Shapes and Pre-Writing – Understanding the Link For Your Preschooler

By Mahak Arora - Updated: October 31, 2018

In this Article

Developing Pre-writing Skills for 3-year-olds

Children can start practicing writing skills from a young age. Two- and three-year-old kids are big enough to hold crayons/pencils and learn to draw shapes and lines. It’s time to kick-start different activities to develop pre-writing skills and help your child learn.

It’s a sight of joy for parents to watch their young kids holding a pencil, scribbling on a notebook, and drawing mumma and papa on the pages. While preschoolers can learn to hold pencils at a young age, it’s essential for parents to plan creative activities to help them build a strong foundation for writing. This includes defining the fine motor skills of writing like using effective hand positions to write, using a pencil in the right manner, making the necessary hand movements, as well as smoothening the progress of making shapes, letters, lines and patterns.

Developing Pre-writing Skills for 3-year-olds

1. Teaching Proper Positioning of The Wrist

Strength in the hands is important for grasping pencils/crayons/pens, and for the proper positioning of the wrists. It gradually leads to writing readiness for preschoolers. Have your kid write on paper that’s taped to a wall. While she stands and writes, she’ll unconsciously be working on strengthening her arms. Another option is to have her colour her favourite cartoon character while lying on her belly.

2. Getting a Grip on Writing Tools

Coloring is a favourite activity among different writing games for preschoolers. You can easily replace crayons with pencils once your child starts learning to write. In the meantime, use crayons and show her how to hold them properly. It can be a bit challenging but with time and effort, she’ll learn to perfect her grip and hold it correctly.

3. Scribbling

Scribbling is not a waste of time. It can serve as practice to mastering how to hold writing tools. Have your child scribble on sheets of paper, on a slate or on a small blackboard. Encourage her to scribble vertical and horizontal strokes, create circles, squares and other shapes. Scribbling in various directions improves the movement of the wrist and is one of the best pre-writing activities for preschool children. Confining her to colour within the borders of a picture should be left at bay for a while, until she’s comfortable using a pencil/crayon.

4. Introducing Activities beyond Pencils and Crayons

Learning to grip writing tools is not the only skill that kids should learn. Give them an opportunity to explore with paint brushes, fingers, q-tips, etc. Using different size brushes will allow them to learn to hold objects with confidence.

5. Encouraging Play Dough Activities

Let your child experiment with play dough to make different shapes like balls, snakes, stars and other fun designs. Such pre-writing activities for kids help build hand strength. They also act as outlets for imagination and creativity.

Kids love to play with their parents and also learn from them by mimicking their actions. Show them how things are done and participate in activities. They’ll learn faster and more effectively.

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