Fine Motor Skills for Future Writers PDF.pdf - Circulation User

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Lizzi Ogle – Tremont District Library 1 Early Literacy Tip Tuesday October 27th – Fine Motor Skills for Future Writers Hi everyone and welcome to our eleventh week of Early Literacy Tip Tuesdays! So far we’ve discussed three of the five Early Literacy Practices: Talking, Singing and Reading. This week and next week, I want to discuss the practice of Writing. This is a skill that many people might not associate with children not in school yet, but learning to hold a drawing utensil, learning how to scribble, and then learning how to draw shapes are all part of what it takes to learn how to actually write letters and then write words! For this first video we’ll be discussing Fine Motor skills activities that help later with developing writing skills. A lot of these activities are aimed at children 1-3 years of age, but don’t be afraid to try them out with older preschool aged children. All ages can benefit from exercising the muscles in the hand and fingers. Fine Motor activities help develop their finger control and hand motions, learn to cross their midline, and can even help them develop a dominant hand. Here are some activities to try out at home to help develop these skills! Activities that use finger grasp and strength help to strengthen muscles that will be used when kids are writing. Babies are great at grabbing onto things and refusing to let go, and older toddlers love to pick things up and sort them. These are super easy skills to make into a game with things you have at home! Fill a bucket or bowl with pom-poms, beans, other other small toys and give your child a pair of child-safe tweezers or a big spoon. Encourage them to try to pick up or scoop out certain things out of the bowl. This is great for learning to control a handheld object. If your kiddo wants to throw the spoon aside and go back to scooping with their fingers, that’s okay! This is a fun fine motor skills activity and they’ll pick the spoon back up when they are looking for a challenge again. Lizzi Ogle – Tremont District Library 2 There are lots of great activities designed to build finger strength and dexterity as well. A great one for little fingers is sticking things in and out of other things. Try giving your toddler a cup full of straws and ask them to take them out one at a time, or give them an empty cup and spread straws all around them and ask them to put them back in the cup. To increase the strength needed for this kind of activity, stick straws or feathers into balls of playdough or floral foam. An important skill for children under 6 to work on is crossing the midline, or learning to use both hands on either side of their body. Many activities in life will require these skills, like getting dressed, tying shoes, turning pages in a book, and eating with a knife and spoon. When babies are born, their midline is very restrictive to them and they will mainly use their left hands to reach out to items on their left and their right to reach to their right. As babies grow into toddlers and toddlers grow into preschoolers, they will automatically begin to cross their midline when they play. Here are some activities that help encourage crossing the midline and in turn help with future literacy skills like reading and writing! Sweeping! Find a child sized broom or a broom light enough that they can control and let them sweep toys across the floor. Using both hands to control an object that goes from one side of them to another helps them to learn to cross their midline. If you want a smaller version of sweeping, but maybe a bit messier, use a tabletop surface covered in shaving cream and let your child use a squeegee or a piece of cardboard to scrape the surface clean. Not only is this a great way to learn to cross the midline, it’s also a great sensory activity and fun to play in. Clapping games and fingerplays. Encouraging children to clap along to a beat or slap their opposite knees in a song helps to build rhythm skills and helps them learn to use their hands on the opposite or middle line of their bodies. Finger plays also help to Lizzi Ogle – Tremont District Library 3 improve finger dexterity and help children to learn how to do different things with their hands at the same time. If you want to work holding an art utensil and crossing the midline, let your child draw on a vertical surface or a large horizontal surface. An upright canvas, or a large piece of paper on a wall are great for encouraging children to draw large shapes that use whole body movement, not just arm movement. If you’re nervous about encouraging drawing on paper on walls, try putting a large piece of paper on the floor! Children will still need to use their whole body to draw lage shapes and still be practicing those vital midline skills. While your child is enjoying all of these fine motor skills you might start to notice that they are using their right or left hand more than the other. This is great! Studies show that the more exposure to fine motor skills a child has before the age of 5, the sooner they will decide on a dominant hand and begin perfecting motion with that hand. Letting them figure out which hand is dominant for them is great and will help them to more easily learn writing and crafting skills when they first enter school. Remember, neither hand is better. A child will choose whether their left hand or right hand is better for them and continue to develop their dexterity from there. You might be listening to this and saying, I already do things that are similar to all these activities. And if so, that is great! Play is how children learn and making fun activities that focus on Fine Motor skills is one of the best ways to prepare them for other skills they will learn later in life. If you want more ideas for activities to do, check out the links I added in the description. If you’re on Pinterest, there is always a plethora of ideas from other crafty parents and educators waiting to be enjoyed. Try searching “fine motor activities for toddlers or preschoolers” or “beginner writing skills”. You're bound to find something both you and your child enjoy and benefit from as well. Lizzi Ogle – Tremont District Library 4 I hope you all enjoyed this Early Literacy Tip Tuesday. I’ll see you again next week for more talk on writing with our pre-literacy learners! Sources:  https://www.pre-kpages.com/handwriting/  https://www.growinghandsonkids.com/which-fine-motor-skills-important-for- handwriting.html  https://empoweredparents.co/crossing-the-midline/