Can you remember when you couldn’t read, write, tie shoelaces and numerous other skills we now take for granted? We had to learn the steps to undertake these complex skills.
As you watch your children now learn these skills themselves, it is easy to underestimate the complexity involved. They not only require cognitive ability, but also perseverance, repetition and the physical development to be able to do them. Children all develop at different rates, some early walkers at nine months and others not until 18 months. So it is with the skills of writing. We would expect all children to begin to explore writing and drawing during their early childhood years through play-based opportunities, but there are distinct stages that children go through in the development of their drawing and writing.
What is important to understand is the physical development of the hand in relation to this development. Have a look at the X-rays of the child’s hand development and it will give you a clearer picture. At birth, the baby has 19 bones in each hand in the fingers, but not yet bones in the wrist. There are lots of spaces between the bones, mostly occupied by cartilage, and the wrist bones begin to form at three years old. At this stage, we see more bone and less cartridge and they have more strength than a baby or toddler. This physical development has direct implications for their skill development. Holding a writing implement requires dexterity, co-ordination and strength. Children’s hand bones aren’t fully developed until around eight years of age – which you can see with all those primary children swinging on the monkey bars!
Our hands have two parts, and both need the opportunities to develop. One side of the hand incorporates the thumb, index and third finger; this part of the hand usually does most of the work, for example, holding a pencil. The other part of the hand is the ring finger and small finger, along with the side of the hand that acts as a stabiliser. Offering preschool-aged children appropriate activities that cross the midline and use both sides of their hand will give them the strength and skills to become a writer. Opportunities for threading, cutting, pasting, painting, using tongs and tearing paper can help children’s hands develop. These developments start in infancy and mature with the right age- and stage-appropriate opportunities. If children are pushed to write too early, they may not have appropriate skill development and hold the writing implement in an awkward or clunky manner, and might have difficulty with other functional aspects, such as cutting with scissors.
Fine motor development can also be supported by children engaging in gross motor development, such as climbing, dancing, running, riding a bike, swinging, throwing and catching, all of which are great experiences. Children need lots of exposure, encouragement and support to master these skills – the writing and reading skills will flow on just as when they learnt to walk and talk.
Wendy Seidler
ELC Director – Kew campus
