Prewriting Strategies

Today, we’re tackling prewriting strategies and we have another great printable writing prompt for your kiddos!

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There are a lot of foundation skills kids need for efficient and legible handwriting.

Here are some of our favorite prewriting strategies for kids.

Prewriting Strategies for Kids

Core Strength

Kids need to have adequate core strength to be able to maintain functional posture in their chairs while they write.  Kids who have weak core muscles may slump in their seats or lean on the table, leading to illegible handwriting.  Check out some of our fun core strengthening activities for kids!

Pencil Grasp

Kids need to be able to grasp a pencil efficiently in order to demonstrate adequate speed and control.  You can find some good ideas for promoting efficient pencil grasp in last week’s Pen Pal Project post.

Hand Strength

Kids also need to have strong hands to be able to grasp their pencils properly and to have good endurance for writing, coloring, or drawing for longer periods of time.  Here are some of our favorite ideas for helping kids strengthen their hands.

Fine Motor Coordination

Kids need strong fine motor coordination skills to be able to demonstrate accurate, controlled handwriting.  This includes dexterity and in-hand manipulation skills.  Check out these creative fine motor activities!

Visual Motor Integration

Visual motor integration (eye-hand coordination) is another skill kids need to have in place to be able to write legibly.  There are lots of fun ways to work on visual motor skills.  Try mazes, dot-to-dots, color or paint by number activities and drawing activities.

Prewriting Shapes

With our younger preschoolers, we begin teaching them how to write with prewriting shapes.  These are the lines and figures that will later be used to construct letters and numbers.

Have your child practice making horizontal lines, vertical lines, circles, intersecting lines, and diagonal lines.  Start by having him trace the lines and shapes.  Then, demonstrate the shapes and have him imitate your drawings.  Finally, draw the shapes across the top of a page without him looking and see if he can copy from your model.

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Claire Heffron

Claire Heffron is co-author at The Inspired Treehouse and a pediatric occupational therapist in a preschool/primary school setting. She began her career with a bachelor's degree in magazine journalism but quickly changed course to pursue graduate studies in occupational therapy. She has been practicing therapy for 10 years in public and specialized preschool/primary school settings. She is a mom to three funny, noisy boys and relies on yoga, good food, and time outside to bring her back to center.

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