What are the benefits of a preschool writing center?

In preschool. developing the small muscles of the hand is equally important to gross motor movement.  Muscles can be built by squeezing, rolling, patting, pounding, clipping, taping, stamping, and painting. Many of these small motor skills can be strengthened using play dough, clay, or any type of homemade dough such as sand dough or salt dough.   Drawing or painting on a vertical surface is another great way to develop the fine motor control necessary for writing. Young children love stickers. Peeling stickers and putting them on a graph or grid will help increase small motor skills. Provide your young child with old magazines for ripping and/or cutting both are fun strengthening activities.

Building strength in the small muscles will help your child with the fine motor tacks of drawing and writing. Now is a time of exploration. How many pieces of paper come home to your house with markings one might call “scribbles”? Take a closer look at those pages; this is beginning writing and a labor of learning writing skills. Provide appropriate materials and surfaces for writing.  Chalk, crayons, pencils, colored pencils, oil pastels and watercolors are a few choices for writing/drawing. Experiment with different writing surfaces and varied papers.  In our writing center the children like to use envelopes.  Provide different items at different times, not everything has to be out at once.

Clipboards and writing materials are found in the other learning centers of the classroom as well. In dramatic play the doctor will need to write notes, the waiter, take an order or the shopper write a list of groceries.

In the block area children should have the ability to draw a plan or map or a diagram what they have built so they can replicate it the next day.

The math and science areas are prime areas for children drawing their observations.

During project time in preschool the teacher might take dictation for a story or a drawing that a child is working on. Our Pre-k the class draws and dictates for their first grade pen pals from out of town, once every other month they receive letters and return replies.  This is a fun way to get young children interested in drawing and writing.

How many activities can you think of that add small motor skills to your day?