I brought in lots of fiction and non-fiction books with pictures of waves, as well as rhyming books such as Giles Andreae’s Commotion in the Ocean, which the children were already familiar with. In one class we decided to explore ‘waves’ with the children.
It helps children work on their coordinated mark-making skills in a fun and imaginative way, using movement to help make the shapes they will eventually need to write in their given language. Write Dance includes music, songs and suggested movements that develop gross motor coordination. Children with well-developed coordination (who are likely to develop good handwriting skills) have learned to cross the midline with ease. dyspraxia, can find it very challenging to be able to move their hands from one side of their body to the other, across the midline. The midline is a vertical line that we can imagine passing just in front of our bodies, from the tops of our heads to the floor between our feet.Ĭhildren with movement coordination difficulties, e.g. Her experience showed that children develop handwriting skills when they have well-developed gross motor movements, and particularly when they are able to make movements using both hands to cross what is known as the ‘midline’. The original concept was developed by Ragnhild Oussoren, a Norwegian/Swedish graphologist based in the Netherlands. I first became aware of this approach when I was asked to help develop children’s mark-making skills in Reception classes in Luton schools. One of the most exciting mark making and early writing projects I have been involved in, bringing together movement, language and music, is known as ‘Write Dance’. But one key element that is often overlooked is the need for children to have well-developed and coordinated ‘gross motor’ (large physical) movements. These foundations include language and fine motor control.
#Zigzag lines activity for preschoolers idea how to
From my practical experience, it is essential to make sure that children have developed all the foundations they need before adults set out to teach them how to write. Part of the problem is that children can be introduced to the physical aspects of writing far too early: sometimes by parents, but also in some settings.
However, many children can make very little sense of the writing process and may become put off or even fearful of making marks on paper. They can gain a great deal of knowledge from this process, including about the strange shapes that adults and older children scratch on paper with pens and call ‘writing’. Many young children get very excited about learning to write their names.
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