Building a Winner; Putting Your Child on the Right Track for Education, The Beginning of Writing

By Roslyn Haber and Marlyn Press

Roslyn A. Haber, Ed.D and Marlyn Press, Ed.D  are Associate Professors at Touro College Graduate School of Education 

The ability to write legibly and rapidly improves the writing skills of students in later school grades.  Teachers form judgments about the quality of children's ideas based on the legibility of their writing.  Handwriting is linked to other aspects of literacy and content area learning. The better your child's writing skills, the better s/he will learn and demonstrate what s/he knows. For young children, handwriting is a difficult task.  In order to improve handwriting skills, children need practice.  Even with the use of computers, children who can write fluently, legibly and correctly can type better.  The following are some suggestions to help your child develop an interest in writing and increase the skills needed for writing.

1. Provide your child with a variety of tools and surfaces to write on.  Have various sizes and colors of markers, pens, pencils, and crayons.  Encourage him/her to experiment with them.  Have children express ideas in pictures and tell stories about the drawings.
2. Teach your child the names of shapes and how to make each shape using various materials.  Teach the basic handwriting lines of down-up, up-down, left-right, right-left, slanted lines, and clockwise and counterclockwise circles.   Children can trace, copy and color shapes. 
3. Use blocks, stamp pads, songs and computer games to teach your child the name, sound and an associated word for each letter of the alphabet.  At the same time, teach your child to write the letter.  Have your child write it in the air and on your back.  Write the letter on her/his back and see if she/he can tell you what letter it is.  Have the child make letters out of clay, water and other materials around the house. Have them write the letter in the sand box as you say it.
4. Teach your child to dress him/herself.  Working with buttons, snaps, hooks and eyes, and zippers will improve fine motor skills.  Teach your child to tie his/her shoes correctly.  Do not always use Velcro closures. 
5.  Arts and crafts projects improve hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.  Cutting and pasting art projects are an example.  Let your child help you with paper work.  Children can cut out articles and recipes for you.  They can collate papers and staple them together. 
6. Various finger play activities will help children develop the muscles of the fingers and lower arms and are fun.  Among the titles of these finger plays are Five Little Squirrels, The Beehive, My Hands, Where is Thumbkin, and Eensy Weensy Spider.  You can make up movements for any song or poem you like.  Some websites with finger play activities are: www.wccls.org/rhymes, www.rif.org/kids/learning, www.preschoolrainbow.org
7. Let your child help with daily routines such as setting the table, pouring juice, wiping the table, opening and closing containers, and stirring, shaking and mixing while cooking.