Effect of Marble Play on Handgrip Strength and Handwriting Among School Going Children.

Overview

This study aims to address the effects of a Marble Play on the handgrip strength and handwriting skills of primary school children, providing empirical evidence for a cost-effective and culturally relevant therapeutic tool. This study will be a randomized controlled trial. A total of 46 children from Grades 1-3 will be recruited via convenience sampling and randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n=23) or a control group (n=23).The experimental group will participate in one-on-one sessions of Marble Play game with .The control group will continue with their regular free play activities. The primary assessment tools will be the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting (ETCH) to measure writing legibility and speed, and a hand-held dynamometer to measure hand grip strength.

In 2022, Audrey Saile and Mohd Hanafi Mohd Yasin hey conducted a study in Malaysia, to investigate the efficacy of fine motor training for improving handwriting legibility among students with special educational needs. Their study used a quasi-experimental pre-test/post test design but was limited by a very small, purposefully selected sample of only four students. Despite this limitation, the results indicated a positive outcome: the treatment group showed an average 15-point increase on a modified Handwriting Legibility Scale, improving their performance from "very poor" to "moderate." The authors concluded that fine motor training is a valuable intervention for enhancing the handwriting skills of SEN students. Current literature reveals a significant gap in research examining marble play as a targeted fine motor intervention. While existing studies have explored the effectiveness of various manipulative activities such as clay modeling, bead threading, and drawing exercises for fine motor development, there is a notable absence of research that specifically isolates and examines the unique benefits of marble play. This represents a critical oversight, given the accessibility and affordability of marbles as intervention tool. The findings of this study will provide much-needed, evidence-based guidance for educators and therapists, particularly those working in resource-limited environments.