All children need greater opportunities for hands-on play with simple, traditional toys. The basic games that we did as children have fallen out of the repertoire for kids today and that means they aren't having the opportunities to build their hand strength and dexterity.

We asked Casey Halper, a wonderful Pediatric Occupational Therapist, to recommend some inexpensive, open-ended games that would help children increase hand strength, improve coordination, expand attention skills and have fun. You will recognize some of the games on this this list of Finger Toys as the classic games of our youth. You just didn't realize how good they were for you.

20 Fantastic Finger Toys to Build Hand Strength

1. Pop Bead Critters

2. Pick Up Sticks

3. Lite-Brite

4.  Play foam

5. Straws and Connectors

6. Stickers

7. Play Dough

8. Perfection

9. Silly Faces Stick-Ons Game

10. Tricky Fingers

11. Alex Tissue Art

12. Alex Toys Clay Pictures

13. Zoo Sticks

14. Chalk Board (with broken chalk)

15. Wikki Stix

16. Fantacolor Junior

17. Coinstruction

18. Puzzibits (also called Hexabits)

19. Pixelblocks

20. Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Pets

In my experience, if you find that your child really hates these types of activities, you might want to have them evaluated for Early Intervention. It may be that the aversion stems from difficulty with hand strength and dexterity. Catching issues early can help them succeed in school later.

Casey Halper, Pediatric Occupational Therapist and Consultant
from The Casey Halper Group and has also, previously, contributed this wonderful list of Sensory Savvy Snacks.

This post originally published in March 2010.