Encouraging Early Writing: Understanding Preschool Writing Skills

Create opportunities for your child to explore writing materials. Put together a special, hand-decorated box filled with pencils, erasable markers, chalk, crayons, and plenty of blank paper, and place it where they can easily reach it whenever inspiration strikes.

Encourage your child to use drawings to express their thoughts, share their feelings, and tell their own wonderful stories.

Show your child how written words weave through our daily lives. Point out shopping lists, street signs, store names, emails, and books to show them that writing is all around us.

Teach your child how to write and copy their first name. Remember to be patient, as this requires plenty of gentle repetition. Being able to write their own name is incredibly empowering for a preschooler.

Label your child's belongings with their name, and guide them in labeling some of their own items, like a paint box or a favorite notebook.

Encourage your child to play with clay or playdough. Molding shapes is a wonderful, playful way to strengthen the fine motor muscles in their hands.

Create a fun menu together by letting your child cut out food pictures from old magazines. Have them tell you what they want to write, and clearly scribe their words on the page. (Tip: If your child has a regular caregiver or babysitter, be sure to share these playful ideas with them, too.)