Finger waves

This is a good coordination exercise. Start with one hand facing up and stretch your fingers out flat, a pulling the muscles taut.  Pull the pinkie finger towards the palm, trying at the same time to keep it straight, without bends in the two upper knuckles. Let the neighbor fingers follow in the same fashion but have each following finger begin moving only when the preceding finger is halfway to the palm.

Don't worry when you find that you have to bend your upper knuckle to complete the finger movement from outstretched to closed.  Delay the bending for as long as possible and make the closing of the of fingers look graceful. Also, don't worry about the thumb. We have an exercise for that later.

When your fingers are closed in a fist, open them in the same "follow the leader" fashion, starting with the pinkie.       

Once you succeed in making your fingers wave gracefully, try leading the wave starting with your index finger instead of your pinkie. When you are comfortable with the waves going in both directions, make a continuous wave with one finger constantly moving back and forth, while the others follow, Pay attention to making the movements fluid and fully extended, and watch that you don't lose technique as you gain speed

You might find that one of your hands is more coordinated than the other- If you do, spend a little extra time getting the weak hand up to the level of the good hand.   If you're not too board or frustrated, put your hands side by side and, starting with one of the outer index fingers, make a wave that travels down your fingers from one hand to another.

That's too easy? Start a second wave before the first is finished so that your fingers have two waves going at once. I've seen the finger wave done by a group of about 16 or so students laying down in a circle holding their hands next to each other on the floor.   It's quite an amazing effect to see when the wave is done fluidly