Developing Handwriting Skills

Handwriting requires a complex set of skills involving the whole child. To write efficiently and effectively, a child must possess adequate skills in attention, posture, balance, perception, memory, dexterity, strength, and coordination. The following activities develop prewriting skills in preschoolers and primary-aged children:

• Lacing and Sewing:  Lacing macaroni on yarn and sewing with heavy thread and plastic "needles" are fun bilateral hand activities.  Preschoolers can handle large macaroni, while primary-aged students can sew smaller noodles and work with thinner thread.
• Finger Play:  To strengthen the small muscles of the hands needed fro pencil skills, children can imitate finger movements, play with finger puppets, trace designs in sand, and duplicate forms with Play-Doh.
• Tweezer Time:  Picking up small objects or small macaroni with a tweezer and placing them in a container will strengthen the finger and hand muscles necessary for later writing skills.  Gradually reduce the size of the container opening.
• Prewriting Activities.  To encourage appropriate finger control, break crayons and chalk into small pieces so the child has to hold the pieces with his or her fingertips.  Encourage imitating writing shapes from a model.  For some children, using an easel or other vertical surface is helpful in strengthening the whole arm and hand.  For others, light weights may need to be added to the wrist to promote further strengthening.  When the child is struggling with hand writing, an analysis of his or her approach to handwriting should be conducted by a therapist.