
Handwriting Warm-Up Exercises for Kids
Lit Brite Pegs and a ball of play dough. While these pegs are something we had at home, you might not have them available. Other items you could use in this exercise are toothpicks, cut cotton swabs, cut lollipop sticks, or any small peg.


More handwriting warm-up exercises
- Finger push-ups- Show your child how to spread their fingers far apart. They can press their fingertips onto the table surface and push down. Then, ask them to raise their hands and arms height above their head to stretch the whole upper body.
- Roll play dough into small balls. Roll the play dough into snakes. Press a pencil into the snake and cut on the lines with scissors so you end up with small pieces of play dough.
- Squeeze stress balls- You can also squeeze a rubber ball for a free or almost free option.
- Hand squeezes: squeeze hands into a fist and then stretch out the fingers and wrists.
- Play with Finger Puppets
. Make your own! Use our free printable to make farm themed puppets. Simply tape them into a loop shape and slide onto the fingers.
- Wall push-ups: Place both hands on a wall and push away from the wall. This is a standing activity and engages the whole arm in a pre-handwriting exercise.
- Play Pick Up Sticks
. Make your own using dyed lollipop sticks.
- Stick very small small stickers going down the length of a pencil. Ask your child to start at the eraser end and work their fingers down the pencil so they pinch each of the stickers.
- Jacks
is a great warm-up activity for little hands. - Play string games like Cat’s Cradle.

More handwriting activities that you will love:
- Functional Handwriting Practice Ideas
- What is Visual Spacing
- Visual Tracking Tips and Tools
- Handwriting Spacing Tool and Spatial Awareness Tips and Tools
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Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.