15 Fun Playdough Activities to Build Hand Strength for Early Writing Readiness

Strengthen Little Hands for Writing Success with Play dough!

Before your child learns to write, they need strong fingers, hands, and wrists. Play dough activities are a fantastic way to develop fine motor skills, grip strength, and pressure control—all essential for early writing readiness.

In this blog, I will be explaining why it's important to improve hand strength and fine motor skills through pre-writing activities before trying to get your little to write using a pencil, and show you 15 different actions to encourage your child to do when using play dough.

Why Hand Strength is Important for Writing Readiness

There's no getting around it - hand strength directly impacts your child's ability to hold and accurately control a pencil, form letters and write with stamina.

Pencil Grip & Control

Strong hand and finger muscles help children hold a pencil with the correct grip (tripod grasp), allowing them to move it with precision and control. Weak hand muscles can lead to an improper grip, which makes writing difficult and tiring.

Letter Formation & Coordination

Hand strength supports fine motor skills, helping children form letters correctly and consistently. If their hand muscles are weak, they may struggle to apply the right amount of pressure or move the pencil smoothly.

Writing Endurance

Writing for long periods requires stamina. If a child’s hand muscles aren’t strong enough, they may tire quickly, affecting handwriting quality and motivation.

Posture & Comfort

Strong hand muscles reduce strain on the wrist, arm, and shoulder. Without enough strength, children may compensate by gripping too tightly or pressing too hard, leading to discomfort or pain.

Speed & Fluency

As children progress, they need to write faster. Good hand strength allows for smoother, quicker movements, helping them write quicker and clearer.

15 Play dough Actions to Build Hand Strength for Writing

1.Hit it flat (Palm strength, bilateral coordination, pressure control)

2.Poke using every finger one at a time (Finger isolation, dexterity, coordination)

3.Push (Hand and wrist strength, pressure control)

4.Roll a sausage and a ball (Bilateral coordination, finger strength, dexterity)

5.Squish and squeeze the play dough in each hand (Grip strength, endurance, hand muscles)

6.Pull apart (Hand and finger strength, bilateral coordination)

7.Finger rake (Finger strength, dexterity, pre-writing movements)

8.Pinch (Pincer grip, finger strength, fine motor control)

9.Twist (Wrist strength, coordination, bilateral movement)

10.Grab (Hand strength, grip control, finger coordination)

11.Use cutters (Hand-eye coordination, pressure control, bilateral coordination)

12.Use a rolling pin (Arm and wrist strength, bilateral coordination, pressure control)

13.Pick out objects (Pincer grip, finger isolation, fine motor control)

14.Push in objects to leave impressions (Finger strength, pressure control, spatial awareness)

15.Build (Hand strength, dexterity, problem-solving, coordination)

So how does play dough help with handwriting, and what age should you start this with your child?

All of these actions contribute to overall hand strength and muscle development. Squeezing and squishing play dough develops grip strength, rolling and twisting play dough improves wrist control for hand writing, pushing objects into play dough and building with it improves pressure control. 

As soon as your child is past the 'putting everything in their mouth' phase, so around 12-15 months, I recommend playing with play dough (supervised only for obvious reasons!). The sooner you start developing your child's hand muscles the better!

🧑🏻‍🍳 If you would like to know the recipe for my Gingerbread Man play dough, click here for my instagram post. This is also a great activity for storytelling, and developing your child's senses!