Esther and William are learning lots at the moment
They love playing with letters and numbers
They can read CVC words and spell them
They can spell their names
What they cannot do
Or will not do
Is hold a pencil or any tool
And write their name
They can make their name
With magnetic letters, scrabble tiles, letter cards
They can make double digit numbers and count in to the hundreds
But they cannot
Or will not
Hold a pen
William has absolutely no interest at all
Esther has with guidance and encouragement
I do not really want them to be able to write their names
They are only three and a half
But I do want to lay the foundations
Ready for when they are ready
To get on and write
For now I am loving exploring letters with them
I am enjoying playing with numbers
We all are
And alongside those activities
I also want to make sure I am developing
The fine motor skills they will need
When the time comes to write
So today at breakfast I made this little activity
On clothes pegs I wrote Esther and William’s names letter by letter.
We talked about names always beginning with a capital letter to show that they are important.
Then on a piece of card I wrote out Esther and William’s name again.
Then I showed them how to match the right peg to the right letter on the card to spell out their names.
William took to it very quickly, did his name with the letters on the card and without. He also super quickly ordered numbers 1 – 10 without guidance and then he was done.
But Esther …
Esther enjoyed using the pegs. She found it harder to manipulate them than William but enjoyed the task much more. She made her name over and over again with the pegs using the letters on the card as a guide. She was able to order numbers 1 – 10 independently.
You could see the concentration on Esther’s face as she tried to open and position the pegs.
The fingers used to manipulate the pegs are the same fingers that need strength to hold and use a pen.
This is a great activity for developing fine motor skills.
Clothes pegs can be used in learning in so so many ways.
And if pegs are not for you then here are some other activities for becoming familiar with and starting to write your name
Enjoy!
I must try this with Sonny, he is showing an interest in letters and numbers, loves to scribble but not really to write. x
What a clever idea! I must try this out with my almost 3 year old. Am sure she’d live it, thx for the inspiration! X
This is a great idea. I wrote a post this week about Alex getting quite good with his writing and letters with some tips, but numbers are something we really need to work on as he doesn’t really get them then same way so might give this a go! If I remember correctly he only occasionally wrote his name with a lot of encouragement around 3 years but once he turned 4 it seemed to click and he now comes home from preschool with artwork and his oen handwritten name which always brings a smile to my face x
This looks a fun activity. They might enjoy trying to write their names or make letters and numbers in sand.