As an occupational therapist working with children of all ages, I’ve become increasingly aware of how so many children are struggling with hand writing. In order for a child to develop good hand writing skills, they need to have adequate skills in both perceptual and fine motor development. Certain perceptual skills are necessary for a child to learn and remember the shapes of letters. Fine motor skills are necessary for a child to hold and manipulate their pencil correctly, and to make the correct movements to form letters. In children who struggle with the fine motor component of hand writing, it is common for the problem to stem from poor core stability. Basically this means that if a child has weak shoulders and abdominal muscles, it ultimately affects their strength and movement of their arm and hand when writing. We cannot optimally control our fine motor movements if we do not have good core muscle strength. A mouthful of jargon? Don’t panic, just read on to find out how you can help your children with writing.

I have put together just three simple tasks that can be done every day without much effort involved. As a mom of two boys, I know how limited parents are in terms of time they have to spend helping their children with the “extras” over and above the “essentials”! These exercises are not meant to be a quick fix for children who have handwriting problems, but they will certainly assist in handwriting development for both children who do and who do not present with difficulties. They can also be used for young children who are preparing to write. Preparation for writing starts very early on, from the minute a child picks up a crayon and attempts a little scribble. So basically these exercises can be used for all children starting from the age of about 2.

Cups in the Bath (you need: 2 plastic cups, water, and a bath)

This is an easy one, since most of us bath our children daily and have at least 2 plastic cups lying somewhere around the house. Give your child two cups during bath time and get them to fill one cup to the brim. With a cup in each hand, holding their arms up so that elbows and hands are more or less at shoulder height, they must carefully pour the water from one cup to another. Young children are entertained just with the novelty of pouring water into a cup. For older children, this can be made into a fun game if you use a timer and see how many cups they can fill in 2 minutes.

Wheelbarrow Walking (you need: nothing!)

Most children should know how to do this. You need to hold your child at his knees or feet (start with holding at their knees as this makes it easier for them) and let them walk on their hands. You can do this every day and make a routine of it. I started wheelbarrow walking with my son when he was 18 months old. We wheelbarrow walked every evening from the bathroom door to the bath. He is now 2 years old and we can wheelbarrow walk all the way down the passage through the bedroom, into the bathroom and to the bath! And when that gets to easy, we will start wheelbarrow walking up the stairs!

Drawing/Playing on the Wall (you need: paper, crayons or stickers or toy cars, and an imagination)

Working on a vertical plain is fantastic for building shoulder strength. Draw a race track on big paper and stick it on the wall. Let your kids have fun racing their toy cars around the track. Or let them create a picture using stickers, crayons, and just about anything, working on a paper stuck up on a wall!
 
The simplest of tasks can truly make a difference. If you are consistent in doing these short exercises, you can be assured that you are doing the “write” thing. Just remember to have fun doing them. As long as children are having fun, they won’t stop working at it!

 
Tamara Frittella

South Africa