I try to teach my 26 mo old daughter to hold a pen correctly, and maybe we need to do it more often, but I am not sure if I am doing it right. Her middle finger always slips over the pen where her pointer and thumb are. Would it be easier for her to practice it with a crayon? Or should I just keep persisting with pens and pencils?
I haven’t started showing my son ho to hold a pencil correctly yet. He only colors for a couple of minutes and then wants to put the crayons back in the box. That is more fun than coloring. So I can’t offer any goood advice, but I’m sure some other people will. In the meantime, here are some threads that may have some useful info for you.
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-other-topics/the-tripod-grip-handwriting/
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-other-topics/writing/
First of all the key here is to master the tripod hold first. Using a extra large crayon, extra large pencil first or you can make them by using and old panty hose egg or the toy egg plastic thing that comes from the machines, I have a post and a video on here how to make one on here. Homemade writing tool. My son is 15 months old and he holds his crayons correctly and my 2 year old when he was 12 months held his crayons correctly. Also if you do finger skill exercises to strengthen the finger muscles will also help you, we place old recycled milk lids to sort and place in various bowls, tins, etc. (nothing to small to place in mouth) I cereals in a bowl or muffin pan, etc. also have made a peg game using old milk rings and an old CD holder, a video is on here of that as well. Also taking an old pringles can and slitting the the lid, and allowing the child to place popsicle sticks through the slit, and of course sorting various cereals. We practice taking old markers with lids off and on, off and on. I take the glue sponge out with a pair of plyers and place in bottles of elmers glue to make colored glue. Even though they may not write anymore the ink is still inside ready to color any glue bottle for a long time. Also start using safe dry erase markers on a covered printed worksheet with a sheet protector and play a game called ‘let’s take a drive around the paper’ allow the child to make the varoom sound as he drives the dry erase markers around the paper, make sure to safely cover the table with a protector. We use our high chair. We have used his high chair for school since he was 6 months old, and the same for the other until now of course for my oldest.
When beginning to write or trace over letters make sur eyou use large writing paper designed for toddlers. you can go to www.kizclub.com to get these, get the biggest one they have, you need the room to allow the fingers to move gently over the paper, causing no tention or stress. Use this paper unit he/she is able to write the letter or number almos ton his/her own. Then advance to the next size and so on, by the 4th grade they should be using the smalles size that kizclub overs.
When you give your child the pencil or crayon just lay the item in front of him, do not place the item in the childs hand allow them to do this, they will choose what hand is dominant. I have seen so many children writing with the wrong hand, this causes difficulty through out their whole life if not corrected. If the child does not hold the pencil correctly day opps lets try this, is this more comfortable, they soon will get the hang of it, but be gentle and not to corrective with it.
After a week of correcting my child he held his jumbo size pencil correctly. OH and by the way find the jumbo pencils with NO ERASERS, they will eat it. Practice makes perfect.
Why choose a jumbo size because their little hands can not correctly grasp the small or medium size, at this age the bigger the better, unit they reach 6 or 7. Since the finger placement is uncomfortable for the LO the jumbo crayon or pencil allows their fingers to lay on the writing tool correctly wiht less effort.
If you see your child getting frustrated try the finger skills first and cut out all of correcting the correct hold, until the finger skills are mastered, try then to correct the correct hold.
Also using felt letters and numbers or sand letters on card stock or wooden blocks, allow the child to trace over the letters with his/her fingers, this helps when getting ready to write.
My sons are 26 months and 15 months both can hold a jumbo pencil or crayons correctly.
Also you can purchase a crayon from crayola called Kadoodles a think?
I hope this helps.
I am 30 years old and I do not hold any pen correctly - I have a feeling I was taught to write by my older sister before I started school. They tried to fix it when I started school but never succeeded and to this day I write faster and more neatly than most people I know.
The fact of the matter is though that you cannot write well holding a pen the way my daughter now holds crayons (in a fist) so I will have to teach her something - I am just not sure that I will push to get her to hold it as the schools want. Thanks for the ideas mother of faith - will definitely look at doing some of them. We do play a lot of finger games and my daughter does love taking lids off and putting them back on.
All the ideas by Mother of faith are great, have done several of these in a slightly modified form and we are still working on correct grip , correcting as needed. Another thing which helped us is breaking crayons into small peices , 2 pieces of each regular crayon. that does not give them enough space for the fist hold and encourages tripod hold. Plus some clothespin activities will help.
Every child is different about holding their pencils. I know some double jointed children who hold their pencils different. I think it has to do with comfort issue, I myself have a different hold as well using different pens. I don’t know who set the standard to hold pencils incorrect or correct. Maybe there is a medical standard or soemthing. But hey if your child is writing great, neat, and is comfortable with it, go for it. of cource the school systems may think differnent but we homeschool so…