Handwriting Via Finger-painting

I recently wrote about introducing sewing to children to indirectly prepare them for handwriting. That then led me to the idea of offering printed alphabet cards with punched out holes for Stella to sew. I also mentioned that I’d better make sure that Stella knows how to write the letters properly before offering the alphabet sewing cards. Since then I have been thinking about a way to ‘assess’ Stella’s letter writing abilities without her knowing that I am testing her. I hate to cause unnecessary stress. Finger-painting could well be a fun way.

If the weather continues to be fairly mild on one of the days that I work with Stella next week, I might suggest we do some finger-painting. It is something she enjoys doing. I will see if she can paint any letters using her fingers before suggesting some letters. This may prompt her into writing out the whole alphabet if she knows how to. It is not important for her to know how to write them all. I just need to take notice of the ones that she is capable of writing properly. Most importantly, it will be the order of each letter’s formation that I will be paying my close attention to. This will let me know if she is ready to sew those letters because she will be required to sew each in the right order. Judging from some of her work at home, I am already pretty sure that she is able to write quite a few of them because her mum had taught her to write some, especially the ones in her name.

Stella is able to identify and sound out almost the entire alphabet. She is better at identifying the upper case letters, which is something quite common among pre-schoolers. With the lower case letters, she is still making typical mistakes like getting confused with letters like ‘b’ & ‘d’ and ‘p’ & ‘q’. That is ok. We should give her a break. She is only 4 and a bit!

I have gotten a little side-tracked again. Now, let’s get back to finger-painting. This form of art allows the child to move about the whole table’s surface freely to write or draw. It is less restrictive than writing on a piece of paper. There is no need for the child to use any writing tools. If desired, a paint brush can be offered to write the letters. Most children are quite happy to just use the index finger of their dominant hand to write or draw and then delete by swiping across the surface with the palm of their hand to start all over again. Since the child is likely to enjoy this tactile activity, it naturally becomes a relaxing way to ‘assess’ if the child is forming her letters properly.

Unfortunately, finger-painting is not everyone’s cup of tea. Some people are just horrified by the amount of mess to clean up afterwards. A friend of mine is even horrified by seeing her child touching the paints with his bare hands. As a substitute, a tray of sand can be used instead for writing with fingers. Purchase a large art tray – the ones made for indoor table top mud play or finger-painting. This type of trays is available at Kindergarten or Art supplies shops. Other types of trays are fine also provided if they have low sides. Add to the tray a layer of fine, washed sand for the child to write or draw. If preferred, cornmeal can be used as a substitute for the sand. One mum I know even mixed glitter into the sand to entice her little princess! (What is it with girls and glittery little things?) I was kind of surprised that she didn’t dye the sand pink. Now, if sweeping up spilled sand is still too messy, one can always encourage the children to write the letters in the air. That really is a clean and thrifty option.

NOTE: I recently wrote about finger-painting and suggested making prints by transferring a child’s design to a piece of paper. This technique is not applicable to writing because the resulting prints will be a mirror image to what the child has written.