- 1). Practice the pincer grasp, the skill needed to be able to hold an object between the thumb and index finger. To strengthen fine motor skills, playing with play-dough is an effective tool. Encourage your child to tear apart the play dough and roll and manipulate the small pieces. All of these tasks require the use of a pincer grasp.
- 2). Practice with scissors. Teach your child how to use scissors correctly to be able to cut paper. Practice various cutting skills by drawing wide wiggle lines on a paper. Instruct your child to cut on the lines. When your child is able to maintain control of the pair of scissors, he is ready to maintain control of a pencil.
- 3). Purchase plastic stencils. Instruct your child to trace within the patterns of the stencil--she is learning how to navigate a pencil and is becoming aware of what a completed shape, pattern or letter should look like.
- 4). Trace letters. Purchase a letter skill notebook or create your own by writing letters and short words that your child will be able to trace. This process teaches your child the shape and size of letters and numbers, as well as maintaining control of the pencil when writing them.
- 5). Look and copy. Allow your child to watch you as you write certain letters and short words on one line of the paper. Encourage him to study each letter then copy letters on his own directly under yours. For example, if you write the letter "c," encourage your child to trace it, then copy it two or three times.
SHARE
