Pre-Writing Activities ~ The Montessori Way

Learning to write can be a frustrating exercise for many young children.  Especially when they haven't mastered the art of holding the pencil properly.  Once they conquer this monumental task, the skies the limit.  <=== I know.  Sounds a bit dramatic, but ask any 2 or 3 year old who is learning and they'll tell you that it isn't easy.  Ask a 4 year old and don't be surprised if they snap that pencil right in half with a growl.

But over time, with a little practice and determination they will see results.

Handwriting will improve greatly.
Coloring in the lines will become easier.
Buttoning their own jacket will be a snap ((See what I did there?))

Here are some great ways for you to help your child at home.  They will thank you later :)

1 - Sand tray

All you need is a shallow tray and sand.  That's it. This activity is a great sensorial exercise which will keep your child busy for a while.  I highly recommend changing it up from time to time.  You can use sand, salt, or sugar.  Another way is using rice.  In the past, I dyed the rice different colors to add to the sensory experience.

Check out this video and see how the sand tray can be a valuable tool in the writing process.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvJuRgj7pbA

2 - Pinwork

This is one of my absolute favorite activities for young preschoolers.  It will aid in small muscle control, concentration, and pencil grip.  I like to use stencils of different shapes or animals (sometimes holiday oriented images) in black marker or black pencil on construction paper.  You will need a push pin which, if you will notice how your child holds it, is EXACTLY how they should be holding a pencil. 😲

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I bet some of you are wondering why you didn't think of that.  I know I did. Walk them through the process of tracing the black line with their push pin.

Watch this video to see exactly how this activity can be effective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_z2J2ijG1E

3 - Tracing

Use a yellow highlighter on a white piece of lined paper.  Draw the letters A - Z and allow your child to trace with a pencil. Another preference in the classroom is their name.  Children love to see their name on paper.

One thing I highly recommend is teaching your child lowercase letters before upper case. Remember that those are the letters you see most when reading.  They are also the letters they see most in their names.  Everything they are learning above is a preparation for reading 😄

They're well on their way!

Language Arts

Many of the sensorial exercises, by their very nature, are a remote preparation for academic learning.  For example, the child who has learned to listen carefully will be able to perceive subtle differences in the sounds of the letters.  Of equal importance to language, skills are the geometric materials, which help the children to concentrate on different shapes.

Learning to write

To be able to write, a child must develop a two-fold skill.  He must commit to memory the shape of the letters and their corresponding sounds, and he must develop the muscular skill necessary for using the pencil with control.

For a child to try to acquire both aspects of this skill at the same time is often discouraging and frustrating.  It is extremely difficult for him to try to learn the path for making the letters at the same time that he is trying to learn how to move the pencil with control.

The materials which Dr. Montessori designed offer the child the opportunity to learn the shapes and sounds of the letters in a way that is completely independent from his perfection of the motor skill.  The child, therefore, in the Montessori classroom learns to write not by writing, but by performing a number of purposefully structured activities which prepare him both indirectly and directly for facility in handwriting.

Learning the shapes of the letters with the Sandpaper Letters

The child meets the alphabetical symbols by using the Sandpaper Letters.  Each letter of the alphabet is outlined in sandpaper on an individual card, the vowels on blue and consonants on red.  The teacher shows the child how to trace the letters with two fingers following the same direction in which the symbol is normally written.

Use of this material gives the child a three-fold impression.  He sees the shape, he feels the shape, and he hears the sound of the letter which the teacher repeats when introducing it.  The fact that the letters is made of important step in learning to write.  The repetition of this exercise fixes the path of each of the letters in the child's muscular memory.

Learning the sounds of the letters with the sandpaper letters

In a Montessori classroom, the child learns the phonetic sounds of the letters before he learns the alphabetical names in sequence.  The phonetic sounds are given first because these are the sounds he hears in words.  The child first becomes aware of these phonetic sounds when the teacher introduces the consonants with the Sandpaper Letters.

Perfecting the Motor Skills with the Metal Insets

The child in a Montessori Classroom learns to control a pencil by filling in outlines, an activity which does not weary her because she enjoys it.  To make the outline, she uses equipment known as the Metal Insets.  Each inset represents a different geometric shape.  After selecting a figure and tracing it on paper, the child fills in the outline with a colored pencil of her own choosing.

At first her strokes are erratic and often extend beyond the outline.  By degrees they become more accurate and uniform.  Progress in muscular control can be noted by comparing the child's designs from week to week and from month to month.  Eventually she makes more intricate designs by superimposing two or three other shapes on the original figure.  When colored, this effort resembles a stained glass window.  Crayons and paint are not used for this activity because the purpose is always pencil controlled.