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According to English Language Syllable (2010) in Singapore, Learning Objective 1 (LO1) for writing in early years include penmanship which may also be regarded as the mechanism of handwriting. LO1 also includes the ability to have good writing posture and hand grip of writing tools which are emphasized through pre-writing activities that focuses on their finger dexterity and fine motor skills. LO1 may be viewed as foundation skills which lead to complex objectives such as using accurate and consistent spelling, and generating writing for a variety purposes and audience. To support that writing is an important tool, a study conducted by Graham, Gillespie and McKweon (2012), states that learning to write is a definite versatile tool that can be used to accomplish a variety of goals within the aspect of language and literacy development. This supports the English Language Syllable in Singapore as it is evident that learning to write in LO1 leads to greater achievements in LO2, 3 and 4.

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According to Ministry of Education Singapore (2018), writing in preschool years includes:

the use of drawing

mark making

symbols

writing with invented and conventional spelling to communicate ideas and information

This is regarded as a set of writing guidelines which preschoolers are encouraged to achieve and this relates to the concept of writing. A study conducted by James (2017) supports this guideline with an emphasis that children with better writing skills show greater neural activation in areas related with working memory and an increased overall activation in reading and writing activities. This emphasis evokes the importance of achieving writing goals during the early years of children, which makes writing overall as an important literacy objective. The learning areas and goals attached in this pin serve as a clear guideline for teachers and parents on the specific objectives to be achieved, and how they can use activities (as seen in other pins too) to do so.

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The key stage outcomes of pre-school education emphasise the need for children to build up confidence and social skills and be equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills and dispositions for life-long learning

Learning Areas

Pre-school curriculum should be planned carefully for the holistic development of children. The following six learning areas have been identified for this purpose:

Aesthetics and Creative Expression

Discovery of the World

Language and Literacy

Motor Skills Development

Numeracy

Social and Emotional Development

All the areas of learning and development are inter-related; development in one area influences and is influenced by the development in other areas. They cannot be separated from each other in reality. An integrated approach to learning helps children draw meaningful connections across the different learning areas and understand how knowledge and skills are linked.

Learning Goals

A set of learning goals for each learning area has been defined and these learning goals reflect widely-held expectations about what children should know and be able to do upon completion of Kindergarten 2. Some children will have exceeded the expectations at the end of kindergarten. Others, depending on their developmental needs, will continue to work towards some of these goals.

Learning Area

Learning Goals

At the end of K2, children should be able to...

Aesthetics and Creative Expression

Enjoy art and music and movement activities

Express ideas and feelings through art and music and movement

Create art and music and movement using experimentation and imagination

Share ideas and feelings about art and music and movement

Discovery of the World

Show an interest in the world they live in

Find out why things happen and how things work through simple investigations

Develop a positive attitude towards the world around them

Language and Literacy
For English Language:

Listen for information and enjoyment

Enjoy listening to stories, rhymes and poems

Understand and follow one- to two-step verbal instructions

Speak to convey meaning and communicate with others

Express personal needs and wants

Talk about personal experiences with others

Ask simple questions

Respond appropriately to 'who', 'what' and 'where' questions

Read with understanding and for enjoyment

Have print and book awareness

Recognise upper and lower case letters of the alphabet

Recognise beginning and ending sounds in words

Recognise familiar/sight/high frequency words

Show understanding of the story/rhyme/poem by responding to questions and talking about the characters and events

Use drawing, mark making, symbols and writing with invented and conventional spelling to communicate ideas and information

Recognise and write their own name

Form upper and lower case letters of the alphabet

Copy words and phrases with understanding of basic writing conventions (e.g. word spacing, appropriate use of upper and lower case letters)

For Mother Tongue Languages:

Have an interest in learning Mother Tongue Language

Actively participate in Mother Tongue Language activities

Enjoy Mother Tongue Language activities

Develop foundational language and literacy skills

Listen with understanding

Speak to convey meaning

Recognise words and read with assistance

Make marks, draw symbols and write letters/characters to represent ideas

Be aware of the local ethnic culture

Be aware of customs and traditions

Interact with friends, family and the community

Motor Skills Development

Enjoy through participation in a variety of physical activities

Demonstrate control, coordination and balance in gross motor tasks

Demonstrate control and coordination in fine motor tasks

Develop healthy habits and safety awareness at home, in school and at public places

Numeracy

Recognise and use simple relationships and patterns

Match, sort and compare things by one attribute (i.e. according to colour, shape or size)

Put things in an order according to size or length and sequence events

Recognise, extend and create simple patterns (i.e. AB patterns)

Use numbers in daily experiences

Rote count to at least 10

Count reliably up to 10 things

Compare the quantities of two sets of things and use 'more', 'less/few' and 'same as' appropriately

Match number name/numeral/number word to the quantity of a set of things (within 10)

Recognise that the quantity if a set of things is the 'same' irrespective of the starting point of counting

Recognise that the quantity of a set of things stays the same regardless of the arrangement

Recognise numbers (1 to 10) in numerals and in words

Form numbers (1 to 10) in numerals

Name parts that form the whole in quantity (e.g. 2 and 3 makes 5)

Recognise and use basic shapes and simple spatial concepts in daily experiences

Recognise the four basic shapes (i.e. circle, square, rectangle and triangle)

Use the basic shapes to form other figures (e.g. use two squares and a triangle to form a boat)

Name position (i.e. top/bottom, in front of/behind), direction (i.e. up/down, left/right) and distance (i.e. far/near)

Social and Emotional Development

Develop an awareness of personal identity

Manage their own emotions and behaviours

Show respect for diversity

Communicate, interact and build relationships with others

Take responsibility for their actions

The learning goals have been translated into knowledge, skills and dispositions to guide teachers in designing and providing meaningful experiences for children in each learning area.

Find out more about the learning goals and key knowledge, skills and dispositions in the NEL Framework. More information about the learning goals and key knowledge, skills and dispositions for Mother Tongue Languages is available in the NEL Framework for Mother Tongue Languages.

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The key stage outcomes of pre-school education emphasise the need for children to build up confidence and social skills and be equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills and dispositions for life-long learning Pre-school curriculum should be planned carefully for the holistic development of children.

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According to Seo (2018), before beginning the act of handwriting, children would first need to develop readiness in forming letters through the growth of large and small muscles, fine motor skills and in-hand manipulation skills. Without the support of these skills, children are at risk of developing bad handwriting habits which may result in poor handwriting legibility -  **shape of the letters, the size of the letters, the arrangement of the letters, and the amount of space between the letters**

This pin consists of 10 examples of activities that aim to enhance children's large and small muscles, fine motor skills and hand manipulation ability. Through the link attached, resources related to written communication checklist and fine motor checklists are readily available for teachers and parents to adopt in understanding the aspects children should develop, and to also assess them accordingly based on the checklists available.

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What are writing readiness (pre-writing) skills?

Pre-writing skills are the fundamental skills children need to develop before they are able to write. These skills contribute to the child's ability to hold and use a pencil, and the ability to draw, write, copy, and colour. A major component of pre-writing skills are the pre-writing shapes. These are the pencil strokes that most letters, numbers and early drawings are comprised of. They are typically mastered in sequential order, and to an age specific level. These strokes include the following strokes: |, -, O, +, /, square, \, X, and Δ.

Why are writing readiness (pre-writing) skills important?

Pre-writing skills are essential for the child to be able to develop the ability to hold and move a pencil fluently and effectively and therefore produce legible writing. When these skills are underdeveloped it can lead to frustration and resistance due to the child not being able to produce legible writing or to 'keep up' in class due to fatigue. This can then result in poor self esteem and academic performance.

What are the building blocks necessary to develop writing readiness (pre-writing)?

Hand and finger strength: An ability to exert force against resistance using the hands and fingers that allows the necessary muscle power for controlled movement of the pencil.

Crossing the mid-line: The ability to cross the imaginary line running from a person's nose to pelvis that divides the body into left and right sides.

Pencil grasp: The efficiency of how the pencil is held, allowing age appropriate pencil movement generation.

Hand eye coordination: The ability to process information received from the eyes to control, guide and direct the hands in the performance of a task such as handwriting.

Bilateral integration: Using two hands together with one hand leading (e.g. holding and moving the pencil with the dominant hand while the other hand helps by holding the writing paper).

Upper body strength: The strength and stability provided by the shoulder to allow controlled hand movement for good pencil control.

Object manipulation: The ability to skilfully manipulate tools (including holding and moving pencils and scissors) and controlled use of everyday tools (such as a toothbrush, hairbrush, cutlery).

Visual perception: The brain's ability to interpret and make sense of visual images seen by the eyes, such as letters and numbers.

Hand dominance: The consistent use of one (usually the same) hand for task performance, which allows refined skills to develop.

Hand division: Using just the thumb, index and middle finger for manipulation, leaving the fourth and little finger tucked into the palm stabilizing the other fingers but not participating.

How can I tell if my child has problems with writing readiness (pre-writing) skills?

If a child has difficulties with writing readiness they might:

Have an awkward pencil grasp.

Have difficulty controlling a pencil for colouring, drawing or writing.

Show a tendency to use their whole hand to manipulate objects rather than just a few fingers.

Have poor endurance for pencil based activities.

Display messy and/or slow handwriting.

Have difficulty staying within the lines when colouring.

Apply inappropriate pressure to the paper for pencil based activities (either too heavy and frequently breaks the pencil, or too light and 'spidery').

Have poor upper limb strength (weak shoulders).

Have difficulty coordinating both hands together for two handed tasks.

Have poor hand-eye coordination.

Be verbally skilled but has difficulty showing this on paper (i.e. writing, drawing or colouring).

Not meet the pre-writing expectations outlined below.

What other problems can occur when a child has writing readiness (pre-writing) skill difficulties?

When a child has writing readiness difficulties, they might also have difficulties with:

Behaviour: The may avoid or refuse to participate in pencil and other fine motor tasks.

Self esteem: when they compare their work against that of their peers.

Academic performance: They find it more difficult and be slower completing these tasks, contributing to slower skills acquisition (e.g. learning to write their name, or draw a person).

Self care: The ability to (age appropriately) master independence in everyday life activities (such as dressing, eating, cleaning teeth, brushing hair).

Avoidance: Preferring to get others to perform fine motor tasks for them under their direction, rather than actually doing themselves (e.g. "Daddy, draw me a house", or "build me a rocket", with refusal to do it themselves).

What can be done to improve writing readiness (pre-writing) skills?

Hand dominance: Determine and reinforce the dominant hand use in precision task performance.

Experience: Encourage participation in activities that involve grasping and manipulating small objects such drawing, puzzles, opening containers, threading or other related tasks.

Poking and pointing: Practice tasks that use just one or two fingers (not all at once) e.g. poking games.

Praise and encouragement when your child engages in fine motor activities, especially if they are persistent when finding an activity difficult.

Hand and finger strength (e.g. scrunching, paper, using tweezers, play dough, pegs).

Sensory play activities (e.g. rice play, finger painting) to assist the development of tactile awareness.

Hand-eye coordination: Practice activities that involve hand-eye coordination (e.g. throwing and catching) and crossing the mid-line (e.g. reaching across the body to pick up items).

Upper limb strength: Encourage play activities that develop upper limb strength (e.g. climbing ladders, wheelbarrow walking).

What activities can help improve writing readiness (pre-writing) skills?

Threading and lacing with a variety of sized laces.

Play-doh (playdough) activities that may involve rolling with hands or a rolling pin, hiding objects such as coins in the play dough or just creative construction.

Scissor projects that may involve cutting out geometric shapes to then paste them together to make pictures such as robots, trains or houses.

Tongs or teabag squeezers to pick up objects.

Drawing or writing on a vertical surface.

Every day activities that require finger strength such as opening containers and jars.

Pre writing shapes: Practice drawing the pre-writing shapes (l, -, O, +, /, square, \, X, and Δ).

Finger games: that practice specific finger movements such as Incy wincy Spider.

Craft: Make things using old boxes, egg cartons, wool, paper and sticky or masking tape.

Construction: Building with duplo, lego, mobilo or other construction toys.

Why should I seek therapy if I notice difficulties with writing readiness (pre-writing) skills in my child?

Therapeutic intervention to help a child with writing readiness difficulties is important to:

Improve ability in, and persistence with, fine motor tasks for academic performance.

Increase school readiness skills for your child's emotional comfort and ease of transition into school.

Help a child to develop age appropriate self care tasks such as doing up buttons and zips.

Avoid my child becoming disengaged in an academic environment due to difficulties completing colouring, drawing and writing.

Avoid frustrations experienced by parents, teachers and children when the child is struggling to remain engaged in academic activities.

Help develop and maintain my child's positive sense of well being through belief in their pencil skills for academic and play tasks.

Ensure that my child doesn't fall behind their peers in development of handwriting or drawing.

If left untreated what can difficulties with writing readiness (pre-writing) skills lead to?

When children have difficulties with writing readiness, they are might also have difficulties with:

Meeting (preschool or school based academic criteria due to poor pencil skills and rapid fatigue.

Difficulties mastering letter and number formation.

Learning to write their own name or draw age appropriate pictures (pre-school age).

Excessive pressure and anxiety in a school-aged child due to difficulties 'keeping up' in class.

Completing worksheets or tests due to difficulty answering all written questions within the allocated time.

Poor self esteem when a child compares their abilities with their peers.

Difficulty manipulating items for construction (puzzles, lego).

What type of therapy is recommended writing readiness (pre-writing) difficulties?

If your child has difficulties with writing readiness (pre-writing) skills, it is recommended they consult an Occupational Therapist.

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Writing Readiness (Pre-Writing) Skills - Kid Sense Child Development

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What are writing readiness (pre-writing) skills? Pre-writing skills are the fundamental skills children need to develop before they are able to write. These skills contribute to the child's ability to hold and use a pencil, and the ability to draw, write, copy, and colour. A major component of pre-writing skills are the pre-writing shapes.

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Supporting Writing through Play (Handwriting)

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Supporting Writing through Play (Handwriting)

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This pin indicates a list of example of how teachers and parents can support emergent writers through guided play and role play. This relates to the concept of writing and according to Friedrich, Wishart, and Peterson (2018), literacy researchers have stated that play in early childhood relates to literacy as providing a context within which the emergence of literacy through manifestation and exploration. Fairy door is an example of a play-based activity that we have adopted in our preschools whereby children were encouraged to communicate with the imaginary person the door through creating content in letters and placing in the mail box outside the door. Through this activity, the children generated content of texts using conventional letters that relate to phonetic sounds. This activity links with developing writing through guided play and this link suggests several ways to do so.

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Exploring narrative through a range of play-based experiences helps children to step into the world of the picture book and to explore it more completely. This is important throughout the primary school years.

Small World Play
Opportunities for small world play that are based on a known story promote talk about the shape of the story. They encourage children to discuss key elements such as character and plot and to make decisions about how they create the setting. As they play, whether as individual or in cooperation with others, they practise their narrative skills and 'try on' the different characters using different voices to bring them to life

Puppets
Making puppets helps children to act out ideas for characters and their narratives. This helps them to rehearse the language and shapes of stories and ensure that dialogue is authentic.

Diorama
A diorama is a scene that captures a moment in time. It is a way to explore and experiment with ideas for key scenes in a narrative in a small world representation of the story. They allow children to be creative and innovate with ideas and to explore how characters behave in certain settings or scenarios. Dioramas are another tool for developing ideas to enhance writing.

Role Play
Role play and drama provide immediate routes into the world of a story and allow children to explore texts actively. Through role-play and drama, children are encouraged to experiment with the 'what if?' of plot and make it their own. Role-play is a particularly effective way for children to inhabit a fictional world, imagining what the world of the story would be like, and illuminating it with their own experience. It enables children to put themselves into particular characters' shoes and imagine how things would look from that point of view. Through drama and role-play children can imagine characters' body language, behaviour and tones of voice in ways that they can draw on later when they write.

Improvisation
Children being free to improvise ideas through drama is another key tool for exploring how characters behave in imagined scenes and situations. Children can bring their ideas from response to illustration or small world play to life; physically embodying characters and exploring their characteristics, emotions and reactions to story events. Music or soundscape can be used alongside this to add atmosphere or to suggest scenarios.

Freeze-frame
Freeze-frames are still images or tableaux. They can be used to enable groups of children to examine a key event or situation from a picturebook and decide in detail how it could be represented. When presenting the freeze-frame, one of the group could act as a commentator to talk through what is happening in their version of the scene, or individual characters can be asked to speak their thoughts out loud.

Thought tracking
This technique is often used in conjunction with freeze-frame. Individuals are invited to voice their thoughts or feelings aloud using just a few words. This can be done by tapping each person on the shoulder or holding a cardboard 'thought-bubble' above their head. Alternatively, thought tracking can involve other members of the class speaking a chosen character's thoughts aloud for them.

Hot-seating
In hot-seating, one member of the class role-plays a central character from a picturebook and is interviewed by the other children. This activity involves children closely examining a character's motivation and responses. Before the hot-seating, they need to discuss what it is they want to know and identify questions they want answering. If children have no experience of hot-seating, the teachers may initially need to take the role.

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Developing Ideas through Play and Role-Play

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Exploring narrative through a range of play-based experiences helps children to step into the world of the picture book and to explore it more completely. This is important throughout the primary school years. Small World Play Opportunities for small world play that are based on a known story promote talk about the shape of the story.

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'ABC Tracing and Phonics' Application on iPads/tablets (Handwriting)

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'ABC Tracing and Phonics' Application on iPads/tablets (Handwriting)

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This resource uses technology to support handwriting for children. The application encourages children to use their index finger or a stylus to trace on the letters, practicing their letter formation writing. This supports the concept of handwriting as it involves the understanding and practice  accurate letter formations. This is supported by James (2017), that providing handwriting experiences can have significant effects on children's ability to recognize letters which in turn, contributes to the ability to write words. Practicing letter formation also contributes to phonological awareness, whereby children form words based on their understanding each letter's phonetic sound (Defior & Tudela, 1994). Thus, this resource is helpful in enhancing children's handwriting skills. Attached in this pin is a video on how the application helps children in practicing letter formation writing.

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A-Z Phonics Tracing ABC with Dave & Ava  | Best Educational App for Kids

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Providing Opportunities to Write within the Physical Environment (Pre-writing & Handwriting)

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Providing Opportunities to Write within the Physical Environment (Pre-writing & Handwriting)

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One example of an opportunity in the physical environment that we have been carrying our in our individual classrooms is the sign-in policy, whereby children have to mark their attendance upon their arrival in school. This routine allows our students to attempt writing, improve their finger dexterity and phonological awareness based on the letters in their names. Most definitely, this routine not only expose them to writing, but they also make writing a lot more exciting as it is the first thing they look forward to do when they walk into the classrooms. This relates to the concept of writing, and according to Byington and Kim (2017), children gain knowledge and interest for writing when they are continuously exposed to prints and writing in their environment. Providing a range of opportunities in the children's physical environment provides teachers and parents awareness on their children's fine motor strength and their progress in writing. Attached in this pin are some other examples of providing writing opportunities for children in their physical surroundings.

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Warm-up activities for handwriting lessons

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This pin comprises of a list of activities to build phonological awareness in children. Phonological awareness relates to the concept of writing, as according to Vernon and Ferreiro (1999), phonological awareness supports the alphabetical writing system through the use of phonetic sounds, blending, segmenting and counting phonemes. When educators assess children's proficiency in writing, the use of letters to show correspondence between each of the letter and the unit sound, has shown to be beneficial in children's writing development. Thus, implying that phonological awareness is an important notion for children to gain as they begin their writing journey.

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Kids in pre-K and kindergarten can play with words, rhymes, and syllables they hear in everyday speech to prepare for reading. This is called phonological awareness.

Parents and caregivers can introduce phonological awareness during reading, singing, or play activities.

Kids who struggle with these kinds of activities may be showing early signs of reading issues.

There are a few ways kids in pre-K and kindergarten can get ready to read. One way is by noticing and playing with the words, rhymes, and syllables they hear in everyday speech. This called phonological awareness .

Kids also start to tune in to the individual sounds or phonemes in words. This is called phonemic awareness. The more you can build on these early "pre-reading" skills, the more prepared your child will be for the challenge of learning to read.

Good phonological awareness starts with kids picking up on sounds, syllables and rhymes in the words they hear. Read aloud to your child frequently. Choose books that rhyme or repeat the same sound. Draw your child's attention to rhymes: "Fox, socks, box! Those words all rhyme. Do you hear how they almost sound the same?"

It also helps to point out repeated sounds. For example, if you're reading One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, ask your child to listen to the /fffff/ sound in fish. (Really stretch the sounds out at first.) Outside of story time, try pointing out other words that start with the /fffff/ sound, just like in the book.

Ask your child to pick out the rhyming words in books without your help. Ask, "Did you hear a word that rhymes with fox?" Teach your child nursery rhymes and practice saying them together. Or say four short words, like log, cat, hog, frog. See if your child can pick out the word that doesn't rhyme.

Make syllables easier to understand by clapping the "beats" your child hears in words. Let's say you choose the word elephant. Pause as you say each syllable - e-le-phant - and clap out each syllable together. You can also get your child up and moving by having your child stomp or jump with each syllable.

Guessing games such as "I spy" can be used to work on almost any phonological skill. Want to practice noticing what sounds word begin with? Try "I spy something red that starts with /s/." Want to work on rhymes? "I'm wearing something warm that rhymes with boat."

Singing in general is a great way to get kids rhyming. There are also good songs teachers use to focus on other kinds of phonological and phonemic awareness skills. "Apples and Bananas" is a fun one. You can search online for more songs about phonemic awareness or ask your child's teacher for recommendations.

Sound blending is an important skill for early readers. They need to put sound units - phonemes - together to be able to read a word smoothly. You can help your child start working on this by putting together sounds of different words. Ask your child to connect the beginning sound with the rest of a word. For example, say, "Start with /p/ and add /ig/. What do word do you hear if you put them together?"

Have your child work on hearing a word and taking it apart. Start by using compound words such as cowboy, baseball or firefly. Tell your child, "Say the word cowboy. Now take away boy. What word is left?"

You can also use LEGO bricks to make this point. Give your child two attached LEGO bricks to represent parts of the word. Then have your child physically take the LEGO pieces apart while removing part of the word.

8. Get creative with crafts.

Kids respond to hands-on learning. Try making a collage of items that start with the same sound using pictures from magazines. Sock puppets can be another fun way to work on these skills. Make one that likes to munch on words that start with a certain sound. Let your child have fun "feeding" the puppet different objects or pictures that start with that sound.

There are many resources and ideas online to work on phonological and phonemic awareness skills. Check out YouTube for teaching videos, Pinterest for games and crafts, or the app store for nursery rhymes, sound games, and songs.

Whatever you do, keep the activities short and fun. If your child finds one activity too difficult or boring, try something different. If you find that activities of this type are too hard, talk to your classroom teacher . Your district's early childhood department may also be able to help you get extra help.

There are many ways to include sound play in your daily routine with your child.

Kids who play with sounds, syllables and rhymes when they are young are gaining important reading readiness skills.

If these skills are really difficult for your child, you may want to seek extra support in this area.

About the Author

About the Author

Kelli Johnson, MA is an educational speech-language pathologist, working with students from early childhood through 12th grade.

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9 ways to build phonological awareness in pre-K and kindergarten

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Kids in pre-K and kindergarten can play with words, rhymes, and syllables they hear in everyday speech to prepare for reading. This is called phonological awareness. Parents and caregivers can introduce phonological awareness during reading, singing, or play activities. Kids who struggle with these kinds of activities may be showing early signs of reading issues.

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Designed by Cambridge University Press, Penpals for handwriting is a resource tool that provides children with physical preparation for handwriting, correct letter formation ability to join along, practice speed, fluency and developing a personal style in writing. Penpals can be delivered through the use of digital media and activity books that complement varying writing abilities. This tool highly relates to the concept of writing and it is supported by the Cambridge University Press (2016), whereby children are expected to achieve objectives such as comfortable grip of handwriting tools, correct formation of letters, consistency in sizes of letters and spaces in-between. Given that Singapore's curriculum is linked with the British standard of learning (Gupta, 2010), Penpals can be viewed as a reliable tool that offers writing development in preschoolers.

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Penpals For Handwriting | Cambridge University Press

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Penpals for Handwriting (second edition) | Penpals for Handwriting is a complete handwriting scheme for 3-11 year olds.

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LEGO Handwriting Mats – Read, Build, and Write

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LEGO Handwriting Mats – Read, Build, and Write

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This resource uses Lego toys to develop children writing skills. This pin offers a creative idea to guide and practice writing conventions. According to Nurturing Early Learners (2013) Framework, “Children should be able to demonstrate that writing begins with the use of prints to construct messages that convey meaning to others.”
Along with fine motor skills, visual-motor also plays a vital role in achieving good handwriting whereby one has to know to start from top to bottom and left to right when forming letters or sentences (Which Fine Motor Skills are Important for Handwriting?, 2017). By arranging the lego brick according to the sight words, children not only work on their fine motor skills but also their letter structure and placement. The Web link attached in this pin depicts how a child can improve their handwriting using Lego bricks.

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This pin uncovers possible engaging activities parents may carry out with their children to develop pre-writing skills at home, which may also contribute to their development of writing skills and interest in schools. According to Darling (2007), the Mesosystem of Bronfenbrenner's Ecological System Theory indicates that the partnerships schools have with parents greatly contribute to the holistic growth of children. Furthermore, according to Bindman, Skibbe, Hindman, Aram and Morrison (2014), research has stated that parents of preschoolers who practice writing with their children on a regular basis appear to benefit children in gaining strong letter knowledge, phonological awareness, concepts of prints and printed words. This pin provides teachers and parents the opportunity to discuss some activities that could be carried out at home so that children come into schools, ready to participate in writing activities. On the other hand, these activities may also be carried in schools first, and act as reinforcement activities guided by parents at home.

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Writing - it's an important form of communication and a key part of education. But in today's technology-driven world, kids aren't given many opportunities to practise and improve their ability to write. This leaves many parents wondering how to improve their child's writing skills.

It takes time to develop strong writing skills, and it can be a tough task to accomplish. Thankfully, there are many things that parents can do at home to help improve children's writing skills.

From fun activities to daily reading and writing sessions, these tips on how to improve kids' writing skills will help your child build his or her skills in no time.

Improve your child's communication skills with these simple and fun kids' writing activities.

14 Activities To Improve Kids' Writing Skills

1. Read Up

Regular reading is a stepping stone to better writing and helps kids' strengthen their writing skills. It helps expand children's vocabulary and shows them different ways of using words. This also makes it easier for them to use these words in their own writing.

With younger children, make sure you're reading together every day and encouraging their love of reading as they grow. Start reading early-many children who devour books grow up to become strong writers themselves. Tweet This

2. Make it Fun!

Play games and activities that encourage writing. Crossword puzzles and word games are great for everyone. Little ones will especially like the "write the word" game: where they search for items and write down the word when they find each item.

3. Create Writing Worksheets

For young children just learning to write, try creating a worksheet where they can trace letters and words. Write out letters and words, place another piece of paper on top, and have your child trace onto the blank piece of paper. You can also create a connect-the-dots game by having your child trace along dotted lines and then tell you which letter or word she or he finds.

4. Try Different Materials

Switch it up by writing with something other than a pen or pencil. Sidewalk chalk on the driveway, finger painting, or a salt writing tray are all fun writing activities that will also help build kids' writing skills.

5. Write Letters

Today, writing letters is a bit of a lost art. Encourage your child to write letters to friends or family members. Distant family members will especially love receiving handwritten letters and it's a great way to work on improving writing skills for kids.

Pen-pals are also a fun idea, or you can even write letters to each other and leave them around the house to find!

6. Encourage Journalling

Keeping a journal is a great way to express thoughts and ideas while also working on improving children's writing skills. Plan an outing to pick a fun journal with your child and encourage them to write in it as much as possible. Make it a part of his or her daily routine.

7. Create a Writing Space

Set aside a little corner in your house that is completely devoted to writing. Having an area dedicated solely to writing will help free your child from distractions so he or she can focus on practicing writing skills.

8. Invest Time

Make sure your child knows you're available to help with spelling or proofreading whenever he or she needs it. When you make writing time a priority for you, it will make it easier for your child to improve his or her writing skills.

9. Connect Their Interests

Think about your son or daughter's favourite book series. Or maybe he or she is obsessed with dinosaurs. Whatever his or her interests, connect them to writing. Have your child write a new short story about his or her favourite characters, or let him or her create a story all about dinosaurs.

10. Create Story Prompts

A fun way to improve kids' creative writing skills is to have them write short stories.

Cut out pictures from a magazine with different characters or locations, or write down different words. Place these in a container or glue them to cards to use as writing prompts for creating a unique story. This also makes a fun activity for the whole family to join in.

11. Model It

There's no better way to learn something than to see someone else doing it. Let your children see you writing, often. When writing is a normal part of your daily life, it will come more naturally to them. Anything goes: a simple grocery list or letter to the teacher, holiday or thank you cards, or even a sweet note to your child.

12. Use Technology to Your Advantage

There's no getting around the fact that technology plays a huge part in our lives. Use it to your advantage by having your child create a blog. This can help your child work on improving his or her writing skills by encouraging frequent writing habits.

13. Make it Part of Your Daily Routine

Make sure there's time each day to do some writing in one way or another. Whether it's writing a grocery list, writing in a journal or composing a letter, practicing writing every day will go a long way to improving kids' writing skills.

14. Praise Their Work

Show lots of interest in your child's writing and stories. Ask questions, celebrate when he or she brings home a good piece from school, and encourage his or her writing as much as possible.

Improving Writing Skills Can Be Fun

Writing is an important practical life skill. While developing great writing skills requires lots of time and patience, you can help your child with these simple writing exercises for kids.

Lots of reading, frequent writing time in a special writing area, and incorporating fun writing activities and games will all go a long way to giving writing skills a boost.

Need Extra Help?

If your child needs extra help improving his or her writing skills, Oxford Learning can help. Our English tutoring program helps develop kids' writing and comprehension skills, from word recognition to paragraph writing. Contact us today!

Related Resources

5 Reasons Writing By Hand Is Good For The Brain
Understanding Literacy & Your Child
5 Ways To Help Kids Learn At Home

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How To Improve Writing Skills For Kids: 14 Easy Tips

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Writing - it's an important form of communication and a key part of education. But in today's technology-driven world, kids aren't given many opportunities to practise and improve their ability to write. This leaves many parents wondering how to improve their child's writing skills.

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This pin shows a list of materials that teacher and parents can use to support emergent writers to develop their handwriting. This relates to the concept of writing, as according to Maria Montessori ("Theories of Early Childhood: Maria Montessori, Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky - TouroSGOTTESMAN"), the fundamental principles of learning development are independence, observation, following the child, correcting the child, prepared environment, and absorbent mind. The writing accessory acts as a mediator or visible reminder in guiding children to identifying their dominant hand or use tripod grip while holding a pencil.

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This resource uses school Readiness Assessment tool to identify the dominant hand of a child during the emergent stage. The tool offers parents and teachers an elaborate checklist with different activities that are to be conducted twice or thrice to determine a child predominate hand.
A study conducted on how fine motor skills and executive functional contribute to kindergarten achievement. The study reveals that with guided activities and individualized training, children achieved a high level of Executive function and fine motor skills (Cameron et al., 2012). By identifying the child’s dominant, the teachers and parents will be able to support children fine motor skills development through appropriate activities (Levin, 2019). This pin provides tools to determine the dominant hand of the child

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Developing Fine Motor Skills through 'Light and Shadow' Play to Support Handwriting

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Developing Fine Motor Skills through 'Light and Shadow' Play to Support Handwriting

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This resource uses ‘Light and Shadow’ play to support fine motor skills as pre-writing skills for children. The pin encourages children to work on their finger isolation, thumb opposition, and other hand positions. Reggio-inspired approach strongly values using light as a material to help support active exploration and discovery. Light and shadow play involves using a projector light or other light sources to create shadows of children's hands and fingers ("Light and Shadow Play", 2017). Through this activity, the children use their hands to imitate the world around them, in turn developing their fine motor skills.

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Supporting Children's Growth of Fine Motor Skills for Handwriting

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Supporting Children's Growth of Fine Motor Skills for Handwriting

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This resource recommends parents and teachers several simple play-based activities to develop children's fine motor skills. The video highlights ways of engaging children with cost-efficient and straightforward materials. Through this kind of structured and guided play, children would be able to acquire fine motor skills that support handwriting. Wood et al. (1976), states that scaffolding consists of the activities provided by the educator or more competent peer to support the student and lead them through the zone of proximal development. Thereby, this pin will be able to encourage and advance children learning according to their capability with guidance from teachers and parents. The YouTube link attached in this pin depicts how parents and teacher can promote fine-motor activities and other hand-related skills with a wide range of materials to manipulate.

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Supporting Pre-writing Skills through Activities

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Supporting Pre-writing Skills through Activities

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This pin indicates how teachers and parents can encourage children to practice writing skills through simple structured, guided play. This relates to the concept of pre-writing skills, and according to Friedrich educational principles and practices, young children learn by playing (Santrock, J. W. 2015), This concept is also supported by Piaget theory, during the concrete operational stage one requires a hands-on environment. He believes that by holding and manipulating materials, the actions of the body will improve the mind” and enhance the learning skills (Santrock, J. W. 2015). Thus play is crucial in a child’s life during their formative years (Otchic, 2018). Through this activity, the children will get to acquire the basis of writing skills in a fun and engaging way. This activity is an example of how play can be twitted to introduce, reinforce, and master essential skills such as writing. Engaging the child in this unique learning experiences sets the foundation for learning and literacy.

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'MotionCrayon' Application for Children on iPads/tablets (Pre-writing Skills)

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'MotionCrayon' Application for Children on iPads/tablets (Pre-writing Skills)

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This resource uses technology as a platform to develop children's pre-writing skills. The application offers children to create free drawings based on their current thoughts or the environment they are in at the moment. According to Nurturing Early Learners (2013) Framework, "writing begins with children using prints to construct messages that convey meaning to others". Therefore, this tool is highly able to provide children with the opportunity to share the meaning of their creations with their teachers and parents, developing an understanding that writing has a purpose and that print is meaningful (Wu, 2009), through the conversations held between them with their teachers and parents. The YouTube link attached in this pin depicts how children can manipulate the application.

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MotionCrayon - Drawing and Coloring app for kids

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Assessment Tool-Evaluating Children's Eye-Hand Coordination and Fine Motor Skills

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Assessment Tool-Evaluating Children's Eye-Hand Coordination and Fine Motor Skills

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This assessment tool encourages children to replicate geometric patterns to evaluate children hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Physiotherapist, Pam Versfeld see drawing as an essential skill through which children develop the strength and coordination in the shoulder, wrist, and finger that required for engaging in a handwriting task (Skills for Action, n.d.). Thus, this assessment tool helps observe the child during work and score their drawing. From the obtained scores, the current child level of hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills is determined. From which, teachers and parents may provide support to develop a child's motor skills as a form of pre-writing skill, based on the current achievement stated in the assessment too. Attached in this pin is a template of drawing and evaluating questions to evaluate children learning.

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Developing Fine Motor Skills through Origami, Supporting Writing Skills

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Developing Fine Motor Skills through Origami, Supporting Writing Skills

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This resource uses origami art to develop children handwriting skills. The pin offers children a wide range of origami ideas. This supports the concept of handwriting as it involves eye hands coordination, sequencing skills, also patience and attention skills overall origami allows you to develop fine motor skills and mental concentration. A study carried out by the (Bae, J. H. 2013), indicates that engaging children in origami making is an effective way to improve their finger dexterity. The link attached in this pin offers different ideas teachers and parents may adopt in teaching origami to children.

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Developing Fine Motor as Pre-writing Skills through Nursery Rhymes

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Developing Fine Motor as Pre-writing Skills through Nursery Rhymes

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This resource emphasizes finger play through rhymes, in developing fine motor skills. The Finger Gym book (Developmental games- To improve language, Fine Motor Skills, and Handwriting) by Galina Dolya and Judy, (2016) offers a wide range of rhymes and songs. The meticulously designed songs requires children to perform a variety of large and small motor skills movement. The 'Dynamic systems theory of motor development emphasizes the existence of a close relationship between fine motor development is essential for children's emergent and later writing skills (Kamm, et al., 1990). According to Bezemer, J., & Kress, G. (2008) , "young children begin their writing journey creating meaning by combining multi-modal symbolic system or modes such as talking, drawing, singing, and role-playing, long before they engage in the mature written linguistic form their culture." Thus, this resource helps enhance children's fine motor skills as part of developing their writing skills. Attached in this pin is an example of a rhyme song with the fine motor activity sheet and instruction.

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Self-Assessment tool to evaluate children handwriting

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Self-Assessment tool to evaluate children handwriting

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This pin provides an ecologically valid, occupation-based self-assessment tool on handwriting. Through this tool, Children are expected to take an active role in self-evaluating their current writing, set goals for improvement, and monitoring progress. The assessment tool consists of a fun and engaging child-centered card game. Stanford university states that self-assessment is a valuable learning tool as it enables students in evaluating their work and learning progress. According to Mark Van Doren (2019), “The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery” (as cited in Kallick & Costa, 2019). This assessment tool dives deep into evaluating the three significant sub-tests fine motor, visual motor, and traditional handwriting performance assessment. Thus, the evaluation pin “Here’s How I write consist of 25 cards (a sample and 24 test items). Two cards asses the affective aspects of writing (e.g., I feel that I write well; I like to write.), three cards measure physical factors (e.g., I sit up straight in my chair), and the remaining 19 cards assess performance components (e.g., I stay on the line when I write).  Overall this pin sets the tone for reflection and self-improvement