Pencil control

Activities to help develop pencil control

• Simple dot-to-dots - following letter or number order.

• Simple mazes - trace the line with your finger first and practise staying inside the lines as you get from the start to the finish.

• Copying and drawing patterns in the sand tray, on a chalkboard, in flour or in shaving cream on a table top. You make a simple pattern and then encourage the child to copy it.

• Using finger-paints to make or copy patterns.

• Drawing round other people's hands and body or simple stencils.

• Tracing activities.

• Completing pictures. Start with a completed picture to copy. Then begin drawing the image, leaving simple items out for the child to fill in 

• Draw on different types of paper e.g. tissue paper, sugar paper, cardboard, sandpaper, corrugated card and experiment with pressure required for each one. 

• Try drawing using different utensils e.g. thicker pencil, light up pen, chalk, vibrating pen, charcoal, felt pens. 

• Draw patterns with chalk on a blackboard/pavement. Use water and a paintbrush to make them disappear. 

• Practise pre-writing shapes as these are the foundation shapes for handwriting.  They include vertical and horizontal lines, circles, squares and oblique lines (\ /) and crosses (+ x).  

Start the activities on a large scale, for example using large pieces of paper stuck to the wall rather than A4 sheets. As the child's control and understanding of the shape develop, progress onto smaller pieces of work

Hand dominance

Hand dominance is the preference of one hand to perform fine and gross motor tasks, such as writing, cutting or catching and throwing a ball. Though hand dominance means tasks are performed more efficiently by the dominant hand, the non-dominant hand also plays a significant role in completing tasks e.g. the non dominant hand holds the paper while the dominant hand is cutting with scissors, the non dominant hand holds a bowl while the dominant hand mixes ingredients. Some children may swap hands during tasks. Children develop hand dominance at around 2-4 years but this can be later.