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I wanted to post about some of the fun ways you can practice pre-writing with the preschooler.
Children aged 5 years and above can best carry out these activities although the 4 year old child is very welcome to participate should they be keen and ready to start creating letters.
Prior to children learning to write letters to use in handwriting, they must develop a strong pre-writing stroke foundation. These initial scrawls usually resemble the simplistic shapes they are already being taught in preschool i.e. vertical and horizontal lines, circles, crosses and diagonal lines. All these are elements towards composing letters in the proper manner.
Numerous of them could be modified to the children of pre-school and 1st grades. Formal writing instructions based on a pencil and paper should follow all the hands on activities after Kindergarten.
12 Cool Handwriting Practice Methods with Pre-schoolers
- With mini marshmallows and toothpicks, create lines, shapes, letters or words
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Studying with ice cubes on a blackboard
- Make cookie letters using a rolling pin, and roll the dough into lines to make lines, shapes, or letters
- Trace lines, shapes, or letters onto your child’s back with your finger and have them guess what you “wrote”
- Make lines, shapes, and letters with pipe cleaners or wikki stix.
- Form letters with French fries (for once, kids can play with their food!). An alternative would be to use play dough.
- Have your older children (5+) write out a shopping list
- Use a flashlight to make lines, shapes, or letters on the wall
- Draw on the carpet with your fingers
- Draw outside with sidewalk chalk
- Make letters with glue and cotton balls (draw the letter in glue on a piece of construction paper, then place the cotton balls on top to form each letter)
- Have them lie on the floor and imitate letters with their bodies (example: curling into a circle for the letter “O”, making their body look like an “S”, and so on)
But handwriting practice does not imply having to sit down with a pencil and some paper. It can (and should!) be a whole-body experience–at least, when it comes to preschoolers.
Children like learning through the use of their hands, through movement and by experience in the surrounds. Later on stuff like desks and paper. These are early stages which are still more about learning through play and having fun and getting messy!
All preschoolers should master pre-writing lines or strokes before learning to form alphabet letters. I have a book that will show you how to do just that. Basic Shapes for Beginners: A Hands-On Approach for Pre-writing Strokes for Preschoolers is a 79-page PDF digital download that will give you 30+ activities that you can do with your child aged 2-5 over 6 weeks. It will introduce them to all the lines and shapes they need for making good letter formations and handwriting habits. You can also get it in paperback format and Kindle from Amazon.
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