7 Ways You Can Teach Pre-Writing Skills at Home

What exactly are pre-writing skills? In short, these are the lines and strokes children need to master and know BEFORE they begin learning to print.

fingers.

As a parent, when you think about the way your child began to start moving, did they begin with fine or gross motor skills? If you answered the latter, you're correct!

In order to master fine motor movements needed for handwriting to, a child needs to have strong gross motor skills and movements.

• A strong core to help them sit upright

• A strong neck in order to keep the head upright

• Strong shoulders in order to facilitate arm and wrist movements

• Strong fingers in order to grasp objects

Tip #1 - Download our FREE per-writing

Checklist to see how your child is developing their Palmer and pincer grasp.

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Tip #2 - Cross The Midline

What is midline? If you were to draw a line down the middle of your body, starting at the head, that is your midline. Every time you cross that line with either side of your body, that is crossing midline. Some activities to help your child develop correct midline balance are:

Drawing a Rainbow

Playing Simon Says

Dancing with streamers

Scooper activities

"The most important part of the writing process is before it starts." – EYE specialist

Tip #3 - Select Your Sensory Toys

Few children will turn down the opportunity to squish some playdough or play with sand. Use that to your advantage by setting up stations for your child to play with each day or week. These can be as simple as:

- A Tray of Rice

- A sand tray

- Modeling clay

- Large and small beads

- Measuring spoons and cups

The more tactile objects your child has to work with, the more naturally they will begin to develop the correct finger placement needed. Plus, the activities are sure to leave your child ready for more.

Tip #4 - Plan Ahead

• Many people choose to make sensory bins based on the season or the nearest holiday. For example, a summer sensory bin might include sand, seashells, smooth stones, and plastic fish toys. Sensory bins encourage children to explore while developing their dexterity and grip.

Tip #5 - Don't Forget to Play

As a teacher, I worked with testing preschoolers for kindergarten readiness, and used a

ll sorts of kin-esthetic activities to test the dexterity of the hands. By asking draw a line, or stack blocks we could evaluate how their fine motor skills were developing. Looking back I can see that that we used common play to evaluate pre-writing skills and school readiness much the same way children were accustomed to natural play at home.

It goes to show, a nurturing home with lots of healthy playing goes a long way.

ll sorts of kin-esthetic activities to test the dexterity of the hands.

And Practice!

Practice, practice, practice. Give your student a writing utensil and have them practice. It’s not about perfection, it’s about building muscle strength, hand-eye coordination, and attention.

In addition to structured learning, give them the right skills that will build their fine motor skills, Either through play, or helping out around the house.