What age did you teach your child to write?

go_cat

Not wanting to be a pushy mummy what age did you teach your child to write?

My son is just over 3 and haven't a clue when to start!!

Thank you in advance for any responses:D

daveyjp

Our daughter has been writing her name since she was about 3, but that's full time nursery for you - they always need to find them things to do!

To get some pencil control start by drawing lines in dots and getting him to join them up, then move on to letters. If you can, do lots of sheets and get them photocopied.

JBD

I was advised by my childrens school to not teach them to write. That is because they have specific methods and it is better if the child learns them from scratch. Instead it is better to give them plenty of crayons, pencils, tracing paper and so on so that they can get good control over the pencil. I have to say both of my boys have quite nice neat writing.

balletshoes

My DD was a full-time nursery child too, and was writing her name, letters of the alphabet, simple words "dog" etc when she was 3. I didn't teach her, nursery did. I did teach her to read and recognise letters though. We had Letterland books, numbers and words books, all brightly coloured and DD loved them. WH smiths etc stock suitable educational aids, age-suitable, for reading, numbers, writing etc.

PinkLipgloss

I'd say 3 is too early for handwriting.

As an infant teacher I know that JBD is right - the school will probably have a set 'standard' way of writing each letter of the alphabet and its really really hard to "un-teach" a child so I'd leave letters for now.

However I used to be a pre-school teacher and you can give him a huge advantage and head start by focusing on his fine motor skills. For example using play dough:

• make balls of various sizes, roll them using both hands and squeeze them into different shapes
• roll 'snakes'
• use 'snakes' to go over letters (e.g. write his name in large letters on scrap pieces of paper - arrange snakes on top of letters)
• cut snakes using playdough scissors
• use rolling pin to flatten out dough, and cookie cutters to cut out shapes

These playdough exercises will help him with colour, shape and name recognition whilst, importantly, building up his hand muscles.

You could even make your own playdough with your son focusing on the maths - e.g. "2 cups of flour" etc

I'd also recommend working on the 'pincer' grip. Get a pile of clothes pegs and teach how to 'open' them using his thumb and index finger. Place the pegs around scrap cardboard etc. To make it more fun you could cut out animal faces (e.g. cat) and make the pegs the 'whisker'.

Another fun activity is threading beads. Take a shoe lace with a knot at one end to begin in and thread beads through (progress to string with smaller beads as his skill/control improves). My three year old students would do this for hours if I let them away with it! Be super careful that he doesn't try to swallow any.

If your son develops really good fine motor control he's sure to make great progress when he does handwriting lessons in school.

Make sure you keep all of the activities fun and upbeat and don't expect him to have a long attention span. It's much better to do it for 5/10 mins over a period of months rather than pushing it hard at the start and losing all of his future interest.

Lisa x

lauren_1

At 3 I would be more inclined to get large flashcards of the alphabet (or just paint your own on to card) and work at 2 letters (capitols and lower case) a week, she can trace her finger around the letter, encourage her to colour in a letter where you have drawn the outline, think of words starting with that letter, then once she knows and can identify ALL the letters of the alphabet then start with pen and paper.

SwipernoSwiping

Mine was writing her name at around 3, she did attend a free nursery placement - but that was all.
I would suggest following your son's enthusiam. Does he like drawing, making a mess ( as parents refer to sticking and glueing) Is he aware of the alphabet?
Like previous posters have said, schools don't encourage you to start as they all have their own ways. But you could:
collect leaflets - Stick and glue logos down to create an alphabet.
Look for shops that have a particular letter in. ( spot letters that are in his name)
He will soon learn to recognise his own name with games rather than "teaching" him to write it.

Mine was very much into typing on a computer like mummy (can't think why....!) so we used the cbeebies website alot for letter based games too.
HTH!

choccymoose

There is no expectation for a child to be able to write their name until the end of reception year, as others have said provide plenty of opportunities to make marks and develop fine motor skills, using gloop, jelly, paintbrushes and water, spray bottles, play dough. Rather then t go the dotty letter route or trace over cards let your child's emergent writing come through, you will be amazed, model writing for them and as others have said point out the letters that begin her name etc so she becomes familiar.
Just a thought for you to understand what it feels like for a child to copy over things, we do this with the early years staff that we train write a sentance with your normal writing hand, then copy over it with your other hand same with dotty letters.

A famous quote thats out there is 'if we spoon feed children all they will learn is the shape of the spoon.' I you get the skills right that lead onto writing then everything else will fall into place :j

Felicity

PinkLipgloss wrote: »

I'd say 3 is too early for handwriting.

As an infant teacher I know that JBD is right - the school will probably have a set 'standard' way of writing each letter of the alphabet and its really really hard to "un-teach" a child so I'd leave letters for now.

However I used to be a pre-school teacher and you can give him a huge advantage and head start by focusing on his fine motor skills. For example using play dough:

• make balls of various sizes, roll them using both hands and squeeze them into different shapes
• roll 'snakes'
• use 'snakes' to go over letters (e.g. write his name in large letters on scrap pieces of paper - arrange snakes on top of letters)
• cut snakes using playdough scissors
• use rolling pin to flatten out dough, and cookie cutters to cut out shapes

These playdough exercises will help him with colour, shape and name recognition whilst, importantly, building up his hand muscles.

You could even make your own playdough with your son focusing on the maths - e.g. "2 cups of flour" etc

I'd also recommend working on the 'pincer' grip. Get a pile of clothes pegs and teach how to 'open' them using his thumb and index finger. Place the pegs around scrap cardboard etc. To make it more fun you could cut out animal faces (e.g. cat) and make the pegs the 'whisker'.

Another fun activity is threading beads. Take a shoe lace with a knot at one end to begin in and thread beads through (progress to string with smaller beads as his skill/control improves). My three year old students would do this for hours if I let them away with it! Be super careful that he doesn't try to swallow any.

If your son develops really good fine motor control he's sure to make great progress when he does handwriting lessons in school.

Make sure you keep all of the activities fun and upbeat and don't expect him to have a long attention span. It's much better to do it for 5/10 mins over a period of months rather than pushing it hard at the start and losing all of his future interest.

Lisa x

Fantastic post thank you. As a mother of a nearly 3 year old I really appreciate the advice you have shared with us all.

chelle230

my DS is now 4 and half and has been writing his name for around 6/7 months, but has been drawing and holding pencils/crayons etc. from about 2 and a half.
he can now also do all the other letters and numbers. he also goes to a pre-school within a nursery and this has helped him tremendously.

PinkLipgloss

No problem Felicity - glad it helped!

As choccymoose mentioned if parents/guardians focus on developing these important fine motor skills handwriting will come to their children easily when they practice in school.

Oh - forgot to mention - you can get some great playdough tool sets (scissors, cookie cutters, mini rolling pins etc) in pound shops.