You can support your child’s writing skills when you:

Create a writing center for your child and stock it with paper, pencils, crayons, markers, chalk, tape, stickers, envelopes, etc.

Let your child see all the ways you use writing in your everyday life:  grocery lists, letters to friends, journal writing, crossword puzzles, phone messages, etc.

Hang a family message board in your kitchen.  Use the board to write notes to your child and to help your child read notes left there for him.  Offer to write notes to other family members for your child and encourage him to use his own writing (scribbles, shapes, letters, pictures, or words) to leave notes.

Let your child participate in everyday writing activities.  She can sign her name on a card to a friend, make a shopping list for your next trip to the store, dictate a thank-you note, etc.

Take dictation.  When your child tells a story, write it down for her, or when your child draws a picture, encourage her to tell you about the picture as you write down her words.

Use sand to practice writing.  Pour sand, salt, or cornmeal into a cookie sheet, pie tin, or cake pan.  Let your child practice writing letters by using his index finger to draw the letters in the sand.  Show him how to shake gently to erase and then practice again.

Use play dough to form letters or words.  Help your child roll out thin ropes of dough.  Then write letters or simple words on paper (large enough so they are easy to work with).  Write letters of the alphabet by shaping the play dough rope around the letters or words.

Work on awareness of lines that go in different directions.  Using a paper towel roll or scarf, have your child imitate drawing or writing in the air in various directions (up and down, back and forth, around in a circle, straight lines, wiggly lines, etc.).  This can also be done in a darkened room using a flashlight.

Encourage your child to spell and write his name, and practice writing it with him. 

Encourage activities that support the small muscle development needed for writing.  Your child can paint, draw, button, zip, string beads, build with blocks, play with puzzles, or turn pages of a book.  She can also push pegs or other objects into play dough, cut with a scissors, clip clothes pins to a container, squirt water out of a bottle, or punch holes on a paper plate.