{"id":30006,"date":"2024-01-07T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=30006"},"modified":"2025-04-01T13:33:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T17:33:02","slug":"write-on-the-importance-of-hand-strength-in-early-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2024\/01\/write-on-the-importance-of-hand-strength-in-early-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Write On!  The Importance of Hand Strength in Early Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In my Family Engagement work in tandem with a school psychologist and occupational therapist, I have learned the importance of pre-writing skills in kindergarten readiness\u2026<em>and<\/em> that many children today have fallen behind in this stage of development.&nbsp; We worry about the \u201cdangers\u201d of screens concerning attention span and other developmental stages\u2026but scrolling with touch screens is really hampering hand development, a vital part of writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What can we do to help children develop the physical skills needed for writing?&nbsp; First, leave out crayons and pencils with paper for them to explore.&nbsp; Toddlers can use big, chunky writing utensils, but as we get closer to kindergarten, give children more traditional sized items to drill down on fine motor skills.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use playdough or clay in your programming to help build hand strength.&nbsp; Many families are hesitant to use these materials at home, so let kids get messy at the library!&nbsp; Of course, besides hand strength, playdough and clay help develop creativity\u2026and are just fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let children practice cutting\u2014kindergarten teachers will thank you!&nbsp; Perhaps invest in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.missfarrahmovementandfun.com\/post\/let-s-talk-adaptive-scissors#:~:text=Loop%20scissors%20are%20a%20great,helps%20increase%20hand%20strength.\">loop scissors<\/a> for early cutters.&nbsp; Allow kids to try to open their own afternoon snacks\u2026where you buy applesauce cups to promote spoon usage instead of the squeeze bottle snacks.&nbsp; Work on buttoning and zipping. Have children peel stickers off their backings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do finger plays in storytime that promote fine motor skills (such as the Itsy Bitsy Spider) or that force children to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gr4gtVYSAEg\">cross the midline<\/a> (gee, I talked about that in my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2023\/11\/the-art-of-early-literacy-asides-in-storytime\/\">last blog<\/a>.&nbsp; Yes, kind of inspired this one).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Allow children to draw and write on a vertical plane\u2014meaning paper taped on a wall or at an easel.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I found a <a href=\"https:\/\/childdevelopment.com.au\/areas-of-concern\/writing\/writing-readiness-pre-writing-skills\/\">great Australian resource<\/a> that discusses writing, hand development, when to be concerned, typical developmental expectations and more.&nbsp; And of course, if caregivers have concerns, perhaps suggest they speak to an occupational therapist.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What do you do to promote writing at your library?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This post addresses the core competency of I. Commitment to Client Group, III. Programming Skills, and VII. Professionalism and Professional Development.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In my Family Engagement work in tandem with a school psychologist and occupational therapist, I have learned the importance of pre-writing skills in kindergarten readiness\u2026and that many children today have fallen behind in this stage of development.&nbsp; We worry about the \u201cdangers\u201d of screens concerning attention span and other developmental stages\u2026but scrolling with touch screens is really hampering hand development, a vital part of writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":297,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1474,1],"tags":[2561,2716,1396],"class_list":["post-30006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-maria-trivisonno","category-uncategorized","tag-early-writing","tag-hand-strength","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/297"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}