Homeschool World Forum

You can have him write in sand, play with tweezers and eyedroppers for dexterity, use a dry erase board with mini markers..

I always love sand-writing! Also, form the letters out of dough, write on your back and have you guess what letter he wrote, you write on his back and have him guess, write on the sidewalk with water or bubble solution, write on cookies with decorator gel, "write" on sandpaper with his fingertip, cut the letters out of paper with scissors (either around drawn letters or free-hand--very large letters are easier to start with).

Ramona

It has great tools and exercises for young children (preschool) and then progresses from there. I use the program with my 2 year old and my 4 year olds. Lots of manipulatives and they all feel happy with their writing.

We then include chalk letters on the sidewalk, finger painting, whipped cream on a tray, sand writing etc.

I've heard that knitting is a pre-writing skill taught in some Montessori schools and that they start learning it at age 4. Also that young kids learn better from older kids than adults. Maybe you could teach both of them to knit and/or encourage his sister to work with him more on his writing.

Hi,

Trace the letters on sandpaper. You can find sandpaper alphabet tablets at a Montessori store, or you can make them yourself with cardboard and sand paper cut outs.
Give him a pair of blunt tipped scissors like baby nail clipping scissors to cut through paper in neat lines for a crafts project. It gives them better ability to handle an object and manipulate it.
Let him make alphabet shapes out of playdough.

Here are some preschool writing activities that may help.

Has anyone used workbooks for pre-writers, like the ones they sell at Wal-Mart?
It would help him feel included with what his sister is doing.
I think my kids get along so well(people seem to comment about it at places like church or the library, when they are new) because they do similar activities together.
Just a thought...

Hi, i think he is VERY ready to start writing. What i suggest you to do is to by a very good book of Lynne Lawrence its based on Maria montessori metod. To follow the stragegy of her method wich refers a lot of how to teach kids around 4 years old to read and write.
the name of the book its "hep your children to write and read with the montessori method" i just tranlate the title from my spanish book, so may be wrong but i think you can check in amazon.com for sure you´ll find it by the name of the author.

good luck!

You might want to try the Callirobics program. An Occupational Therapist referred me to it. My kids enjoyed the program because they got to draw interesting lines and shapes while listening to music. The program helps to train children's hands to make the lines used in handwriting. Here's the website: http://www.callirobics.com/