The skill of writing begins around age three. Once your little toddler can hold a crayon, a pencil, or a marker and scribble with it they have mastered their first skills.
Every time that your toddler colors, scribbles, draws, or whatever you want to call it, they are improving their writing skills. You can help them by offering them lots of pencils, crayons, markers, etc., and lots of fresh paper to go with them. Coloring books come both fun and educational. There are special coloring books designed to help children learn to write which focus on single letters of the alphabet. A three year old is not ready to write letters, however, letting them use a coloring book containing simple letters will help to get them ready to write and familiar with the letters of the alphabet.
In the fourth year a child is ready for those letters. The alphabet is what writing is based on so of course the alphabet is the needs to be learned. Singing the ABC song with your child is the very best way to teach the letters of the alphabet verbally. It is also the easiest for a four year old to learn. The first step to learning the alphabet is not by sight, and not about identifying letters. It’s all about knowing what the letters are. Hearing and learning to say. The alphabet song teaches that and is also so much fun for parents and children to sing together. Consider it learning, teaching, and bonding all at the same time.
(A, B, C, D, E, F, G…H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P… Q, R, S… T, U, V… W, X,… Y, and Z… Now I’ve sung my ABC’s… Next time won’t you sing with me…)The words, dots indicate pauses, to the alphabet song. Sometimes the song is varied. Sometimes “Now I’ve sung” is “Now I know”. Either way, it works like a charm to teach those letters!
Also in the fourth year your child will be able to begin writing those letters. They may not quite look like letters yet but those little shapes are a toddlers attempt at writing. The letter teaching coloring books have traceable letters in them and a four year old can make an attempt to trace a letter and try to write their own. You can help by proving the alphabet on paper, whether is be a letter chart or those coloring books, or even flash cards. Your four year old may be able to identify a few by age five but will be able to write letter imitations much earlier.
Around the start of the fifth year a child is capable of learning to write their name. Don’t worry so much about getting your child to write all of the letters in the beginning of the fifth year. Work mostly on your child’s first name. Practice is the only way to learn. Remember to help your child keep a proper grip on their pencil. You may have to show them a time or two how to properly hold it. Things like this become much more important in the fifth year, but really proper grip can and should be taught earlier, when the child is first learning to pick up the pencil. Once the first name is mastered, which can take a while, it’s time to move on to the last name. This teaches your child not only how to write their name, but also what their name is. Their full name, knowing their full name at least, can save them in an emergency. After that it’s time to begin practice writing the letters A-Z. Letter identification is the first step in reading not writing! Take care and thanks for reading! J
