Raising Creative Children » beginning writing http://raisingcreativechildren.com Nurturing creative young minds and wiggly bodies Thu, 03 May 2012 16:33:30 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Beginning Writing http://raisingcreativechildren.com/beginning-writing/ http://raisingcreativechildren.com/beginning-writing/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 18:02:06 +0000 Lorelei http://raisingcreativechildren.com/?p=1831
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Playing with Playdough Helps Develop Fine Motor Control
When is a child ready to learn to write? When he is ready! That’s the best answer, although not very helpful. You cannot teach a child to write before his or her muscles and coordination are developed enough to hold a pencil, make tiny marks and notice details. Often toddlers are still a bit far-sighted. That’s why, if you want to teach them to read or write, use LARGE LETTERS. For reading, they should be reading flashcards with letters that are at least five inches tall.

Pre-writing activities

To help them develop coordination in their fingers- do lots of the following activities:

  1. stringing beads
  2. lacing cards (sometimes called sewing cards)
  3. puzzles
  4. playdough
  5. coloring
  6. any game or toy with small pieces (supervised, so they don’t put them in their mouth).
Early Writing Activities:

  1. let them scribble with crayons, pencils, pens, markers
  2. help them scribble a series of oval shapes
  3. help them scribble a series of lines – like zig-zags.
  4. make a “sand” alphabet. write the letters in glue, and shake sand or salt on them. When dry, let your child trace the letters with his finger.
  5. help child make letters with play dough. You can print off the letters on the computer, and laminate them. Then child makes play dough snakes and shapes the letters on top of the laminated mat.
  6. let child finger paint and make letter shapes in the paint with finger
  7. help child make the letters in the air with his “magic finger”. Trace letters on magazines with finger, or on cereal boxes (big letters – titles and such).
  8. get bathtub crayons and let child write letters on the walls of the tub.
  9. let child make letters in the sandbox with a stick
  10. finally, print off sheets from the computer for your child to practice letters.
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A Child Scribbles Before He Can Color

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A Child Colors Before He Can Learn to Write

There are many sites that will print off practice letters for your child to trace. Kid Zone lets you spell the child’s name, then it prints it off six times on a single sheet. First School prints off single letters of the alphabet, in several print styles.

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Tracing Letters in Wet Sand is More Fun Than Worksheets

Generally, your child should be able to write his name by kindergarten. It is rare to be able to write much more than that at a younger age, they just lack the eye-hand coordination to succeed. The more you can do to help your child, the better his handwriting will be in Kindergarten. Vary activities, though. After a few minutes of close-up work, have your child do something active and physical, allowing his eyes to rest. You don’t want to strain his eyes and perhaps cause a vision problem in the future.

Related Reading:
Teaching your child to write his name
How to Teach Your Baby to Read
Reading Readiness



Photo Credits:
Top:http://www.flickr.com/photos/riggenransom/ / CC BY 2.0
Middle:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kodomut/ / CC BY 2.0
Middle:http://www.flickr.com/photos/emeryjl/ / CC BY 2.0
Bottom:http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyfroglet/ / CC BY 2.0
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