How Children Learn to Write: 6 Skills They Need

Learning to write is a process that starts long before a child can hold a pencil and write letters.

Preschoolers need to learn important foundational skills, called pre-writing skills.

The Process of Learning to Write

There are several reasons why teaching kids to write too early will actually do more harm than good.

It is important to leave the formal writing for when they are developmentally ready.

Children learn through play and are stimulated at their own developmental level while playing. This allows them to naturally progress and mature, developing more advanced skills as they go.

A child is not usually physically and developmentally ready to write during the toddler or preschool years. They will start experimenting with letters on their own and “writing” on their artwork, but they should not be forced to learn the correct letter formation or write on a line.

Here are some reasons why.

Fine Motor Control

During the first few years, children are developing their fine motor control. Their finger muscles need to be strengthened through activities such as drawing, painting, and playing with playdough.

Pencil Grip

When the finger muscles become strengthened, children learn how to hold a pencil correctly, with a tripod grip. This is not easy for young children and they take time to develop this grip by holding crayons, chalk, pencils, etc.

Younger kids will find it easier to hold thicker utensils like jumbo chalk or crayons. As they develop their grip and finger control, they can hold thinner crayons and pencils. 

Gross Motor Control

Gross motor control means children are able to move and control their bodies. In order to sit and write at a desk, they must have strong core muscles, good posture and not tire easily.

Large to Small

As children grow, the natural way of developing is usually large to small.

Here are some examples of how you can see this in your children’s development:

• Catching large balls before small ones
• Using thick paintbrushes before fine ones
• Developing large muscles before small muscles
• Reading books with big letters before fine writing
• Building puzzles with large pieces before tiny pieces

This same principle must be applied to teaching children to write. Letters should be introduced in large before small. It is completely inappropriate to expect a young child to form a small intricate letter properly.

You can teach your child to write their name by introducing the letters through play and in a large format before writing them on paper.

Spatial Perception

Children develop spatial perception and a sense of their position in space when playing by doing things like climbing through tunnels and chasing each other.

This helps them, much later, to space letters and words correctly on a page – next to each other, on the line, straight, small enough, starting next to the margin, etc.

Learning to Form Patterns

When formal writing is introduced at school, the teacher does not dive in and show the children how each letter is formed. They start with patterning.

They make zigzags and waves and all sorts of patterns on thick lines before teaching the letters.

These patterns all have shapes that teach the movements that children will use in the letters. A capital letter “A”, for example, has a zig-zag in it and a “C” can be introduced with a curly wave pattern.

When they have learned to make these patterns, letters are introduced, one at a time, with separate lessons for each letter.

The teacher will explain the formation for each one e.g. Start at the top right, go up and around, all the way back up, then down the same line. Children must use the proper formation each time they write a letter.

It does not make sense to skip all these educational practices and teach your young child to write the letters out of the blue.

Having said that, never get in the way of natural learning. If a child is writing letters on their own or forming words, encourage that without trying to correct them.

How to Teach a Child to Write

The good news is, there are lots of things you can do to teach your children the necessary pre-writing skills they need. This will ensure that when they are ready, they will learn to write naturally and with ease.

• Expose children to print often and talk about the print (road signs, books, etc.)
• Model the correct letter formation when writing and put their names on the top of their drawings.
• Develop their fine motor skills.
• Encourage your children to draw, paint and use lots of art materials.
• Develop their gross motor skills.
• Correct their pencil grip or use a rubber pencil grip.
• Let your children have lots of time for free play.
• Play with wooden, plastic or foam letters.