Ever wonder how your kid goes from scribbling random lines to crafting actual stories? It’s a journey and watching the stages of writing development in kids is truly amazing.
Writing skills are essential for the overall growth of young children. More than just a means of communication, writing helps in the development of fine motor skills, cognitive skills and emotional expression.
When they write, they learn how to tell stories and explain what they think.
Let’s see the 4 stages of writing development and what activities you can do to support them at each stage.
Stages Of Writing Development
1. Pre-Literate Stage
Yep, those random marks all over the page or wall or sidewalk are actually the first steps towards writing! At this stage, it’s all about exploring and trying out different tools.
Your child is figuring out how to hold a crayon, how to make marks and how to control their hand movements.
At this stage you can support them by giving materials to strengthen their small muscles. Here are 9 fine motor activities you can do.
Other things you can do to support them
- Play dough : This is a fun sensory activity.
- Sidewalk chalk : Kids love to do colourful drawings on sidewalks.
- Painting : This can be as simple as finger painting or giving them a paper and chunky crayons.
2. Emergent Stage
Before preschool age, children usually begin to form shapes that resemble letters. You may notice them writing letters sporadically in their work.
They recognise patterns in letters and attempt to copy them, even though they may not yet grasp the sounds associated with them. At this stage, kids might also attempt to write their names.
This is where they start to understand that writing is different than drawing.
Activities to support
- Name writing : Encourage them to write their own name by copying from labels or prints.
- Reading books : Spend time with your child reading aloud books. They will start to write letters/words from their favourite stories.
- Alphabet tracing sheets : Use activity sheets with tracing and colouring to make learning letters fun. Use our free printable section to find out all letter activities.
- I spy phonics version : You can say “I spy with my little eye. Something beginning with letter /a/ “. This is a good way to practice how to sound out the words.
3. Transitional Stage
From preschool age to primary school age, children start to represent words by using letter sounds, including first, last, and medial sounds, as well as basic spelling and spacing between words.
This is an important stage of writing development. Your child learns to form actual letters, usually starting with uppercase. They might reverse some letters or struggle with spacing and that’s totally normal.
They may begin with easy, commonly used words such as “I,” “a” and “the”. Their spelling may be phonetic, which means they sound out the words. This is a great sign of progress. You can introduce a range of phonic activities during this time.
Activities you can try
- Beginning sounds worksheets : You can download activity sheets and let your children practice beginning sounds with various activities.
- Same starting letter game : Let your kids come up with words starting with the same letters or sounds. It’s a great phonic activity to build letter sounds.
- Flash cards with sight words : use flash cards to practice sight words. For example, you can show the flashcards, turn them over, and have your child write down the words.
- Magnetic letters : Use magnetic or foam letters to make the words.
4. Conventional Writing Stage
Around primary school age, children start to write sentences and phrases that express a clear idea. This indicates better punctuation, word selection and writing detail, moving towards more organised writing styles.
Activities you can try
- Phrase writing : Encourage children to write letters to their family members or to list their favourite things of the day.
- Story writing : Writing a simple story not only boosts their confidence in writing but is also a great way to be creative.
Importance of Writing Development
Helping kids learn to write is super important! It’s not just about making letters.
It encourages creativity, allows children to share their thoughts and improves their understanding of their surroundings.
As children advance through their early years, writing serves as a method for organising their ideas, making connections and enhancing critical thinking abilities.
Supporting writing skills at an early age can also greatly boost their reading skills, as these two abilities are closely linked in a child’s literacy development.
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