Let’s talk writing readiness. Do you want your child to start developing pre-writing skills in the early years? Then take that pencil away from your toddler, avoid pushing your little one to colour inside the lines and start focusing on the skills they really need to develop from an early age in order to build a strong foundation for future writing.

Here are our top tips on how to help young children develop good pre-writing skills, which are the stepping stones in their journey towards a good pencil grip and improved ability to write, draw and colour.

Let them be active!

Children start developing the skills they need for writing long before they are introduced to crayons and coloured pencils. After all, to write properly, we need to rely on much more than just our hands, wrists and fingers.

From well-developed shoulders that facilitate arm and wrist movement to a strong core and neck that give us stability and help us sit upright, children should build strong gross motor skills before they develop the fine motor movements needed for writing.

As such, the groundwork for writing readiness should ideally start when your child is still a baby. Making tummy time an important part of your baby’s daily routine and encouraging your little one to explore by lifting their head, rolling, sitting, crawling, pulling themselves up and moving around is a great way to start developing strong core muscles and improving postural control.

If your child is no longer a baby and you believe they have not yet developed enough core strength, don’t despair. Instead, ensure that you give your toddler plenty of opportunities to do what young children enjoy most: playing and being active.

Encouraging them to explore playground equipment such as slides, swings and seesaws, and motivating them to move in different ways, such as crawling, running and trying different animal walks, is a simple yet very effective way to further improve postural control and muscle strength, both of which are essential for writing readiness.

Encourage independence

When it comes to young children, parents are often tempted to do everything for them, either because it is difficult to see our little ones struggling to complete tasks or simply because, truth be told, we are in a rush and do not have time to wait for a toddler to complete something we could do much faster ourselves.

However, believe it or not, everyday tasks such as self-feeding, getting dressed, pouring water into a cup, tidying up toys and opening or closing snack boxes can greatly help children develop skills that are essential for writing readiness.

These include hand-eye coordination, bilateral integration, pincer grasp and the ability to cross the midline.

Technical terms aside, what is important to remember is that children need plenty of practice to develop these skills.

So, avoid jumping to their rescue when they are trying to get dressed on their own and keep calm when they make a mess attempting to take a spoonful of food to their mouth.

By allowing your toddler to have a go at these self-help skills regularly, you are not only helping to boost their confidence but also encouraging them to develop skills which, when underdeveloped, can lead to frustration and difficulties when it is finally time to hold a pencil and start forming letters and words.

Make time for sensory play

There are many more benefits to sensory play than meet the eye.

Sensory play that stimulates a young child’s senses of touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing can support language development, problem-solving skills, cognitive growth and the development of gross and fine motor skills.

With this in mind, make a point of encouraging your little one to explore the world through their senses as much as possible from a young age.

Short of ideas? Here are a few suggestions that won’t break the bank.

• Create a Treasure Basket for Your Baby: Add lots of everyday objects with different textures to a natural basket and let your baby pull, grasp, squeeze and explore them while sitting or during tummy time. In addition to strengthening their core muscles while sitting or lying down, manipulating items in a treasure basket can improve hand-eye coordination and help babies develop the small muscles in their hands and fingers.

• Go on a Nature Walk: Whether it is at the beach or in a park, nature walks are fun and very beneficial for young children. During these walks, little ones can touch and feel things such as sand, shells, grass and sticks while also developing their gross motor skills, balance and coordination as they walk on different surfaces, climb and explore their surroundings.

• Make Your Own Scented Playdough: Most people know that playdough is easy to make and lots of fun, but did you know that manipulating it can also help prepare children to hold a pencil and write in the future? As your little one plays with this malleable resource, they are strengthening the small muscles in their hands, wrists and fingers.

• Pop Bubbles Together: Popping bubbles can improve hand-eye and bilateral coordination. When we encourage children to pop bubbles using just one finger at a time, it can also enhance their ability to isolate individual fingers rather than moving all their fingers together, as young children often do.

Make pre-writing fun!

Making marks such as lines, patterns, scribbles and shapes is an important step in a preschooler’s journey towards writing.

So, what can you do when your child, in the year before joining school, still does not show much interest in sitting down and taking part in mark-making activities?

Think outside the box.

Mark-making can be done in many different ways and, for an active young child, sitting down to draw and colour with common tools such as crayons and coloured pencils might be the least exciting of them all.

Introduce different ways of making marks and writing that allow your child to use their imagination, move their whole body and explore different media and materials while being creative.

For example, instead of using A4 paper on top of a table, stick a long roll of paper to a wall, the floor or even underneath a table.

This encourages your little artist to develop core strength and the ability to cross the midline as they make marks and reach up, down, left and right while standing or lying on their tummy or back.

Making marks with chunky chalks or a brush and water on the pavement, using fingers to create patterns and shapes in a messy mixture of flour and water or shaving foam, and creating ice paint by freezing water and food colouring are all activities that are more likely to spark a young child’s curiosity and enthusiasm.

They can improve their pre-writing skills while having a blast.

Build their confidence by valuing the marks they make

Once your preschooler starts showing an interest in making their own marks and drawings, make sure you value what they have created by showing genuine interest.

Rather than trying to guess what their drawings represent, encourage them to tell you themselves.

Giving meaning to the drawings they make, regardless of how perfect they may look, represents an important milestone in a young child’s cognitive development. Your little one is beginning to understand that real objects can be symbolised using marks.

To encourage your child to continue making marks, praise their efforts and focus on the process involved in creating their little masterpieces rather than only on the final product.

For example:

“I love how you’ve used so many different colours! Tell me more about what you’ve made.”

It is also a good idea to talk to your child about the marks you make every day and allow them to help with tasks such as writing the shopping list or making a birthday card.

Encourage them to notice written words all around them and to explore writing through role play.

Can they write a prescription for a sick teddy bear?

How about writing the recipe for the delicious playdough cupcakes they have made?

The idea is to motivate children to begin mastering strokes such as straight lines, curved lines, zigzags and shapes, which form the basis of many letters, numbers and early drawings, while also introducing them to the idea that print carries meaning.

Who knows? If all goes well, you may even plant the seed that transforms writing from a task they dread at school into something they genuinely enjoy in the future.

Mrs Carol Oliveira
Former Nursery Manager
Jumeirah International Nurseries at Regent International School, The Greens