start having your child write when they are young

Chai Mommas want to send their prayers to the families and children who have witnessed or been through this devastating tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, God give you strength and our prayers are with you.

Having your child write when they are young is going to be worthwhile when they get to Pre-K and kindergarten…. I always have my kids trace letters and numbers that are dotted on paper or even on any sign or book, it is ok if it is not straight or perfect, as long as they are getting the concept of writing and tracing the letter and knowing the letter, that is what counts!kayden

I feel that at an early age you can encourage children to do anything. If you started reading to your children when they were infants and toddlers, you can start teaching them to how to write! One of my friends decided to buy an essay to start exposing their kids to higher levels of writing in preparation for college even at this early stage in their development. But even if they just scribble on a piece of paper, in my opinion, the fact that they can understand the hand and eye coordination is a “plus” and helping them hold a pen/pencil the correct way. I give my kids pieces of paper to scribble on and encourage them to write the alphabet. It is a great way to keep your children busy while you are prepping for dinner or on a phone call. Sometimes when I am making dinner, I will give my kids a marker/crayon and paper and shout out letters and numbers for them to write. Even though they sometimes may not write it correctly, I still encourage them and guide them on how to write it correctly by dotting the letter or number and then have them trace it a few times and then ask them to try on their own without the dots. It is a great game to play that also teaches them.

Writing Tips To Try With Your Children:

  1. You can buy writing paper for your kids so they have the lines to to guide them or you can print out this and use it. Writing paper helps guides your child to write their letters and numbers then just regular paper.
  2. Have you child write in birthday cards, Christmas cards, mother’s day card, any card that you send or give to your family or friends. It encourages them to write something meaningful even if it is just a scribble or a line. You can also dot out what you want them to write and they can trace it! My daughter loves to write her name and knows how to write Happy Birthday all by herself.

nwriting

3. Buy books that have writing paper with alphabets and numbers already in it and have them trace the letters or numbers and then there usually is a blank area where they can write on their own. Here are some books I use: “>Big Kindergarten Workbook, “>Handwriting:Printing, and “>Big Pre-school Workbook.

tracing

4. Have your child doodle, draw, use their imagination when you hand them paper and crayons/pencils. Let their imagination go and get creative. This helps children “be themselves”, and also helps them with recognizing their movements with the writing tool and understand that it makes a mark on their paper and they have control.

5. Have your child trace letters and numbers with their fingers, it can be anywhere on a sign, book, on your t-shirt, or on their toys. Having them trace the letter or number helps them recognize to start from top to bottom and to read from left to right. Another way for younger children to trace their letters and numbers is make raised letters on index cards or paper buy using glue with seeds,glitter, sand or paint where children can feel the texture when they trace the letter.

texture letter

I encourage you as a parent and teacher that having your child write when they are younger is very beneficial to them when they do actually start to write and recognize letters in grade school. I have seem a tremendous growth in my children’s writing skills from just having them write or doodle from when they were young. All the pictures in this post are pictures done by my daughter and son, I am a proud Momma! 😉

 

 

 

 

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