At what age???

Early Learning Early Learning General Discussions
1

Can anybody tell me at what age one should start writng???ABC’S ,NAME, 123etc.Coz i am worried about writing now.My son sometimes scribble which contains some letters but he doent write .And the thing is i dont want to force him at all???

Sapna

2

Hi Sapna,

   I have a 5 month old baby so I can't really tell at what age kids should start to write. When I was a kid, I can remember writing at age 4.
3

Here is one guide to children’s writing that I found on the internet:

  1. child starts to scribble (anywhere from about 12-18 months)
  2. child can scribble in circular patterns (though is not drawing a full circle) - sometime around 18 months
  3. child can copy a sraight line or a circle - sometime around 18-25 months (the copied lines are not always straight)
  4. child starts to draw pictures that are meant to represent something - people may look like tadpoles though for example, it is at this stage that they may try to write too but do not have the fine motor control to get it right usually
  5. Children start to write their first letters - certain letters are easier for this age group. The V in particular is a hard letter to write for a young child and a triangle is one of the last shapes that a child learns to draw correctly - some children are as old as 5 before they can copy a triangle, though some may get it right as young as 3 years old.

There are differences in individual children. While 2.5 years is usually young to be drawing tadpole people, I do know of a child who could do this at 20 months and others can’t be bothered til they are 4/5 years old. My sisters child was just over 2.25 years when she drew a tadpole person (head, arms and legs, but no body and some eye features) and she was about 2.5 when she could write the initial letters of her name. She is now 3 and can write her full name and most letters but is no where near writing sentences or even most words.

At 2 I would just your child scribble as much as he likes and perhaps help him to copy shapes like circles if he is interested. They may need to get to drawing and wanting to represent things on paper before they try to write.