Offer activities that promote the development of fine motor skills. These activities should enable children to manipulate the small muscles in their hands, strengthening them in preparation for the use of writing implements. Have children tear paper into small pieces. Encourage children to use scissors to cut curved lines and cut out shapes. Provide preschoolers with tweezers and small objects; instruct them to use the tweezers to pick the small items up. Have children lace shoelaces around shapes that have holes punched in them. Set out puzzles and allow children to assemble the pieces together. Sew a zipper to a piece of fabric and allow them to practice zipping and unzipping the zipper. Allow them to button and unbutton the buttons on a shirt. Engage them in any activity that enables them to use and strengthen the muscles in their hands.
Present hands-on, tactile activities for children to practice forming shapes and letters. Through hands-on, tactile activities, children can feel how letters and shapes are formed and transfer that knowledge to actual handwriting. Fill zip-top bags with pudding and encourage children to write letters and shapes on top of the bags, feeling how they are formed. Cut letters and shapes out of sandpaper and have children trace them with fingers. Spread shaving cream on a tabletop and allow children to use their fingers to write in it. Write letters and shapes on paper and encourage children to trace them with crayons, markers and finger paint.
Provide opportunities for children to practice writing on their own. Once children exhibit an ability to control writing tools, allow them to practice writing with pencils, crayons, markers and other materials. Offer lined paper and a writing tool. State a shape or a letter and see if children can write the shape or letter you have stated on the paper. Set out an alphabet sheet and encourage children to write the letters of the alphabet on their own, using the sheet as a visual reference.