Young children often lack the fine motor skills necessary to hold a pencil correctly for writing. Help your students develop these skills through play. Play-Doh is an excellent way for students to develop the muscles in their hands and fingers to prepare for writing. Putting together puzzles or playing with small blocks will also help your students develop these skills. Stringing beads on a piece of yarn is a craft that will help prepare students' fingers for writing.
Before your students put pencil to paper, help them learn the fundamentals of writing through finger painting. As an alternative to finger paint, give students a pan filled with salt or sand to draw in, recommends the website Preschool Rock. Shaving cream is another alternative. Let students make whatever shapes or designs they like. As they progress, encourage students to make specific shapes. Guide their hands to help them make circles, lines and dots.
Many young children will find it difficult to hold a standard-size pencil. Provide students with a variety of writing utensils to make writing easier. Large-sized pencils are ideal, but many children prefer to begin writing with crayons or markers. Let children choose what they wish to write with, and help them use trial and error to see what works best for them. As your students become more comfortable with writing, encourage them to use standard-sized pencils.
Help students learn to write letters through tracing. Write letters on paper lightly in pencil, and then ask students to trace over them. Alternatively, form letters out of dots and let students connect the dots to form letters. You can also help students form letters by offering gentle guidance as they move their pencil across the paper.