Got a kiddo who struggles putting pencil to paper? He may just not be quite ready for the handwriting at that level. Children mature at different rates in handwriting readiness, just as in reading readiness.
Is he forming his letters from shapes, or is he trying to reconstruct them by “drawing” them? In other words, is he fluidly forming the letters or is he simply copying them like he would copy a drawing, with parts added? It’s important for future formation that he sees that there is a flow to the letters, not just lines that all connect. Tracing mazes can help, or simply giving him the correct shapes to follow first (see some helps below). Again, this is often simply a hand maturity thing.
According to a pediatric occupational therapist (OT) at Coastal Connections Pediatric Therapy:
“There truly is no need for a child under the age of 7 to be sitting at a table given instruction with a pencil and paper in hand! Yet, so many children are! That is the current standard in kindergarten but it shouldn’t be! Children under the age of 7 primarily learn through their senses. So what should they be doing? Doing activities that encourage open ended multi-sensory play integrating as many senses as possible!. . . But since that isn’t the case with most schools today, there are still many ways you can incorporate letter recognition and letter formation through early literacy skills without ever sitting down or using a pencil and paper! So get your child outside, get those hands messy and bodies working! That’s how we address it in our OT sessions here.”
She has more ideas for you at her Instagram page; for example, this short video.
Examples of play to build hand muscles and dexterity include:
- clay
- mud
- play-dough
- kneading bread dough
- stringing beads
- making meatballs
- picking up small things
- working puzzles
- using sidewalk chalk
- raking
- sweeping
- and more.
Here are a few resources that may be of interest:
- 7 Steps for Beginning Handwriting https://www.themeasuredmom.com/7-steps-for-beginning-handwriting-practice/
- The parent animation links (or the teacher ones) at the bottom of this article may be helpful — start with patterns, then letters.
- Activities to Improve Handwriting
- Messy Handwriting: What It Can Tell You
- Tracing/doing mazes can be good practice for left-right flow, for tracing letters, etc.
- This article on preschool writing skills can be helpful for introducing the skills your child may need help with to move forward (I know it says preschool, but it does cover some basics for you to hit and move forward)
- While it may be too soon to suspect dysgraphia, here’s some information for consideration
- Handwriting Helps for Struggling Writers
- BJUPress Handwriting 1 (pre-cursive/manuscript/print) student workbook and teacher manual (I like this one because it’s a cross between Italic and D’Nealian, and is a simple segue into cursive later)
- Getty-Dubay Italic
- Handwriting without Tears
- For more handwriting programs, see Cathy Duffy’s reviews here.
Meanwhile, you can just work on general language skills with him while you wait for his hand-motor skills to catch up to his other maturity. Here are some ideas for you for everyday activities using/reinforcing language skills.
