Hellobee

Somewhere between two and three years of age, I noticed my children’s drawings and scribbles starting to resemble letters. Both of my children started with writing the first letter of their name. Often children draw circles too, which makes it easy for Otis. When Otis was close to three I encouraged him to use his sand tray as pictured below.

Sometimes he uses a paint tray to practice his letters. Trays like this also provide a great sensory experience.

Below Otis is practicing his letters in a wooden tray with a layer of flour which is really quick and easy to put together.

I have also given Otis charcoal to write with. He has crayons and pencils, however I find charcoal so smooth on the paper it’s really lovely to switch the materials around.

Montessori schools use sandpaper letters to help children learn the shape and  form of each letter. In my previous post I mentioned Montessori Letter Work. Pictured below is Around the World from a to z, which features sandpaper letters in cursive. Books like these are an affordable option to using sandpaper letters at home and help to reinforce what my children are learning at school.

Once Otis had mastered most of his letters (‘s’ is still a struggle), we used alphabet cards to prompt him to form him name  – we love these alphabet cards.

We have applied a similar principle to learning to write numbers. Below he is using some sandpaper numbers. As he traces the 2 he will say “two.”

Below my older son (a left-hander) is using the sand tray with Montessori Number Work . He can trace the sandpaper number then move directly to his sand tray to practice forming a six.

Once my children have mastered writing their names, both of them have started to write “mum” and “dad” next. I love observing and helping them to develop their writing skills.

How have you encouraged your children to write?