“Draw your own conclusion”
Marking and writing are important skills because they allow for the refinement of hand-eye coordination.
Materials and Activities: paper and crayons/markers, chalk and chalkboard, finger paint, sand, Magna Doodle, whipped cream on a high chair tray or tabletop, etc.
- Make verbalizations while you make your markings (e.g., draw a vertical line and say “zip”; draw a horizontal line and say “zap” then draw a circle and say “whew”).
- Place crayons in your child’s hands and guide.
- Point to paper/crayons to prompt your child.
- Give shapes meaning (e.g., a circle can be part of a face, a vertical line can be part of a tree).
- Happily call attention to what you are drawing.
- Provide guides for tracing along (e.g., ruler over paper)
- Prompt awareness of shapes in the environment (e.g., encourage your child to run his finger along the straight seam of the couch or around the circle of a Frisbee).
