At this age there are so many skills to learn. Often I don't know if Otis is ready or able to do something until I give him the opportunity to try. Take spreading. He can do it well enough to make a snack, you can see he really needs to use his support hand. Come to think of it it's not unlike pasting. Although spreading requires a rotation of the wrist that it quite unique. You can see how important activities like pasting and spreading are in the preparation of the hand/arm/body for writing. Strength, coordination, rotation, the use of the support hand. Plus it's nice that he can make something to eat. Satisfying I think.
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I set up my own board and rice cake next to him. We share the plate of strawberry jam. I show him how to scoop up the jam and place it on my rice cake, then I use my knife slowly and deliberately. His knife is really little which helps. His jam sticks to the spoon, I help him a little. This is another activity that could become a part of everyday practice.
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A rice cake or cracker is a good item to start with as it's firm unlike bread which can be squashy. Something smooth like peanut butter, hummus or guacamole might be a better starting point than something sticky like jam. Did I mention how amazingly good our jam is though? I can't believe we made it ourselves.
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