You’ve all heard the phrase “you have to learn how to walk before you can run”. It’s the same for handwriting. There are a lot of pre-writing skills to develop before your child is ready to write. So you might be asking, “What can I do now to help so they are ready for school?”
Sometimes it can be hard to know where to start when teaching your child how to write. Writing skills actually start with grasping skills, visual skills, attention, eye hand coordination, and strength, just to name a few. Writing is a full body task! So have fun with your child at any age and help them build the foundational skills needed for writing.
Pre-Writing Skills to Work On
Here are some examples of things you can work on before even picking up a crayon or a marker. Since developmental skills can vary from child to child, we recommend that you supervise your child during the following activities.
· Hand and arm strength by crawling on top of couch cushions placed on the floor
· Finger strength by playing with playdoh
· Attention by reading a book to your child
· Spatial and body awareness by working on identifying body parts
· Sitting strength by sitting on the floor and using two hands to do an activity
· Grasping skills by having your child grasp small objects with index finger to thumb (for example when finger feeding)
Eye Hand Coordination Tasks
Once you’ve worked on grasping skills, strength, vision, attention, and awareness you can put those skills together for eye hand coordination tasks such as stacking blocks and completing simple puzzles. These activities encourage a child to pay attention, use their vision, strength, and use of their fingers to grasp objects.
Introducing a Writing Utensil
Now that your child has worked on the foundational skills, you can introduce a writing utensil. For small hands it is good to use small writing utensils. Break crayons in half to promote grasping with their fingers to thumbs instead of their whole hand to grasp. Use shorter, thicker markers and practice scribbling and coloring. The biggest thing to remember is to have fun!
Finally, if you’ve tried the activities above and your child is having difficulty with any of these steps such as stacking blocks or grasping objects with their index finger to thumb, the occupational therapists at our clinic can help! Feel free to contact us if you are interested in an evaluation. We would love to help your child get their pre-writing skills ready for school!