Big strong muscles

Occupational therapy

﻿Hi, I'm really looking forward to our lesson today. I hope you are too. Before we get started, this is just a little reminder. We're here to support any approaches you might already be using, and any work you might have already been set. We know that this lesson is going to be going out to so many different children and families. So if you're not sure about anything or have any questions, then please do contact your usual therapy team. Hello. Today we're going to continue learning about how we can make our fine motor skills better by improving our shoulder strength and our hand strength. And today we're going to be focusing on the big muscles. Okay. What do we mean when we say the big muscles? So, our hands are filled with many muscles because of how many different ways we can move our fingers and our thumbs, and some of these muscles just do tiny little careful movements, but some of them need to be really strong for lifting and holding things, okay. So your biggest muscles are in the palm of your hand, and on the back of your hands, okay. And these let us curl our thumbs and our fingers. And also let us stretch them out wide. So look, you can stretch it out wide, curl it in, and make a tight first. So you can see, the biggest muscle working, if you look at the palm of your hand, and move your thumb from left to right, okay. So have a go. Can you see that muscle moving? There. Let's have a look at the other hand. Okay. So have a look at your hand. Okay. So for the next activity, all you're going to need is some newspaper, or some plain paper, and a little pot of Play-Doh. If you don't have Play-Doh, you can just ask your adult or carer to make you a small amount of dough with some flour and water. Okay. Restart once you're done. For our newspaper football, what you need is a big piece of paper, newspaper, or plan paper. We're going to tear it neatly in the middle, then with just one half, and just one hand, we're going to scrunch it up as small as we can. And then we can use that to either put it on the floor and flick it to a target, and we can repeat this several more times, with more pieces of paper. You could turn it into a game of football with a partner or an adult, and you could flick the ball backwards and forwards. Okay. So to make our paper football, I'm going to show you using three different types of paper. I really like using paper that's going into the recycling. And what you can do if it's a bit hard, just to use both hands to scrunch it up first, okay, and you could even give it a twist, or anything like that. And then you're going to unfold it. So this is just paper from the printer, So it's quite tough, okay. Quite stiff. What you're going to start doing, holding it, and pull down. Okay. So now you have two pieces of paper. Hold it in one hand, and simply scrunch it up. Now you can see all those muscles having to work really hard. Okay. And, I haven't yet let go of the other piece. So there it is. Watch my fingers all working together. So nice big scrunches. Okay. And you can see how I'm having to turn and turn. And by doing that, you are actually improving the muscle strength in all of those finger muscles. Right. You could also, if you found that quite tricky, something else that you could do is to take some tissue paper, okay. And again, we're going to start, fingers all there, which means thumbs are at the back, and begin to tear. Okay. Now that didn't tear as well, but that's fine. So, there you can see that I've got, oh, a little bit of tape on that one. Absolutely fine. Right. So, there you can see, I've got some tissue paper in each hand. So I am now going to scrunch both hands at the same time. And you can look, to help you. You can really do that. Okay. Scrunching and scrunching. Right. Something else that you can do, if you want to really work on the finger muscles is in smaller pieces of paper. Okay. So once you've done that bit, you can then work on just using those fingers. So you can see my fingers going in there. And as your finger muscles get stronger and stronger, you could keep some in there, and then do that. Okay. Oof. There you go. A little paper football. Pause the video now to try and make a football out of paper. Restart once you're finished. For our next activity, we're going to be making dinosaur footprints. So what you need is your Play-Doh spread out flat on the table like a pancake. And you're going to curl your fingers so that they are close, but not touching, okay. What you're then going to do is put them into the Play-Doh, and then stretch them out in the Play-Doh, and what you're going to end up with is something that looks like a dinosaur footprint. Try this with both hands. And if you were really up for a challenge, you could try this with something like a resistance putty, like Theraputty. So to make dinosaur footprints, take your Play-Doh and flatten it. You see how I'm doing it? And also push it in your hands. Okay. Now I accidentally left my Play-Doh out last night, and so it's a little bit hard, but that's okay. I'm going to show you using my vertical surface, which is a book. Going to stick the Play-Doh on there. Okay. And going to make your hand to a little claw. Yeah. Put it on there. Are you ready? You see from the side. And then I'm just very slowly, because it's harder, I really need to push down. Going to push, and push as far as I can go. Oh my gosh. That is hard. That'll teach me to leave the Play-Doh out all night, won't it? And then if you look, you kind of have a dinosaur footprint. Okay. Now I think we can make that, squish that and make it a little bit softer. Let's work it a little bit so that it bends better. Okay. Let's see. Okay. Right. We'll try again. See if we can get a better dinosaur footprint. Use the same book again, 'cause it's already covered in Play-Doh. Okay. Fingers ready, and on, and. Oh, that was much better. I think that could be a bird type of dinosaur, what do you reckon? Yeah. Here you can see a video of me making a dino footprint using some green Theraputty. It was really hard. Okay. Pause the video. Have a go. Restart once you're finished. Our next activity is all about being able to touch our thumbs to our fingers. So with one hand, make your thumb, touch the tip of each finger in turn like that. Okay. Try doing it in order, without missing any of them. You could also go straight back. Okay. Sometimes, to keep my rhythm, I go, ♪ Dup, dup, dup, dup, dup, dup, dup, dup ♪ Okay. Have a go with each of your hands, and then to give yourself a challenge, try and do it with both your hands at the same time. Okay. Don't press too hard. Keep your fingers nice and in, gentle little touches. And for a really big challenge, you can try and do this with your eyes closed. So you can do, let's just check we've got it in the camera there. And are you ready? So I'm going to close my eyes, and go back the other way. And you can go fast. And you can go slow. And you can see all those muscles there in your hand working beautifully together. Pause the video now to try thumb-to-finger touch. Restart when you're finished. There are loads of ways that we can find alternatives for these activities. So if it's difficult to make a paper football, you could try using smaller pieces of paper, or you could try using tissue paper. You could have an adult finish off the scrunching-up of the ball, to make it nice and small, if your muscles are just not quite strong enough yet. And if it's too difficult to make a footprint in Play-Doh, then first have a go in sand, or maybe some shaving foam. Remember, do the best for you. Practise, practise, practise. Thanks for listening. And as always, if you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #learnwithOak. Bye.

Big strong muscles

Big strong muscles

Lesson slides

Lesson details

Key learning points

Equipment

Licence

Lesson video