The Handwriting Journey 

Before children can hold a pencil to make marks, it’s vital they have plenty of chances to develop their gross and fine motor skills. In our Little Stars class, we focus on providing fun and engaging activities that allow the little ones to explore and refine their movements. This creative play lays the groundwork for holding a writing implement, leading to marks, scribbles, pictures, letters, and eventually writing. The handwriting journey from Reception to Year 2 is truly astounding! Watching their progress and confidence grow as they master this essential skill is nothing short of magical.

Nursery

In nursery, it’s crucial to develop gross motor skills, allowing children to build their large muscles through climbing, jumping, and building activities. We can then refine these movements with opportunities to refine fine motor skills, which are essential for writing with a pencil later on. Activities like threading beads onto string, squishing playdough to strengthen their hands, piecing together puzzles, or even tearing and crumpling paper are all fantastic ways to help. We also encourage painting with brushes or sticks in muddy puddles. Here are some lovely examples of how you can support your little one at home. 

Pre-writing shapes

Pre-writing shapes are the the stepping stones that ultimately lay the groundwork for future writing capabilities. These skills are essentially the pencil strokes that form the basis of most letters, numbers, and early drawings. Typically, children master these strokes in a sequential manner, correlating with their age. Some of the basic strokes include lines, circles, and curves. 

Foundation

Children are increasingly more exposed to letters through phonics and learn to use this code to write their names, spell words and write sentences. From the moment they begin to form graphemes of the alphabet, it's vital to correct and refine their letter formation to prevent them from embedding incorrect habits. Alongside Supersonic Phonic Friends, we explicitly teach letter formation with visuals, movement and catchy auditory rhymes to guide them. Each letter also features a green and red spot to indicate its start and end points, making learning fun, engaging and memorable. You'll hear our children saying, "Around the garden and out the gate!" for help them form the letter 'g'.

Letters will be taught in a specific sequence to guide children through similiar motions for letter families. First they learn long letters (l,t,i,j,u,y), then bouncy letters (r,n,m,h,b,p,k), then curly letters (c,o,a,d,g,q,s,f,e) and finally zigzag letters (v,w,z,x).

Year 1

Children will continue to refine their handwriting skills, focusing on improving letter formation and presentation. They'll start to shrink down their letter size and learn how to position their letters correctly on the line. Throughout the year, they'll discover which letters are tall ascenders that reach up to the top line and down to the bottom line, like t, h, d, b, l, and k, as well as descenders such as g, y, and p. They'll also get the hang of forming their capital letters and the right spot for them on the line. It's all about building those crucial writing skills!

Year 2

We progress onto specifically teaching the children how to join their small, ascender and descender letters. It's completely normal for their writing to get a bit messy as they practice these new skills—trust the process! With time and effort, their handwriting will evolve into something beautiful. We use an interactive resource called PenPals, which allows us to teach through a carefully structured sequence, building on skills and joins progressively. Let’s encourage our little ones to keep at it; their hard work will pay off in the end!

Progression of pencil grasps

Your child's pencil grasp will progress from when they begin their writing journey with us in Little Stars to when they leave us at the end of Year 2. Please refer to the table below to show the developmental progression of efficient and inefficient grasps.