For focus and balancing you can play some fun movement games, such as ‘Musical Statues’. They have to focus on the music, then be able to ‘freeze’ when the music stops. You can incorporate balancing by giving them the pose they have to make when the music stops. The above answer from Leslie is also very good… start with two masking tape lines on the floor, (not too far apart), and the child has to walk between them, then go to one masking tape line, which the child walks along, then to a low, wide balance beam, then a low, narrower one, then you can make it a higher wide balance beam, then a higher narrow balance beam etc.

As far as developing hand muscle control, you have to look at the ‘whole child’. They need to develop larger arm muscle control first, so activities such as throwing balls, dancing with scarves moving their arms in prewriting patterns in the air, roller painting at an easel etc.

Then move onto developing muscle control in the hands…. Lots of manipulation with playdough, squirting water spray bottles, squeezing water from sponges etc.

Then they need to be able to do isolated finger movements …lots of fingerplays at group time (ie Where is Thumbkin), cutting with scissors, picking up small objects using a pincer grasp, squeezing pegs etc etc.

I have oodles of activities specifically designed to assist pre-writing motor skill development in particular, so if you would like more ideas please feel free to email me.

PLAY DOUGH will help build muscles in the hands of preschoolers for writing and coloring. Balance? A balance beam or even staying on a line of tape on the floor or a small string along the carpet, gives an idea of balance to a child. Follow the leader would make learning a game, and sing some silly songs while messing with the playdough, to make it exciting. The kids will not know they are growing, while learning and developing. Shhhhhh Lol Have fun!

Any activities with the objects that are larger than pencil would prepare hand for the handling and manipulating smaller objects, i.e. for drawing, writing and coloring.

The activities include

games with sand; clay; cleaning tables with wash cloth; vacuum cleaning; sorting or gluing foam figures are good; any building games including Lego Blocks.

Focus will be improved if child will be engaged in any activity that require his complete attention for a prolonged time.

Board games are wonderful tools for increasing attention span and focus. Domino and checkers work even for 4-5 year olds. The games where you have to put a matching card on the board (let say a picture with tomato on the top of a red rectangle) can be played much earlier.

Good Luck

Simple, basic yoga and tai-chi exercises are good for developing focus and balance. Also, use a very low balance beam (right on the floor) or a wide masking tape line on the floor for them to walk on.

Using play dough is good for hand muscles development. Also, anything that develops fine motor skills like using child safe scissors to cut bits of paper, chalk to write on a chalkboard or color on paper, handling small things like buttons or pasta for stringing on yarn or gluing on construction paper. Try shaving cream on the table and encourage them to use fingers to draw or write letters. Squishy balls are fun for the children to play with and help to strengthen hand muscles too.

Have the child rip newspapers, make a game of it. This will strength the small muscles in the hands, so they can control pencils, crayons, and scissors. You sit with him/her on the floor and teach them how to rip the newspaper. At the beginning it would be a bit difficult for the child, but as you keep repeating the game, they will get better. They also love to make a mess.

The hand muscle for writing – make sure you have lots of puzzle type works that have knobs to lift the pieces out. If the knobs are made correctly, the most natural way to pull it out is with a pencil grip.

Matt

i think that if you want a kid to focus better, you should teach them at a very young age to sit and color for a while. it doesn’t have to be too long, but eventually, he/she may start to like it, and look forward to sitting and focusing on his/ her work. so, as soon as the kid can hold a crayon, give him.her one and a piece of paper!

I would imagine it as helpful if the lessons are short and fun. Kids get bored very quickly if the lesson runs too long and there isn’t fun and laughter.

make learning fun and active. and stick to a set schedule…art, writing, etc. you have to hold their hand in the correct way for them first individually for a few times..hope that helps

odd enough its as simple as rolling a ball to them. Both kicking and catching/stopping the rolling ball will provide the desired results.