Teaching your child handwriting skills can be a very exciting time in your toddlers’ life and yours! Try to keep in mind these tips when introducing your toddler to writing, not only is writing a basic and primary form of communication but it can also help them with their fine motor skills.
The Most Important Rule: Don’t Rush!
Your toddler first needs to explore their creative side with regards to art. Allow them to try different writing implements such as markers and crayons – supervised of course, you wouldn’t want any new art on your walls! Toddlers love to eat everything they can get their hands on, so make sure they are nontoxic.
Research has been done that shows toddlers are able to differentiate some basic differences in writing and pictures, such as writing is usually smaller than the drawings that they draw, and this may begin to show in your toddlers’ drawings. This shows they are able to differentiate between writing and pictures and shows that they are trying to reproduce these differences, even if they are not “writing” an actual word.
Improving your Toddlers Fine Motor Skills.
One of the best things a parent can do to help their child with handwriting skills is to improve their fine motor skills, certain fine motor skill activities can help your toddler with their handwriting skills.
Activities such as picking coins up from a surface, using a spritzer and playing with a peg will help with their fine motor skills needed in writing.
Using Formal Writing Tools
Most parents think it is important to start their toddler with a crayon and paper or a worksheet, but this isn’t the case! Most parents introduce worksheets to early to their children when it comes to writing skills. Try and let them use different mediums to explore writing, such as a whiteboard and a chalk board. There are more abstract methods that can be used such as shaving cream on a yoga mat, and having your toddler trace letter in the foam, this helps to get your toddler learning without them even realising they are!
Reluctant Toddler
Sometimes your child may be reluctant to learn to write, and this is okay as it is a new experience to them and they might not be comfortable with the idea yet. Don’t rush them, it may be possible to reintroduce them to the idea later if they are quite young. It is also important to try and see why they may be reluctant and try and remedy this. Some of the issues could be low confidence in the area, it may be best to introduce a rewards chart for them, hand eye coordination, it may be best to play some ball activities with them.
You can help your toddler on their writing journey by noticing when is the best time for them to start writing and helping them improve their fine motor skills. It is always important to remember not to rush your child into anything and allowing them to start when they feel ready, also try to incorporate fun activities when teaching them to write rather than worksheets and books. Just like reading readiness, writing readiness begins at home too!
Parkland Children’s Academy takes pride in providing the highest quality service to your children. We offer a safe and toxin-free playground as well as secure access when dropping off and picking up your children. Enrolling your child in preschool can also help develop your toddlers fine motor skills and help them on their road to learning how to write!