Activities for Writing Readiness

If your child has started back to school, you that getting back into the school routine can be difficult. This can also translate to difficulties with activities that weren't practiced much over the summer such as writing. Here are some activities to get your school aged child back on track after a summer off or help your kindergartner get ready for a successful school year.

Weightbearing through hands and arms wakes up muscles for writing readiness and engages core muscle groups for attention and focus. Some activities to try:

• bear walks (from standing place hands on floor. With weight on arms, move forward. When your child masters moving forward, have them try it backward or with eyes closed.)
• crab walks (from seated position, place hands and feet on the floor and lift your bottom off the floor. After your child masters the movement, try crab walk races or games of crab soccer - remember, no hands!)
• Tug or war (you can use a sheet or blanket if a rope is not available. To make this activity more challenging, try it on an uneven surface such as piles of pillows or blankets. Just remember to have a soft landing zone in case you fall)
• Wall push ups, chair push ups, or desk push ups can also be used in a classroom setting where space is limited.
• Pushing hands together at midline or finger push ups can also be used in a classroom setting

Manipulating putty or playdough can also be helpful for writing readiness. Pulling and pushing the dough helps with finger strength and in hand manipulation skills as well as bilateral coordination.

Activities that promote thumb opposition and opening of webspace are particularly helpful for children with weak pencil grasps. Some activities to try include:

• Different shape hole punches (you want to make sure that your child has enough strength to operate the hole punch with one hand, maintaining thumb on top and pushing down.)
• Clothespin activities such as matching letters and shapes or writing words by hanging letters on a string or clipping to the edge of a box (make sure your child maintains his thumb on top and thumb meets the pad of the first finger)
• Beading activities
• Perler beads
• Using tongs to pick up progressively smaller pom poms, beads, or pieces of paper (make sure child has pinky side down with chopsticks or tongs on top of hand with action coming from thumb and first 2 fingers)
• small stickers (removing small stickers from a sticker sheet is a great bilateral coordination activity)

For pre-writing, having the right utensil is critical. Little pencils, crayons, and chalk pieces work best for little hands. Some activities to try include:

• chalk bit (broken pieces of chalk on a chalkboard or black construction paper)
• 'writing' with small sponge bits on a chalk board with water or painting a picture with small sponge bits 
• Using eye droppers for art projects or for measuring in science
• Using broken crayon bits for coloring

If you have activities that you use in your classroom or at home to prepare your student for writing in the new school year let me know! These are just a few of the ideas that I use in my practice and I am always looking for new activities to motivate my students.