Pre-Writing Skills Activities For Preschoolers

Pre-writing skills are the techniques that will make a child ready for writing. It is just like you have to walk first before you run likewise pre-writing skills will help children develop fine motor skills such as hand-eye coordination which will strengthen the hand muscles. The following article provides information on Pre-Writing Skills Activities, Benefits Of Pre-Writing Skills and more.

What Are Pre-Writing Skills

Pre-writing skills involve the skills a child needs in order to learn to write. These skills include sensor motor activities which enable a child to hold and use a pencil which gives them the ability to copy, trace, draw and colour. Other fundamentals of pre-writing skills are the pre-writing shapes. These are the pencil strokes that should be typically mastered in sequential order, and to an age-specific level. These strokes include the following strokes: |, —, O, +, /, square, \, X, and Δ.

When a child starts to learn pre-writing skills, it is better to start with colouring, drawing, tracing, mazes, dot joining, etc.
After drawing you can start with colouring. Give children materials such as crayons and/or watercolour paints. Please do not focus on the end result but on the procedure.
You can help the child with joining dot to dots activities. It will increase visual-motor skills which will lead to good reading and writing.
Joining dots can be followed by tracing and mazes. It will help to increase the pincer grip. Children will learn to hold the pencil properly and it will also help for the betterment of writing in the future.

Benefits Of Pre-Writing Skills

Pre-writing skills are the basics of good and proper handwriting. It not only teaches the child how to write letters but it gives scientific strategies for all-over development of a child.

Fine motor skills get improved by prewriting skills and it is important for later academic success.
Pre-writing skills improve visual-motor development which helps to read, write and spell better.
Gives the child basic support before starting proper writing. Emotionally and mentally they got prepared by pre-writing skills.
Children become more comfortable with colour senses, pattern senses, and pincer grip that make writing comfortable for them.

Prewriting skills also help in the following ways:

It will enhance adequate muscle and finger strength.
Postural control to seat upright will also be treated.
Strong shoulders in order to facilitate arm and wrist movements
Attention span and focus will be increased by different activities
It will ignite visual perceptual skills to determine the size and shape
It will teach bilateral coordination which is to hold pencils in one hand and hold the paper with another hand.
It will motivate the children, and improve cognitive awareness.
Children will learn to manipulate objects which is the ability to pick up and use an object with one hand.
Visual-motor integration skills will also be increased. For example, if you see a football, you will show the sign with your legs to score a goal.

Activities That Support Pre-Writing Skills

To improve the sensory skills you can encourage the child to find out hidden objects in sand, rice, or in small pulses.
Finger painting also works well in terms of enhancing of child’s sensory skills.
Use play dough to make different objects and to play with them as it also helps to increase sensory development. Children can roll the playdough to make snakes or squeeze them in between their palms to make pizza. Children may squash playdough balls between their thumb and index finger. Children can also make small pieces of peas with colourful play doughs.
To increase grasp and manipulation play card games such as memory or snap. You can also encourage the child for doing trading activities with beads as it will also teach the child to manipulate different objects at a time. If not, you can simply give children coloured paper to tear up and then paste it.
Challenge children to button up the clothes,
Ask children to remove coins from a purse and put the coins into a slot in a piggy bank.
Children can scrunch up small pieces of tissue paper between their thumb, index, and middle fingers and glue them onto a picture.
Play board games such as snakes and ladders, trouble, and card games such as memory or snap.
Threading activities such as beads or lacing cards.
Play with marble races.
Tear up coloured paper for pasting or college activities.
Decorate a picture using tissue paper.
For hand-eye coordination activity, children can use sand drawing with their index fingers.
Ask children to assist in cooking activities – measuring, stirring, sifting, rolling.
Encourage a child to play with puzzles and other finger games.
You can also help children to separate balls of a certain colour in the given box from a box of different coloured balls.
Encourage children to play with Lego and building blocks which will help them to have a sense of accomplishment and also increase their fine motor development.
Providing children with different art and craft tools because it develops a child's hand-eye coordination, manipulation of objects, fine motor skills developments, and palm muscle development and also enhances creativity.
Catch A Spider - Develop children's hand/eye coordination and fine motor skills used for writing by weaving the spider through the web.
Cardboard Nail Painting - A simple activity for children to practice their fine motor and hand/eye coordination, used for developing prewriting skills while painting cardboard nails.
Rainbow Bears - Encourage children to practice prewriting skills by moving coloured bears from left to right.