I often come across well meaning parents who are concerned about teaching their preschoolers to write, but learning to write, at least in my experience, is actually better left until age 6 or even 7. There are valid developmental reasons which I will address later, that make learning to write difficult before this age, and pushing skills that children aren't developmentally ready for often causes frustration and resentment, leading them to hate writing before they even really get started. Instead of pushing kids to do something they are likely not fully ready for, I recommend spending the early school years focusing on activities that strengthen the skills needed to write efficiently. Then when they are really ready to write, it will come easily because they are well prepared.
The Case for Teaching Children to Write Later Rather than Earlier
The bones of the hand aren't ready yet- Babies are born with somewhat flexible cartilaginous bones. Over time they slowly harden or ossify. The bones of the hand start ossifying within the first year but are still fairly flexible until around age 6-7. The hand bones are also fairly spaced out until this point. Having spaced out flexible bones makes fine motor skills like gripping and moving a pencil extremely difficult. Check out this digital resource to see how the bones of the hand change as a child ages: Hand Bone Age: A Digital Atlas.
Pre writing skills are necessary for proper pencil grip and movement- Before a child is taught to write there are specific skills that need to be developed first. These skills include things like hand and finger strength, hand-eye coordination, upper body strength, visual perception (the brain's ability to interpret visual images like letters and numbers), and object manipulation (the ability to skillfully manipulate tools). These skills are important for being able to hold and move a pencil properly, and for being able to effectively write letters and words.
Activities That Strengthen Writing Readiness Skills
Instead of pushing writing instruction before a child is developmentally ready, there are lots of fun activities that are great for developing those important pre-writing skills. Here are some of my favorites:
-Beading: bead pony or wooden beads onto pipe cleaners or cord
-Threading boards
-Coloring
-Finger painting
-Playdough
-Puzzles
-Sand box and water table play: things like pouring and scooping are great for hand-eye coordination and developing the muscles of the hands and fingers
-Cutting with scissors
-Construction toys like Legos and wooden blocks
-Picking up objects with tongs
-Making mud pies
-Sorting small objects like pom-poms, Legos, beads, etc...
-Drawing shapes with fingers in sand, paint, salt, dirt, etc...
-Peeling and placing stickers
-Any activity that helps develop core and upper body strength like running, climbing, riding a bike, skating, and rolling
Many of these activities might be things you look at as playing rather than learning, but it's important to get away from that mindset. Playing IS learning. There's a reason why kids are naturally wired to play and run and tumble and move, it's how they strengthen muscles, and develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
If you enjoyed this post check out:
-Learning to Read is Not a Race
-6 Fun Activities for Teaching Sight Word Recognition and Spelling
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