Focusing on Play Before Pencils

On this week’s episode of the Preschool Podcast, we chat with Tania Ferrandino, Occupational Therapist and Senior Professional Learning Producer at Learning Without Tears. Tania dives into the importance of play in early childhood education rather than focusing on the end goal of having a child write their name. Parents and educators can learn valuable tips in this episode on how to help children build foundational fine motor skills while having fun.

A lot of times in early childhood we expect children to write and color before they’re ready before we’ve done those foundational skills and a lot of those skills come through play.

Before jumping into holding a pencil to write their name, children must learn the foundational skills, as outlined below:

1. Understand direction and spatial skills such as top, bottom, beside, under, etc. In order for children to write letters and shapes with writing utensils they need to know directions, otherwise, they will not understand them.
2. Ability to sit in a chair. If a child cannot sit in a chair on their own, they will not be able to write their name or focus for extended periods of time.
3. Interest in coloring, writing or, other fine motor activities. Children must show some interest in writing and/or coloring in order to learn how to build foundation fine motor skills. Without the motivation, they’ll lack interest in writing letters.
4. Social skills. A child will need to listen and pay attention as they learn to imitate an educator in order to understand how to write letters.

Tania suggests that as an educator or parent, your number one thing to remember to help your child develop these skills is to remember “play”. Getting kids to engage in whatever activity you’re doing with them is of utmost importance to develop these foundational skills. Tania also suggests incorporating as many senses as possible into the activity- touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound will fully immerse a child in learning and therefore make a longer-lasting impact on their development.

If we can give children the gift of crayon grip in early childhood, it’s going to translate when they start using a pencil.

Connect with Tania and Discover the World of Learning Without Tears

Tania gives our listeners a great Ted Talk resource by Rita Pierson about connecting with children on a personal level and a Ted Talk by Takaharu Tezuka about a kindergarten classroom that focuses on play and letting kids be kids. Tania also recommends our listeners sign up and attend a virtual workshop, Emergent Writing for Pre-K held by Learning Without Tears for educators to learn how to use the tools provided by Learning Without Tears. Learning Without Tears wants to give our Preschool Podcast listeners 10% off workshops and products by using promo code HIMAMA at checkout, until Dec 31, 2021. 

By Kiah Price Kiah Price is a Social Media Specialist at HiMama. Prior to HiMama she was an Early Childhood Educator in a preschool classroom in Toronto. She is the Jill of all trades at HiMama from dipping her toes in Sales, Customer Success, Operations, and Marketing! She enjoys sweating through spin classes, hot yoga, and biking along the waterfront trails in Toronto. She loves traveling and trying new foods and wines across the globe- 29 countries and counting!