The sight of a tiny tot, wielding a tinier pencil to write its first alphabet brings explosions of joy to the parents. Are you yet to experience it? Well, if you are confused about whether your toddler is too young, this blog will be a great help! There is nothing like being too young to write! Even if that means the alphabet ABCs look like ancient Egyptian carvings. Don’t worry, if you start early, clearer writing is soon to follow. An easy way would be to start with pre-writing skills.
What are pre-writing skills?
It is simply teaching your baby to write! These pre-writing skill activities will help your toddler write early and open up an entirely new vista for exploration. By having an early flair for writing, who knows your baby might grow up to be the first doctor with legible handwriting! Or the next Chetan Bhagat!
So now comes the million-dollar question, how to develop pre-writing skills?
Don’t worry, these are simple exercises. You don’t need to break your head on how to do it. All you need to know is what are they, like:
- Teaching how to hold the pencil: At first, they might be a bit shaky but don’t worry it will pass. Simply put the pencil in their tiny hands and lightly help them trace impressions on the paper. At first, the results could be an abstract painting, but your little Picasso would soon learn to do it all by himself.
- Drawing: Start with simple shapes instead of complicated alphabets. They will enjoy it. The innocent smile of sheer success upon completing the first circle will surely melt your heart!
- Copying: Draw some random shapes or alphabets (at later stages) and encourage them to copy the same on another piece of paper. Make sure the shapes are large enough to make it simple. After all, kids learn from their parents.
- Colouring: This activity will improve their finger coordination and in turn help them write. The site of different colours would excite their playful minds and spark their imagination. Spoiler Alert! Get ready for some serious artwork! Once your little knights learn to draw, they will show no mercy to your walls!
By following all these strategies, you are sure to have an all-round pre-writing skill development for your child. Speaking of which, have you heard about Kangaroo Kids? There, they employ experts who are masters of all these strategies. You see in all this communication is the key pointer. Once the child is guided properly their imaginations know no bounds.
Benefits of pre-writing skills for preschoolers
- Enhance creativity!
- Improves complex cognitive ability
- Improve motor ability
- Improve the visual perception
Once introduced to the possibility of creating new shapes and words (obviously by cute spelling mistakes) their creative juices run wild. This will improve their overall brain development. You might as well get ready for your Lil’ pumpkin’s first gripping tale of a missing cookie, the plot twist of which will even put Shakespeare to shame!
The hand and the eye have a complex relationship. The ability to be able to guide your hand based on what you see is called complex cognitive ability. Teaching your child pre-writing skills will boost this development.
For example, this will happen once they try to copy a letter or a shape. Automatically, they will try to coordinate their hand movement with their eyes.
The ability to move any part of the body requires the proper functioning of muscles (motor activity). Body movements and coordination can be improved. When the child is taught to use the pencil at a tender age, the hand and finger coordination will improve. This will improve the overall motor skills. However, you must pay special attention to his/her posture.
Pre-writing skills for preschoolers have several plus points. One of them is understanding objects by seeing them and responding accordingly. This is called visual perception. Once your child learns to copy she/he has already started mastering the skill.
Importance of pre-writing skills for preschoolers
- Developing a good Handwriting
- Prepare them for the nursery
- Improve Self-esteem
- Enhance the finger and hand strength
The entire point of the activity is to teach your child to learn to write early. Children learn to exert the right pressure on the pencil. Once this is taken care of, the handwriting will improve by itself. With little guidance, practice and discipline your child will have neat handwriting in no time.
By learning to write and draw your toddler will be more prepared for all the activities in the nursery. This will also help them grasp everything that is being done in the class. With a better understanding, their academic grades are bound to be good enough for you to be a proud parent.
With improved cognitive and motor skills they will be able to ace all activities done in class. Consistent success and good academic performance will boost their confidence. This will improve their overall well-being and improve their self-esteem.
Pre-writing skills are all about practice. All of these will greatly work out the hand and finger muscles. The net result is improved pencil grip and increased overall arm strength. This will help him/her to write long paragraphs and keep up with dictations.
Conclusion
Pre-writing skills are an utmost necessity for the overall development of a preschooler. At first, they might not be pros but then it doesn’t harm to learn a skill. Especially the one that will be needed throughout life. A reliable education partner like Kangaroo Kids can come in handy. An institution that can help you embark on this fantastic journey to teach your kid the most important life skills.
