Parallels can be drawn between babbling and scribbling. While babbling promotes language development, scribbling promotes the development of writing skills. From the beginning, drawing and writing is the same thing and he is trying to figure out how to use a crayon and put marks on the paper. Gaining control over the over the muscles in his hands, wavy scribbling usually appears. The scribbling movements start from the shoulder but gradually the movements become more controlled. The first scribbling consists of continuous waves and there are no attempts to make separate signs.
The first scribbling attempts have more of a picture character. Around the second birthday, the idea to make letter in a linear sequences is emerging. Some children call their attempts letters, and they have picked out an important characteristic of writing, namely that writing appears in lines across the page. During this form of emergent writing, a child may try to read her scribbling or she may ask you to read it to her. The idea that you can read marks that you put down on paper is an important step toward learning to read and write.
The next form of writing that emerges contains alphabet-like letters in the lines of scribbling. Children make little circles, ovals and crosses. The orientation of the letters is often not "correct," and letters, such as b and d, p and q, often appear in the wrong direction. Letters are one of the first things that a child encounters where orientation is important, and it takes time to learn the orientation of the letters. Skills and experiences with writing can vary, and some preschoolers are comfortable using pencils and markers. Support preschoolers by providing them with opportunities that match and challenge their current skill levels.
Toward the end of the preschool years, strings of letters are interjected in the scribbling and words are beginning to appear. Usually the first word a child learns to write is his name, and he loves to practice writing his name on cards and paintings. Simple letter-sound relationships are appearing, and short words, such as, cat, dog or hat, may be copied. Often he invents his own spelling but he is using the alphabetic principle and trying to use the relationship between letters and sounds to write. This form of writing is more readable despite backward letters and misspellings. Playing with letters and words is more important than getting the writing "right," and a joy of writing can be promoted by providing him with varied writing opportunities, such as making cards for different occasions, writing letters and drawing pictures, and writing a short story about the drawing.