a matching game
using tongs and tweezers.

Materials
Beans, Container, Lego, Straws, Tongs, Toothpicks, Tweezers

Skills
Bilateral Hand Use (?), Finger Strength, Grasp, Pincer Control, Pincer Grasp, and
Tripod Grasp

Description
Use two containers with lids. Cut a circular hole in the middle of one lid and a
rectangular hole in the middle of the second lid. Make sure the holes are big enough
for the objects to fit through.
Lay the Lego pieces, straws (you may need to cut the straws to smaller size), beans,
and toothpicks on the table.
Provide the child with tongs and tweezers. You can use different tongs size to
accommodate the child's muscles strength and grasp.
Ask the child to pick one object at a time using the tongs and place it in the
container that matches the shape of the object. For example: straws fit through the
circular hole and Legos fit through the rectangular hole.
Give the child an opportunity to repeat the activity using the tweezers to enhance
motor control.
Upgrade: Mix in items that do not fit either hole (either by size or slightly different
shape)
Downgrade: Use larger shapes or only one type of shape and only one hole.