Writing and other fine motor
Learning to write letters and numbers actually begins way before a child starts actually forming letters. Fine motor skills involve the muscles of the hands- these skills include building, drawing, cutting, pouring, stirring, and writing. All fine motor practice increases both your child's ability to work with their hands and their hand-eye coordination. These are the skills and abilities that lead into academic writing. In this section you will find activities that will strengthen and correct their grip, enhance their ability to cross midline (a key skill for reading and writing) and increase the accuracy of their pre-writing shapes- along with more traditional writing tasks. Even if your child is beginning to write letters all of these more "basic" skills will actually improve their writing. Don't worry if your child would rather spend their time on these activities and not on actual writing.
Fine Motor Activities
Anything that makes the kids use their fingers and hands will build their motor skills so the sky is the limit on what ideas you can choose! Here are a few ideas to get you started.
-
Building and stacking- You don't need blocks or Legos (although those are fun too) You can also build with cups and plates, cans of food, boxes, little stones from outside, sticks, shoes- if you can balance it, you can try to build with it
-
Tearing- take old paper (junk mail is great for this) and tear tiny pieces and long strips. (you can create art with your pieces afterward too)
-
Cutting- Using your junk mail, practice cutting. Practice little snips and long straight cuts. If your junk mail has pictures on it, try to cut them out too
-
Scooping and pouring. Fill the sink (or bathtub) with water and use cups to fill and pour. You can add spoons and scoop the water between the containers. Cooking is a great way to practice scooping and pouring as well. Have them dump the ingredients into the bowl or pot.
-
Spreading- Another great kitchen idea. Your child can help spread butter, jelly or peanut butter on bread and help make their own lunch.
-
Take the laces out of a pair of shoes and have your child lace them back up (don't worry if they aren't able to follow a "correct" lacing pattern)
-
If you have beads and string (or a hair bender) you child take beads on and off. A shoelace can work well for this too. You can also do this with circle cereal (Cheerios, Fruit Loops, etc) and thin licorice (or a clean string) Then they can enjoy it as a snack.
Writing Activities
Writing can be done with far more than just paper and marker so here are some other ideas to help your little writer increase their skills.
-
Squirt a little shaving cream on the side of the bathtub and let your little writer use their finger to draw in the shaving cream. When they are done- just rinse it down the drain
-
Give your little writer's hands a good wash, then spread a little pudding on a plate. They can write in the pudding and then lick it all up when they are finished writing
-
Outside, have your little writer find a stick and write in the dirt.
-
Give your little writer a paintbrush and bucket of water and send them outside to write on the house, the sidewalk, the trees. In about 5 minutes their writing will have evaporated and they can start all over.
-
Grab your junk mail and have your little writer trace the letters they see- they can trace with their finger or using a writing tool
-
When actually using writing tools, here's a few tips
-
Crayons, markers, pens and pencils all give a little different feeling but none of them are better than the other so don't worry if your writer doesn't have them all. The goal is working on making the lines and curves that eventually become letters.
-
If you have older crayons break them in half before giving them to your writer. The smaller crayon shape helps force them into a more mature writing grasp.
-
Old crayons can be peeled and used sideways to create rubbings of different textures. (this is especially fun outside)
-
Practice Writing Sheets
These are the basic letter shapes children need to master prior to beginning writing. These are printable, but you can also have them practice these shapes with whatever they are writing with (or even with their finger in the air)
Practicar hojas de escritura
Estas son las formas básicas de letras que los niños necesitan dominar antes de comenzar a escribir. Estos son imprimibles, pero también puede hacer que practiquen estas formas con lo que sea que estén escribiendo (o incluso con el dedo en el aire)
