Developing fine motor skills and hand strength is crucial for children learning to write. Games involving fine motor skills, such as holding paper clips or digging pennies out of playdough, can help prepare children for writing. Encouraging art and strength-building activities like swimming or climbing can also improve handwriting. Varying calligraphy practice with fun activities like writing letters in sidewalk chalk or playing a guessing game with finger writing can make it more enjoyable. If a child continues to struggle with handwriting, they may need to be tested for learning disabilities like dysgraphia.
Learning to write takes a lot of practice. It also requires the development of fine motor skills and hand strength so that the practice does not become fiddly. In some cases, despite practice, children learning calligraphy may not improve. This suggests that the child is not yet ready to develop these skills or may require the support of an occupational therapist to improve their skills.
You can start helping facilitate writing skills long before children actually start writing. Games that involve fine motor skills can help develop these skills and can be fun activities for children. One such game involves a child getting carried away and holding a certain number of paper clips. Write down the number and try to increase the number of staples held each time.
Another game is to bury the pennies in playdough or silly dough and have your child dig them out. Then have the child bury the pennies again for removal. A water fight with the squirt bottles improves motor skills, as does pulling weeds or teaching a child to use chopsticks. These small activities can help children prepare to write.
Encourage children to use art in any way they like. Let them sculpt, draw or paint and proudly display the results. Comfort with experimentation in art can lead to more comfort when holding a pen or pencil.
Strength in the hands can improve handwriting and can usually be achieved through different sporting activities such as swimming or climbing monkey bars. You can also use racquetballs and have the kids give them a squeeze before throwing them at another kid or at yourself.
Calligraphy practice can get laborious and is boring for some children. You can vary your practice using writing skills in fun or real ways. For example, you can ask a child to write a shopping list, or you can ask the children to write letters in sidewalk chalk. Also, write notes to your child using italics, so that he becomes more recognizable.
A fun game to play with a child is to take turns writing letters with your finger on the child’s back and have them guess the letters. The child then gets a turn writing letters on the parent’s back. Also, ask them to write down a few things each day. You can ask a child to make a list of the chores he has done or to ask a question in a note to be answered at the dinner table. Involving the whole family can help encourage your child to improve their handwriting.
When a child exhibits poor handwriting skills despite practice, this may suggest that the child is not ready to develop such fine motor skills. In public schools in the United States, it is often possible to request that the child be tested for possible learning disabilities. Poor handwriting and a consistent inability to produce class work may indicate dysgraphia, the inability to write letters consistently. Special help can be given to these children, who may also find it easier to learn to write than to write.
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