Preparing your Child’s Hands for Writing
Did you know that crawling sets your child’s hands up for writing, eating, dressing, and all the other things they do in play? It’s true! Crawling also sets the foundation for refining hand-eye coordination which is an essential skill for writing, copying information off of the board, reading and more. So if your child is having difficulty with writing, you can first try some of the strengthening activities below. If you want more on the science behind crawling and hand development, click here.
How play can prepare for writing
Play gives your child’s hands time to practice and refine the intricate movements needed to stack blocks, hold a ball, stack pegs, lace beads, hold a fork and eventually to hold a writing utensil. All of these little movements are refining the 36 muscles in your child’s hands. Their play may look like just that, play, but the repetition and practice of moving items in their palms, to their finger tips, between their hands and through the environment can really help build the strong foundation for writing.
If a child builds strength and endurance through the shoulders, arms and hands, they are at an advantage when they sit down at the table to write because they have a solid foundation for their hands to build off of.
What if my child didn’t crawl?
Don’t fret, there are plenty of playful ways to help strengthen your child’s shoulders, arms and hands to help with writing. That’s what OT’s are great at! Sneaking play into therapeutic activities to support the functional skills your child is struggling with.
If you need some strengthening ideas, check this post.
Fun Ways to build hand strength
Crawling through a pop-up tunnel
Pulling themselves with their hands on a scooter boards
Play on a swing, on their tummy, propelling themselves with their arms
Tug of war
Playdough
Bounce passing a large ball to you
Cutting/ripping paper with 2 hands
Beading/lacing activities
Painting on a vertical surface
Coloring while laying on their belly
Playing with Putty
can be a great way to help strengthen your child’s hands to build the strength and endurance needed for writing.
How OT can help
There are so many fun ways to help strengthen your child’s hands through play. In addition to upper body strength and endurance, OT can also help refine your child’s visual system, assess that their hands and eyes are working well together, assess if there are any underlying issues with visual processing that may be impacting difficulty with writing and assess if all of their reflexes were fully integrated. Activating sensory systems can also help with increased focus, attention, and retention of writing skills. If you’d like to schedule a free 10 minute consultation to see how OT can help, schedule here and check out more info about our Therapy Sprint Based Model here!
If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below and we will get back to you. As always, the information we share is meant to provide general education and tips and is not intended as medical advice. If you have a specific question or concern about your child’s development, please speak directly to your child’s doctor or therapist.