Preschoolers and toddlers will love playing these three fun, interactive games. Parents, teachers, and therapists will love watching these young app users develop their fine motor skills as they play.
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App Overview
Included are three games that each work on a different set of fine motor skills. Each game opens with a description of the objective of the game and the fine motor skills that will be developed. Games are timed, and a report of the goal achieved with each game is shared when the game is complete.
There are options to turn off music, sound effects, and camera feature which is used in the Trace & Erase game. There is also a report feature which produces the results of each game session with the date that can be e-mailed and saved for progress mapping.
Squish the Squash:
- Develops fine motor control: finger control, finger isolation, and finger strength
- Offers scaffolding with 15 different levels to choose. The levels get progressively more difficult, requiring one tap, two taps, three taps, or a combination of all three.
- Each game is timed and fun music plays in the background
- The squash appear and move about the screen
- The objective is for young app users to tap the squash to squish it, depending on the level, it may take from one to three taps to squish the squash
- Little ones will track the moving squash visually and will move their finger to stop the squash and squish it
Trace & Erase:
- Targets fine motor, pre-writing practice with straight and curved lines, finger control, wrist flexion, hand coordination, and perceptual abilities
- Offers 29 different levels with line path options including vertical, horizontal lines, left, right, zigzags, and different angles
- Young writers will trace a pathway from the star outward, or trace to the star depending on the pathway and level
- Once they have traced the pathway, they will next erase the pathway
- Once the lines are erased, a mirror image will appear (camera feature on the iPad)
- At the end, the camera option will open up with a filter including x-ray vision, warped images, black and white, etc.
Pinch the Pepper:
- Helps to develop fine motor in-hand manipulation modeling the skills needed to pick up and hold items
- There are ten different levels to choose from
- Gamers will put their index finger and thumb together to "pinch the pepper"
- Note: Some peppers also require a tap depending on the game and level
Instructional Ideas
- Use this game as a therapy to help preschoolers and toddlers refine their fine motor skills
Classroom Considerations
- Be sure to test different levels for each game to find the right starting place for your learner
Pros
- Within each game, there are many levels to choose from, allowing for flexibility and scaffolding
- Progress Report is helpful in displaying the progress of the player after each game or set of games. Reports can be compared over time to show improvement
- Options available to turn off sound and camera feature
Cons
- The camera feature at the end of Trace & Erase can be distracting to young learners
- Gauge what is best for your player (it can be turned off under options)
- It was difficult at first to figure out how to "pinch the pepper." You may need to model how to put your thumb and index fingers together to create the motion and action to help young app users play this game successfully.