Believe it or not there are so many things that need to happen before your child is ready to learn to write. They need to strengthen the muscles in their hands and fingers, they need to develop good hand eye co-ordination and perfect their fine motor skills.
These skills are best learned through play, and may be things that you are already doing. If a child neglects to work on these skills and then you try to teach them to write you will most likely find that it won’t go well.
Children who lack the straight in their hands tire easily when writing. Just think back to those long history and English essays you used to have to write in exams! It is the same thing, except they are tiring after a much shorter period of time.
Working on fine motor skills helps children to be able to write neatly and clearly. If your child is showing signs of sloppy writing, or tiring easily then take them right back to the start and work on the pre-writing skills. Once you have worked on these you will find that writing becomes a much more pleasant experience for them.
What is Meant by Writing Readiness?
Just like reading readiness, writing readiness refers to the skills children need to have before they can undertake the task of learning to write.
These skills include:
Good Hand Eye Co-ordination
Ability to hold a pencil correctly and firmly
The Memory Required to Remember What Letters Look Like
Basic Drawing Ability (Straight lines, curvy lines, basic shapes)
While we as adults now write easily without even thinking about it, it actually requires a lot of different skills and functions.
Pre-Writing Activities for Preschoolers
The age at which children really start diving into the pre-writing type activities is around 3-4, but can definitely earlier or later depending on the child. Remember every child is different.
Playdoh
Play doh is the ideal way to strengthen those little hands. The act of squishing, kneading and rolling are all a good workout for little fingers. I love to add essential oils to my play doh. Aromatherapy playdoh is the best! Play doh is often my go to activity when the kids need a bit of relaxing time (read: mommy needs a break). A few drops of lavender added to it makes such a difference! Orange is also a favourite as it boost creativity. You could even go all seasonal with cinnamon and peppermint at Christmas time.
Sand Writing
You could use sand/flour/salt anything like that. pour enough into a small tray so that it covers the bottom completely. Then have your child use their finger to copy letters. I really like these Montessori sandpaper letters. They are fantastic for adding that extra bit of sensory input for children learning to write. When the kids trace over the letters they can feel where the line is instead it just being visual. When you add extra senses into the learning process things just stick better. Once they have traced their finger over the letters they then copy that letter into the sand. The added bonus if you use the sandpaper letters is that writing in the sand feels similar to what they just traced. It’s all about making connections.
Squeeze Bottles
This is another activity that gets those little hands working. You can easily set up a water play area for your children to fill squeeze bottles with water and squirt them out. I am warning you though, it is going to get messy once they realise squirting people is way more fun. But it’s all learning right?
You could take this a step further and work on those fine motor skills by introducing them to droppers. I love the using droppers for art activities. Water colours are the best for this, squirt the paint onto coffee filter paper or paper towels. It is lots of fun to see the colours spreading to create a beautiful piece of art.
Another really fun activity to do with water droppers is adding colours to white vinegar. You can then use the droppers to drop the vinegar onto a tray of baking soda for a bit of science fun. This one is always a winner!
Painting
Messy yes, but also fantastic. I always wanted to roll my eyes every time someone suggests we do some panting. I hate the clean up…not just of the table but also of the children who feel the stacks of paper I provide is inadequate and they much prefer to paint their bodies.
Paint is awesome though. Finger painting adds in extra sensory input which facilitates increases learning. Holding paint brushes are a great precursor to being able to hold a pencil correctly. Paintbrushes are a good first step because they don’t require as much pressure to make them “work”.
If I have one bit of advice for the mess, I would say always buy Crayola because in my experience it is the only brand that comes off walls/clothes/bodies easily.
Lacing Cards
I had no idea what these things were until I had children. I had never even seen them! I don’t know how I missed it because these are so fantastic. They help kids to perfect their fine motor skills and contort those little fingers into different places to be able to tread the string through a little hole. It requires a fair bit of concentration which is always something we are trying to work on with preschoolers.
I really like the Melissa and Doug ones. They are solid wood so you know they are going to last a few kids and hold up to little ones chewing on them etc
How to Teach My Child to Write Their Name
It is one of those monumental milestones in a child’s life, and let’s be honest it is pretty awesome for us as parents too. I have often wondered how many times we end up writing our names in our life time. Way too many to count I am guessing. I seriously regretted giving my children such long names as soon as I filled out their birth certificates…then every single time I have to fill out forms for them. I am sure they will resent me one day. My daughter’s first name is Liliana-mei followed by two long middle names, not even in English and a surname. Whenever she writes her name now it’s just Lili.
The first step in being able to teach a child to write their own name is to teach them how to recognise their name.
- Point out their name where ever you see it.
- Have them label their belongings
- Write their name with them on all their little drawings they do
- Make a name puzzle
Once they can recognise their name they need to know how to spell it
- Use the name puzzle again
- Have them spell out the letters after you
- Point to the letters as you say them
- Sing a song. Most kids names work well with the Bingo was a Dog song!
Now it’s time to write
- Sand writing to practice the letters in their name
- Write their name in a highlighter and have them copy over it in pencil
- Use a pencil grip if they are still struggling to hold the pencil correctly or buy some crayon rocks (love these things!) They are impossible to hold incorrectly
- Use different mediums to keep it interesting. Shaving cream, sand, whiteboards, window markers, and paint are all good.
Learning to write can and will take time, patience and practice. If your child is not interested don’t force it. Let them work on their pre-writing skills first and writing will naturally follow as they become ready. The important thing is that you provide them with lots of opportunities to work on these skills.
