4 tips that can help develop your child’s fine motor skills and give them boosted writing confidence.
Published: October 19, 2020
By: Kumon North America
Author Website: Click to Visit
As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, children across the country saw a dramatic increase in screen time. Time that was previously spent in the classroom with a pencil to paper quickly turned into hours of sitting in front of a camera on Zoom.
Whether your child is back in the classroom or learning virtually, this time could potentially have had a significant impact on certain developmental milestones for younger students, especially the development of their fine motor skills.
These skills in particular involve the function of tiny muscles that control the hand, fingers and thumb. Fine motor skills will help your child learn how to do important tasks independently, such as writing, drawing, zipping and buttoning their clothes and feeding themselves.
Developing strong handwriting skills at an early age is a critical building block for reading, writing and communication. Experts often cite fine motor skills as another key factor of kindergarten readiness. Distanced learning that may have delayed your child’s introduction to pencil-to-paper makes this an important time to pay attention to the development of these skills.
The four tips below can help develop your child’s fine motor skills and give them boosted writing confidence, whether they are back in the classroom or learning from home.
1. Develop Hand Muscles & Dexterity
Have you ever noticed your child’s grip on the pencil is a bit unstable? Most likely their pencil is too long for their hand. One solution could be using a shorter pencil that matches the size of their hand. With a shorter pencil, students have a more stable grip and steady their handwriting. Pencils that have a harder lead can often lead to hand fatigue in an early learner.
Once the tiny muscles that control the student’s hand strengthens, they will have better control of the pencil and be able to draw longer lines. Practicing tracing in relatively wide spaces with short lines to progressively longer, thinner lines will help children to become comfortable with moving their hands in different angles and directions.
2. Read & Follow Directions
As students are developing proper pencil skills, they are being introduced to pre-reading skills as they are following directions. While students are not expected to read independently before Kindergarten, it’s important to help them begin developing word association skills.
3. Build Stamina
As students become more confident and independent, they will strengthen their stamina for writing. A young student just learning how to write may get tired after just a few words. The goal for your child should be to build this stamina up to writing full sentences with ease.
4. Proper Pencil Pressure
Once students become more comfortable with their pencil grip, they should start practicing proper pencil pressure. This includes learning the amount of hand strength it takes to draw lines by connecting two pictures as well as practicing the direction of writing by drawing from top to bottom and left to right.
