Writing/fine Mobility Skill

There are lots of fun activities for a 3 year old that are great for fine motor skills. Bead stringing with one inch beads and the shoelace type thing that comes with them. When he is proficient at that, graduate him to macaroni on yarn, smaller beads, or "sewing cards". There is a fun activity called "straw sewing" that you make by cutting drinking straws into one inch pieces, and construction paper cut into one inch pieces. You use one of those plastic embroidery needles, and a needle threader, and yarn. Use the needle threader to thread the yarn into the embroidery needle, tie a knot, and then string the papers and straws, starting with a paper (you poke the hole with the embroidery needle. Put a dry sponge under the paper to make poking easier). Continue to alternate, paper, straw, paper, straw, until you get a piece about 6 inches long, or you can keep going to make a bracelet or necklace. You can use the short pieces to hang on a Christmas tree or something. All these activities strengthen the muscles that are used in the dynamic tripod grasp that is used to hold a pencil. For writing, use those magna doodles, aqua-doodles, or "color wonder" markers and other art products (if you can trust him not to put things in his mouth) They have "finger paint" and glitter markers that will only write on the color wonder paper. All are fun and mess free. Writing letters is not expected for a three year old. You can have him trace the shape of a letter in salt on a dark tray, then you just shake to erase. Don't push writing, you don't want to give it a negative connotation. He is really not ready. Think Kindergarten readiness, start worrying about him being able to write his name and some of the other letters by the time he is 4 years, 9 months. Stacking one inch blocks is another good fine motor activity, requires both hands working together, to stabilize the tower without knocking it down, and a delicate touch. Have fun. B. (former preschool teacher)

Super normal. My son was reading at 3 (and short chapterbooks, like the magic treehouse series by 4)...but he wouldn't write with pencil and paper until he discovered numbers...and then he STILL wouldn't write words with a pencil and paper...he wrote with a keyboard until last summer!

Now...he WOULD write occasionally at his preschool...but he didn't like it. We LOVED the way he wrote...but when given an option, he preferred letters to look the way they did in the things he read...typed. Sigh. Ah well.

My little artist disappeared at the same age, also. He'd draw if we pushed him (and we don't like pushing, so, cest la vie). When we talked with him it was the same as with writing: because his drawings didn't look the way he wanted them to. Just try and explain practicing to a 3/4 year old. I dare you. :P <Laughing> so I have about 2 years of gap in all the stuff I save. Ah well.

For us it's all about what's fun. He found reading and typing fun, so have at. Drawing (pictures and letters) was not fun. I'm not going to make him play a game that's not fun...so after the initial "Why not?" period...we dropped it and he came back to them in his own time.

A good rule of thumb as he starts writing: Use YOUR non-writing hand. It's hard. It's painful. You get cramps that you'd forgotten all about (new-use cramps, v. tired cramps that we get now). Anyhow...it's not perfect...because, quite frankly, we use both our hands more dexterously then they do. So by the time you START to feel it...their hands are screaming it. So go gentle. And laugh a lot.

R

VERY normal!!!!! Don't push it, it will come when he is ready. He won't be writing letters until 4-4.5 years of age. What he knows right now is great, my son knew his letters and could even read some words quite young but they don't have the motor skills to hold the writing utensil as needed to create letters. Even if you say he is holding the pencil correctly but having trouble controlling it - this is normal and expected. For now, the best thing you can do is encourage him to do what he wants with pen/paper -color, draw lines, squiggles, dots, whatever he does is fine. You can also give him KID SAFE scissors and encourage him to do some cutting, that will help with his motorskills in writing down the road.

M.

Hi A.,
Good heavens, please don't worry! The vast majority of children can't write at that age, nor should they even be trying. As far as your question: "What should I do to encourage to write or to improve his fine mobility skill?" I would say, NOTHING! If you feel you must, it wouldn't hurt for you to demonstrate how to write the letters and allowing him to watch you, but I wouldn't try to manipulate his hands or anything like that. Just leave him alone and let him explore at this age. There is nothing for him to gain by trying to write before he's atleast 4 1/2. And even then, it's not neccesary.

I'm just tuning in to reiterate what the other posters have said - don't push it. Don't even talk about it. Just make sure he has the proper materials and let him have fun with whichever he choses to use. The previous examples are great - crayons and blank paper, playdough, bead mazes, legos, and I'll add in there an easel. Painting on an easel prepares the writing muscles because of the angle they hold the paint brush at and working their wrist up and down in repetition. Another idea you can use during meal time is to have him put peas or macaroni noodles one at a time on a fork. Pick up each pea with his fingers and push it onto a spear of the fork - this may take a while to finish dinner, but it will probably be fun! Enjoy this time when he is little - soon he will be doing too many things on his own and you will want to rewind to when he needed you for everything!

Hi A.,

I would say just keep encouraging your son. My son is almost five and he dislikes drawing and art. He will write, but it is not his favorite (although it is more preferable than drawing). Some kids just don't like to color. My son likes his letters and sounds as yours does--fine motor skills are not his forte, either. I think it will all fall into place at some point. Just keep encouraging his strengths as well as those areas of difficulty. Remember that we want our kids to like school and learning--so temper the fun with the not-so-fun.

:-) D.
P.S. Alphabet stencils and pencils with special "grippies" that hold fingers in the right configuration have helped my son.

my friend's Son is just like that too, same age too.
Don't worry.
Boys are often 'later' at these things than girls. Many of the fine motor things, are sometimes 'gender' based.

Just don't push it, as Michele S. said. Don't pressure.
Make things fun for him... maybe get coloring books for him... and he can just color and 'trace' lines. SIMPLE things. But DO NOT expect perfection. At this age, their hand-fine-motor skills are not 'exact' yet or precise.

For fine motor skills/writing... one thing that IS helpful are those toys that have a thick gauge wire that loops around in all directions and then there are big colorful wooden beads on it... and the child then pushes the beads around the loops etc. (this action of looping around is an important motion for writing later). (sorry I don't know what they toy is called exactly so I'm just describing it). BUT, this action of the wrists, while pushing the beads around, helps fine-motor skills and the 'movement' for writing... since the wrists have to 'loop' around and twist etc. In fact, this is the 'purpose' of this toy... for fine motor skills and later 'writing' coordination, per our Pediatrician.
Here is a link for an example:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2265428

But main thing is not to pressure him. Your son is normal. Kids can 'feel' the expectations upon them, by a Parent... and this alone can frustrate them too. Your son is age appropriate. So no worries.

Some kids too, don't 'want' to do something... because they think it will not be 'perfect' enough, for the Parent. So they shut down. But just give him things that he IS interested in. Even pushing a toy truck around... works the 'wrists' in movements that are applicable for 'writing' later. See what I mean? It is NOT just them 'writing' on paper that works the 'writing muscles' and coordination for writing and fine motor skills.

Or, have him stack things. Or have him stir something as you cook. Lots of different activities that will work the 'wrist/finger' coordination... which will later be applied to actual 'writing.' Or give him chopsticks... let him play with it and make it a game to see if he can pick up chunky food or objects with it. Or give him drum-sticks and tap out things on a table etc.

No worries, let him be and he will attain this just fine.
All the best,
Susan

He's fine...there is no need for a three year old to already know how to write all their letters. Let him go at his own pace. Most kids don't even recognize all their letters at that age!

At his age, keep it fun. Target has bathtub crayons shaped like animals that encourage a proper grasp. My 2 year old loves them. Shaving cream play is also a lot of fun. If your son has an aversion to textures, you can put hair gel in a ziploc (duct tape it closed) with some food coloring and he can practice writing. Sidewalk chalk is another great way to encourage writing. In the summer, you can get paint brushes in a variety of sizes from 99¢ store and paint with water on the cement. Have fun!

When my oldest daughter was 3, she didn't think her writing was good enough, so even when I told her she'd done a good job she didn't think so. She's always been fussy about getting things "right." My 14 year old son still hates to write, for the same reasons. It takes him "too long," and he doesn't think it looks good enough. Your son have a perfectionist personality. He also might not be ready for writing yet. Don't push for properly written letters or lovely coloring. Let him scribble if he feels like it, but only if he feels like it. He'll get where he needs to be on his own timetable, don't wory.

Three year olds should mostly be developing their large muscle skills. My mother was a master reading teacher / first grade teacher for 35 years. She still had many children even use a larger pencil than the regular size to make their letters. You are expecting something that is not necessary at this age. I'm speaking as the mother of seven and grandmother of seven, and I have children who are professional artists and were very advanced in their drawing skills, but they certainly weren't interested in drawing or writing at age three. We did finger painting, had large pieces of paper tacked up on easels in our garage with poster paints and they did some large brush things, but most of their choices then were playing dress up, creative movement (pretending to be animals,etc). Let things happen in their good time!

S. Toji

As the previous three people said, your son is perfectly normal. He'll write when he's ready to. If you push too hard now, he will be turned off by the time he's developmentally ready to write.

Give your son some crayons, coloring books, or scratch paper and let him scribble or draw. If he's not interested in coloring or drawing (my son wasn't at that age), get some sticker books and let him put the stickers where he wants to (my son was very interested in stickers at 3). Start peeling the sticker and let him do the rest. Don't worry if the placement isn't perfect. It won't be at his age. There used to be a toy called Colorforms when I was a kid. They were soft plastic reusable sticker-like things in different shapes that went onto a special board. Colorforms were great for improving fine motor coordination.

Play-Doh is also a good thing for building fine motor skills. While the skills in playing with clay/Play-Doh aren't the same as for writing, working with it helps to build the hand muscles. If you don't like buying the commercial Play-Doh, there are lots of recipes out there for making your own.

Building toys such as Legos are also good for developing fine motor coordination. Also, just let your son play with toys that catch his interest. When my son was 3, he could play with Hot Wheels cars or Legos all day. Whatever you choose to do, make sure your son is having fun.

I would start on scribbling, lines, circles and that kind of stuff before working on actual letters. There are workbooks out there( I actually sell one, but that isn't the intent of my post) that focus on prewiting skills. It is natural I think to try and get them to do letters, but all that scribbling kids do is in prep for writing. Have you tried that paper that is black with rainbow colors that are revealled when drawn on? I think it is a Crayola thing, not sure. Something like that might peak his interest more than a regular pencil and paper. Anyway good luck!
W.

Very normal - my son was the same - could read simple books at 3 and great in counting and simple math, but writing and drawing were a whole other story. He is now 11 and his handwriting is neater than mine and his artwork puts my stick figures to shame.

A friend of mine is a pediatric occupational therapist and she told me when my son was three that pretty much all that should be expected is for you to draw a straight horizontal line and have your child mimic it - so say "draw this" and draw a line and then have your child draw it and then repeat with a vertical line. As your child approaches 3 1/2 or 4, then you can say "draw this" and see if they can do a circle or other simple shapes. My son was very stubborn and wouldn't, but honestly it made no difference, his handwriting and artistic skills are amazing.

D.

Hi A.,
Your son is very smart, but I'm a bit worried with all the expectations you seem to have for him at such an early age. He's already years ahead of a lot of his age-mates, so you don't have a thing to worry about! What I will say, being a preschool teacher myself, is that boys are much less likely to pick up pencils and crayons, as they much prefer manipulatives to writing utensils. It is completely normal - they learn through "doing" not writing. The writing will catch up in time - not to worry. Ply him with lots of fun (no-pressure) things he can manipulate himself. Possibilities are endless, but most of all, make it totally at his pace and never lets him feel that he "has to" do anything "educational" at this age. It's more about presenting him with many varieties of learning throughout the day - talking about things and just being different places. That's what will make for a smart person.
Have fun,
M.