Blog Entry: 8th October 2021
When will my child write? What do we do to encourage the children to write?
This is a question we get asked a lot. As you know by now, we do not foreword plan any activities, instead we plan in that moment with your child, using high quality adult led interactions which reflect what your child is interested in within that moment of play. We develop writing skills in every area of our environment from role play, to the garden, to story telling, small world or construction play (to name just a few!).
The gross motor skills involved in writing mainly refer to the postural control that is required for writing. Efficient control of the larger muscle groups in the neck, shoulder and trunk is necessary to maintain stability in order for the fingers and hands to move to be able to write. We build on every child's gross motor skills as a fundamental baseline in encouraging them to write. You'll notice our garden has plenty of opportunities to explore, climb up/down or across, hang from, go under or over, throw, catch, dig, build, transport in or carry. Each of these large motions will develop your children's core muscles used for writing.
Fine motor skills can also be described as dexterity and involves the coordination of small muscles and movements of the hands, fingers, and eyes. Fine motor skills development starts with basic grasps like the palmar grasp and then the pincer grasp and eye-hand coordination. This refers to the skill of picking up an item and being able to move it around in your hand, or manipulate it. We work on these skills by using lots of open ended resources which can be fiddly to play with- small world characters/transports, dressing up clothes, doing up zips or buttons, shapes, natural objects found in our environments such as acorns and flowers.
Hand-eye coordination is one of the most important parts of the learning process. It helps your child track the movements of their hands with their eyes, which is essential for reading and writing. Because your child also uses their visual system with hand-eye coordination, it can greatly impact their writing skills and handwriting as they use their eyes to guide, direct and control their hand movements across the page as they write or draw, letters and words.
