How to teach a child to write

General rules

Exercise no more than 15 minutes a day

Writing is a complex skill that requires coordinated work of the arm muscles, developed visual memory, spatial perception, attentiveness and perseverance. It is difficult for a preschooler to master all this at once. Therefore, take it as a rule: pee a little - have a rest. Overload is bad for the development of the child's body.

Take your time

Research shows Young Children’s Knowledge of the Symbolic Nature of Writing that children begin to see the difference between words and pictures as early as three years old, regardless of whether they can read or not. However, at such an early age, babies are not yet ready to write: their brains will develop the necessary skills only by the age of 5-7 years.

You can check whether you are ready to write like this:

Give the child a piece of paper and offer to draw something.
Ask to paint over part of the picture.
If the kid will constantly turn the sheet of paper and hardly change the direction of the line, it means that he is not yet ready to write letters.

Do not force

If the child does not want to learn letters, do not force him. Engage in better exercises that develop fine motor skills, spatial thinking and memory.

Marina Suzdaleva psychologist, early development teacher, author of books for parents, creator of the Passionate Moms Club project

There is no formal requirement for a future first grader to be able to write. At the age of 5-7, it is worth giving preference to preparing the hand for teaching writing at school.

Present information in a playful way

Do not make classes an obligation, and do not turn yourself into a strict teacher. Teaching a preschooler should be like an entertaining game.

According to Marina Suzdaleva, it is necessary to exclude any negative emotions, assessments and criticism.

Don't teach handwritten letters

Primary school teachers ask parents about this. The point is that textbooks have different ways of writing letters.

Lyubov Chulkova neuroeducator-psychologist, speech therapist, writer, primary school teacher, developer of manuals for children, parents and teachers

Parents will teach how to connect and write letters in one way, but the requirements for the program will be different. And the child will have to relearn.

If the parents and, most importantly, the kid still have a desire to master calligraphy, start practicing the elements of the letters. Such exercises can be found in preschoolers' handbooks.

Preparation - 3-5 years

Develop fine motor skills

To learn how to write, a child needs to have developed fine motor skills. This means that he should easily manipulate small objects and perform Do fine motor skills contribute to early reading development? actions that require coordinated work of eyes and hands. For example, sculpt from dough or paint.

To prepare your preschooler's hand for writing, try the following exercises:

Cut the shapes out of the paper along the path.
Draw and color with crayons, felt-tip pens and paints.
Sculpt from dough and plasticine.
Create appliques.
Build models from the constructor.
Work with mosaics.
Crochet and cross stitch.

Exercises should be performed regularly at a pace that is comfortable for the child and in conjunction with adults.

By the way, when the fingers move, the activity of the frontal and temporal parts of the brain, which are responsible for speech, increases: children with developed motor skills speak better.

Teach to sit at the table

And before the baby starts to write. Then he will be too carried away by the letters and will not be able to control his body.

Remember that an incorrect position at the table leads to poor circulation and diseases of the spine, and delays the development of the chest.

Whenever the child sits at the table to eat, draw, read or do something else, control his position.

The baby should sit up straight without resting his chest on the table. Shoulders level. The head is slightly tilted forward. The distance from the eyes to the table is at least 30–35 cm. The hands should be placed so that the elbows protrude slightly beyond the edge of the table.

Both feet are on the floor and bent at the knees at a 90 degree angle. The left leg (if the child is right-handed) or right (if the child is left-handed) can be slightly extended.

Show how to hold a pencil

First, take thick triangular pencils: it's easier to explain how to put your fingers on them. When you switch to round, you can use the training attachments for correct writing.

It is best to show your child how you hold the pencil yourself, and mark the places where the tool should be located on the children's fingers with a pen or felt-tip pen.

Some educators require the tip of the pencil to point towards the right shoulder for right-handers or the left for left-handers to improve handwriting.

You can also do a simple exercise. Take the pencil with your right index finger and thumb where the paint ends. Grasp the opposite edge with your left hand and turn the tool over.

If the toes slide out, straighten them. It will be very difficult to retrain the child later. Make sure that your baby does not grip the pencil too hard. Do finger gymnastics during breaks.

Many educators agree that it is desirable to instill writing skills with a pencil rather than a fountain pen. The child will not be afraid of his mistakes (you can erase an unsuccessful option with an eraser), and also learn to control the degree of pressure.

Lyubov Chulkova neuroeducator-psychologist, speech therapist, writer, primary school teacher

Teach you to navigate on a piece of paper

The child must master spatial thinking and be able to navigate on a piece of paper. This will help him in the future to read the size and location of the letter on the line, to understand the number of elements included in it, to choose the slope and span. Graphic dictations will help you master this skill.

Master the alphabet

Before writing, your child needs to learn the alphabet and learn to read. There are many techniques for this: alphabet and primers, cubes of Zaitsev, "Skladushki" and "Teremki" by Voskobovich, dynamic cubes of Chaplygin. Choose the method that suits your child.

Teaching elements and block letters - 5-7 years

Draw with your fingers

You can learn letters by drawing them on razor foam, cereals scattered on a baking sheet, misted glass, in the air, chalk on the asphalt, or finger paints on paper. Letters can be folded from seeds and sculpted from plasticine. When pronouncing a letter, you need to name the sounds corresponding to it and remember the words starting with it.

It is important to associate the letter with the subject it begins with. And it is correct to call the name of the letter and the sound that it stands for. For example, the letter is called "em", and the sounds are "m" or "m".

Lyubov Chulkova neuroeducator-psychologist, speech therapist, writer, primary school teacher

Write elements of letters and numbers in a sketchbook

Start by mastering the elements: vertical and horizontal sticks, circles, ovals and others. Tasks can be found in manuals for preschoolers or come up with your own.

Draw a sample element and have your child repeat it. If he is wrong, explain why he should do it this way. For the first experiments, it is better to have a separate sketchbook so that the child is not distracted by the ruler.

The hardest thing for children is the upper element of small letters "c", "b", the lower element of the letters "y", "z", "d", "c", "u". Learning to write the small letter "g" from top to bottom, as well as the hooks of the letters "t" and "w" is also important.

Lyubov Chulkova neuroeducator-psychologist, speech therapist, writer, primary school teacher

Do exercises in preschoolers' handbook

In the preschool books you will find a lot of useful exercises: "continue the pattern", "finish drawing the ornament", "draw in the pattern", "connect by the dots", "draw in the cells", "shade", "paint", "remember the word on letter "and many others. Thanks to them, the child will prepare his hand for a more accurate writing, learn how to write block letters, and become better guided inside the cell and on the line.

What can you buy

"Preparing a hand for writing", Olga Makeeva, 73 rubles →
"Developing writing skills", Olga Makeeva, 108 rubles →
"We write block letters", Olga Makeeva, 75 rubles →
"Recipe for preschoolers 5-6 years old", Elena Kolesnikova, 80 rubles →
“Recipes for future first graders. We draw in cells ", Olesya Zhukova, Elena Lazareva, 137 rubles →

Checklist for those who want to teach a child to write

Writing is a complex skill, the successful mastering of which is based on developed fine motor skills, visual-motor coordination and visual memory skills, and confident orientation in space. In practice, this means that the child:

Holds a pen or pencil correctly.
He is able to copy simple patterns, geometric shapes, block letters written in large print from the board and from the sheet.
Quickly and accurately determines the position in space (right-left, top-bottom, lower-higher, forward-backward).

Effective mastering of the writing skill is also unthinkable without the ability to concentrate and distribute attention. All this concerns only the "technical side" of the letter.

At the same time, there is the development of spelling and grammatical skills, which successfully fall on a developed phonemic ear, the ability to perform sound-letter analysis of a word, a wide vocabulary and competent oral speech of the child.