When your kid starts learning to write, It can be an exciting and somehow frustrating time. If you don’t try too much too soon, It can be fun for you and your kid as well. Teaching your kid to write depends on many factors such as the ease with which they can hold a pencil or a crayon, their enthusiasm to write or draw, their interest for big and small letters, and many more.
Your toddler may be a keen artist, wanting to write or draw random letters or figures everywhere. But it is our responsibility to teach them to write, which involves more than just stick figure art and random shapes. We have to teach them not to rush to the alphabet, number, or shape. Create simple lines and shapes and ask your little one to simply copy them.
HELP YOUR TODDLER TO WRITE
When we speak, it is a manner in which we express our thoughts to other people, but when we write our thoughts, that means they are being recorded in graphic symbols.
When we write we manifest our thoughts. It is often seen that when people are hesitant to speak, they pass the subject or matter through writing. Writing is the way and means through which we communicate with others. It is a way to release emotional tension.
TEACH YOUR KID TO HOLD A PENCIL
Do you worry that your kid might be gripping the pencil wrong?
Teaching your kid to hold a pencil is no walk in the park. If you start forcing your kid to hold a pencil in a particular way, it might even prove to be a difficult one. It might be even more challenging to teach your kid to hold a pencil the correct way once they develop a grip of their preference. That’s why it is imperative that you teach your little one this important skill at the right time and in the right way.
The grip requires the use of two fingers and a thumb. Teach your kid to grip the pencil by applying equal pressure from all the fingers. Give your child a short pencil, as it is easier for kids to write with short pencils, it allows a better grasp as kids have to pinch their fingers together to hold the pencil firmly.
Writing is a complex action, which involves several acts. These movements are individual efforts and need practice. One part of writing depends upon the preparation of the motor. Mechanism and the other depending upon the preparation of intellect.
STAGES OF PENCIL GRASPING
As your kid grows, they will naturally hold their crayons and pencils in different ways. The way in which a kid holds a pencil depends on how ready their shoulder and arms muscles are. Typically around 1-1.5 years of age, your child starts to develop more control over their shoulder and arm muscles; they will move on to hold a pencil with their fingers. A child develops this grasp typically around 2-3 years old. The child continues to use whole arm movements to scribble with this grasp.
From age 3.5-4 years old, your kid may move on to hold the pencil with three fingers. And at last at the age of 4-6 years, your kid starts grasping the pencil. The fingers of your little one’s now start moving independently and allow for more precise drawing and writing.
When you’re teaching to your kids to write, you are teaching them to think, as writing is a window through which all thinking starts. Our task, regarding creativity, is to help our little ones climb their own mountains, as high as possible.
Our kids are naturally creative. It is our job to give them the freedom and space to let their creativity blossom to its full potential.
“Children must be taught how to think,
Not what to think…”
