Children learn through play. Pre-schoolers spend almost half of their day engaged in play-based activities. Through play, children explore, experiment and try new things. This exploration and experimentation help them build their understanding and vocabulary and learn new skills.
In this article, you’ll learn about five easy pre-school writing activities to engage your child in the joy of writing. These activities will help your child develop their writing skills and hone their observation, grammar, planning, and spelling skills. Let’s get started!
Write and draw about a topic.
One basic way to develop pre-writing skills is writing and drawing about a topic. While you might think drawing pictures will only help your child with drawing, they can also develop their writing skills by tracing a shape, tracing letters, or tracing a stick figure.
While writing and drawing about a topic is great for pre-writing skills, you can also discuss the topic with your child. This helps you better understand the topic and have a more in-depth conversation with your child.
Learn new words with a dictation exercise
Another pre-writing skill is learning new words by dictating. Dictation exercises are an easy way to help your child memorize new words. Dictate new words to your child and have them write a few sentences about what the word means to them. Next, have your child rewrite the sentence using the new word you’ve just taught them. This will help your child with their word association and reinforce new words they’ve just learned.
Telling Stories
Another pre-writing skill is telling stories. When you tell stories, you’re dictating the steps of the story to your child. Your child can then act out the story, retell it, or write a story based on the story you’ve just told them. This is an excellent way to help your child hone their storytelling skills and engage in role-playing
Writing simple phrases
Pre-writing skills are important for all children, but especially for those in pre-school. Your child needs to develop their writing and reading skills, and writing simple phrases can do just that. Write a few phrases related to a popular topic your child is interested in. Next, have your child rewrite the phrases using more detail or add creativity to the phrases. If, for instance, your child is interested in dinosaurs, they can learn to write, “I like dinosaur books because they tell me what dinosaurs look like, and they tell me how they live and how they eat.” Your child can rewrite these phrases using more detail or add creativity to the phrases.
Make a chart to practice numbers.
Figuring out how to count is a major milestone for children. Make a chart to help your child practice their numbers by having them count backward. This is a great pre-writing activity because it engages your child’s hands while also having them use their mind.
Pediatric occupational the rapy can be used alongside other interventions such as physical therapy or speech-language pathology; this helps ensure the child receives all the necessary care to reach their fullest potential.
Writing and drawing about a topic, learning new words by dictating, telling stories, and practicing numbers are great pre-writing skills. Your child will enjoy these activities and learn more about their world and themselves. By engaging in pre-writing activities, your child can build their vocabulary, grammar, and writing skills.