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EmilyK
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| Posted: April 16 2010 at 11:28am | IP Logged
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My 4 year old little guy is totally adverse to holding a pencil. If he wants something drawn, he asks his 6 yr old sister to do it for him.
I know that every child is different. (His sister has always been prolific color-er.)
We aren't even starting school yet with him. I'm not expecting him to be drawing and writing his name tomorrow.
I'm just wondering what I can do to help him with these fine motor skills, so to empower him alittle.
Any ideas?
THANKS!
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Emily
Mom to Sophia (2003), Will (2006), Nicholas (2008), New Baby due Aug 2010
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 16 2010 at 11:35am | IP Logged
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anything that will let him develop the small muscles and skills in his hands..
legos
finger painting
using tweezers or just a pincher, finger and thumb grip for moving small objects like beans from one container to another.
using utensils when eating
maybe something like sidewalk chalk that's big and bulky to hold would encourage him to make pictures.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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hylabrook1
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| Posted: April 16 2010 at 3:12pm | IP Logged
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More fine motor skills practice:
stringing beads, moving toward ones with smaller holes; maybe start with cheerios, sections of drinking straws, macaroni
cutting - moving from the mechanics of operating scissors and cutting randomly, toward cutting on pre-drawn lines (straight, diagonal, curved, circles)
playing games that use cards and holding the cards in his hands, selecting one at a time to play (board games, card games)
puzzles - knobbed puzzles with simple geometric shapes, moving toward those with more complex shapes, such as animals, trucks, etc.
lacing around the edges of shapes - you can cut simple shapes out of sheets of a craft foam that comes in all sorts of colors (blanking on its name; Fun Foam? ), hole punch around the perimeter, get some colorful lacing strings (easily found in craft stores)
tracing around the edges of largish shapes, like the ones from the knobbed shapes puzzle; tracing his own hand/fingers, or those of other family members
Peace,
Nancy
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Maggie
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| Posted: April 16 2010 at 3:36pm | IP Logged
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I also recommend Handwriting Without Tears. For the pre-K stuff, it is so very very gentle. They start off teaching children to use a "pencil hold" on a crayon. It worked very well for my dd who is now almost 5.
Now, she naturally picks up a pencil, but I did not push her on that. She did it when she was ready and after having held crayons "correctly" for a long while.
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Wife to dh (12 years) Mama to dd (10) ds (8), dd (1), ds (nb) and to Philip Mary (5/26/09), Lucy Joy (12/6/09), and Margaret Mary (3/6/10) who entered Heaven before we had a chance to hold them.
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: April 16 2010 at 7:00pm | IP Logged
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Also, use a lot of those knobbed items to practice picking up with just the right fingers and moving pieces carefully (Montessori uses the knobbed cylinder blocks, the metal insets with small knobs and other similar items - but anything will do, if it has weight and a small knob).
This develops the strength of the muscle as well as some control. The other activities suggested above develop these two necessary components in varying levels.
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Garden of Francis
HS Elementary Montessori Training
Montessori Nuggets
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: April 17 2010 at 8:31am | IP Logged
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Lego... and don't stress with the pencil. My three boys all had very different time lines with pencil holding- from 4-8 years old!
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Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: 4 yr DS & pencil skills
