Long before the children begin the formal writing lessons with pencils and lined paper they are developing the skills they need to write. They begin to imitate writing and pretend to make letters. Learning to write goes through stages of development just like learning to cut with scissors.
When a child draws a picture and makes “writing” marks on the page, encourage him by asking him to read the words back to you. They can understand their own writing long before you, the adult can read it.
writing styles for young children
When you give a child a learning sheet, write out the child’s name in bold clear letters or dot out the child’s name. Encourage the child to trace over their name. You could also write or dot out the child’s name on his/her art project. However, it is very important to write in upper and lower case letters and model the correct writing style. This is the style of writing that is taught in Kindergarten.
If you do a language arts concept of teaching a letter by decorating the letter, have the child first trace over the letter with his/her finger and repeat the sound of the letter. Those that show interest, have that child use a marker or crayon and trace over the letter also. Some children will even practice “writing” the letter on the page although it might look like one of the examples show above. This is great! The children need to go through all these stages before they are ready for the pencil and page stage.