Body and Brain Connection: Three-Fingered Grip

Montessori classes are full of little things that are super important. Showing children how to grasp items is one of them.

The ubiquitous three-fingered grip uses the thumb, pointer, and index fingers. Children use this grip to grasp small objects such as the knobs on the knobbed cylinders, the cylinders themselves on the knobless cylinders, pencils, and dials on radios.

If you put your fingers together slowly and deliberately, grasp the item you want to pick up, and place it in front of your child, he or she will see how you use the grip. Now let your child try.

Trial and error is good and great for the learning process, so kick back and let your child experiment!

More about Montessori in our monthly curriculum guides. Click here for an article excerpt.