A beneficial transition activity before handwriting or fine motor tasks. It will prime the intrinsic muscles of the hand, to help improve handwriting and fine motor task performance.
Instructions
Put one hand on your desk, with your fingers spread wide apart
Arch your hand up high (like a long-legged spider)
Make a small fist with your other hand
Walk your ‘spider hand’ over to surround, but not touch, the fist. Keep your ‘spider hand’ arched high and wide for 5 seconds.
Switch hands and repeat
Watch Points
‘Spider hand’ arched high and wide (so it doesn’t touch the fist)
Modifications
More Challenging
Multi-Sensory
Ball Skills
Fine Motor
Do Spider Stretch with something smaller than your fist (try an eraser or pencil sharpener)
Do Spider Stretch using various sized balls or soft toys as the ‘prey’
Hold the Spider Stretch position for as long as you can
Do Spider Stretch on your desk. Listen to your spider’s feet scurrying along the desk. Try scurrying along other surfaces to listen for the sound.
Not applicable
Spider Stretch develops the ability to stretch the hand around large objects and manipulate the hand
