Ready for Writing???

Have you ever thought about how children’s physical development has an impact on the way they write? In a recent post on Instagram Claire from Play Hooray explains this ….

Picture shows the difference in bone development between a pre-schooler’s hand a child of 7.

This is why in the early years it is so so important to develop gross and fine motor skills. Claire has shared some starter ideas in her post.

Here’s some sensory play ideas that can also support physical development and skills:

• Coloured rice bowls and spoons
• Cooked spaghetti and scissors
• Waterbeads
• Shaving foam
• Dried mixed beans and scoops.
• Cornflour and water to make gloop.
• Tongs and Tweezers with pom poms

We also need to foster a love of writing and feelings of success. If we try too soon to get our youngest children to write, we can turn them off which may be compounded by them not being physically ready for writing.

Lastly, here’s some food for thought. A child could be in year 2 and still not be 7 when leaving year 2. How can writing experiences be scaffolded for children that may find writing challenging? They may have fantastic ideas, but the act of writing inhibits these ideas from being shared, what can you do instead:

• Break down the task of writing so that the practice of handwriting is kept separate.
• Provide opportunities to complete writing objectives using alternative means of recording e.g. scribe, keyboard, audial recording etc.
• Investigate IT programmes that can scaffold writing such as Clicker.

Has this changed your thinking about writing in early years and key stage 1? Will you change your practice in some way? We would love your feedback on this blog including any tips you may have for other schools.