Reading skills are vital for your child’s academic success. However, writing skills are just as important. It is vital that you work with your child where she is to help her get ready to write.
Babies
Babies can’t write. Don’t try to make them. They don’t have the ability to even hold a crayon correctly. In fact, any crayon that ends up in your baby’s hand will probably end up in his mouth. That’s what babies do. Don’t worry about it.
But that doesn’t mean that you can’t begin to work on early writing skills. The first hurdle your child meets is lack of fine motor skills. But you can help your baby practice those skills in a wide variety of ways.
Mirroring
Play games with your baby that encourages him to mimic your movements. Games like Patty Cake or Peek-a-Boo encourage him to copy you. When he does, praise him and play with him more.
Pincer Movement
The pincer movement, where your child can pick up an item between the thumb and forefinger, is a vital step in fine motor skills. Food makes a great item to practice this move with. It is small enough to encourage your child to pick it up with the finger and thumb, but, soft enough that it doesn’t pose a choking hazard. Many toys that are small and light enough for your child to pick up with the pincer move can become a hazard. So, put your child in the high chair to practice pinching.
After you have played lots of mirroring games, your child will be comfortable copying your movements. So, place a few small pieces of cereal or treats on the tray of your child’s high chair. Pick up one small piece between your own finger and thumb and hold it up. Your child will probably grab it with his whole hand, but it will be hard to get it without grabbing your fingers. Hold onto the piece of food until your child tries to grab it with his own finger and thumb, then release it. Even if it falls, praise him for the attempt. Continue until your child becomes comfortable grabbing things with the pincer movement.
Then move on to other fine motor skill games. Encourage your child to pick up pieces of food with the pincer movement and drop it into containers. Start with a large, open container such as a plastic food storage container or a clean peanut butter jar. As your child gets better, move to smaller and smaller openings such as a clean mayonnaise jar or a jelly jar. Finally get to the point where your child can drop food into containers with small openings such as a clean, plastic milk jug or a water bottle.
Toddlers
As your child’s gross motor control takes off and she begins toddling, walking and running, your child also gains fine motor skills. Now is the time to start preparing your child to write. Start with simple activities that helps your child learn to control their hands.
Making Waves
Play with a wide range of textures to help your child learn to make waves and shapes with her hands. Spread whipped cream on a cookie sheet and show her how to make wavy lines in the cream. When she has covered the sheet with her lines (and licked her finger a couple of times) wipe the sheet, clearing the cream and giving her more room to “write.” Got a sandbox? You have a writing work space. Use your finger to make lines, waves, circles and zig zags in the sand. If the sand is moist, the lines show up well, but even if the sand is very dry, you can show your child the lines your fingers leave behind.
My First Writing
Once you have shown your child how to make lines and shapes in other materials, it’s time to introduce writing instruments. Before you begin opening your child’s eyes to pens and pencils, make sure that you have all markers, especially permanent markers. Your toddler doesn’t know the difference between a crayon and a laundry marker, and might use either on the wall.
Choose your child’s first writing instruments carefully. Most toddlers use their whole hand to write, so pick large, chunky writing utensils. Sidewalk chalk is a wonderful way to start. They can hold the big chunks of chalk with a fist and write large shapes on the driveway or sidewalk. Choose washable chalk to protect your child’s hands and clothing. Another great writing tool is the rather new round crayons. These are crayons in the shape of eggs or balls that toddlers can hold with their whole hand, like the chalk. But the round shape actually prepares their hand to curl around chubby crayons or pencils when they grow a little more. Check out My First Crayons by Crayola or Aozora Stackable Crayons.
Preschoolers
As your child moves past toddlerhood, he is ready to tackle writing. There are several ways you can turn your budding reader into a writer.
Lines and Letters
He has the fine motor skills to grasp a chunky crayon or fat pencil correctly. You can show your child how to hold a pencil and correct his fingers until it becomes second nature. Give him paper and encourage him to make lines, zigzags, circles and waves. Once he is comfortable with shapes. Show him how he can put those shapes together to make letters. Three straight lines makes the letter “A.” One straight line with two bumps makes a capital “B.” And so on until your child can write the whole alphabet. In the beginning, don’t worry about the size of the letters, or even writing them on lined paper. Just let your child experiment with making the letters.
As you and your child learn mastery over letters, you are preparing him to recognize them in new ways. This gets him ready to learn phonics and finally to put it all together to read.