Strategies to Help Children Learn to Print

Exploring Writing Tools

• Before your child begins to print, she needs to explore the different ways that she can make marks by experimenting with writing tools. According to the national child development organization, Zero to Three, children go through four stages of writing before they hit age 5. This includes scribbling randomly, scribbling with control, making lines and patterns and creating pictures of objects and people. After your child masters these stages, she can try to print. Exploring with crayons, markers, pencils and pens can help her to move through these stages and get ready to print.

Name Writing

• The experts at Zero to Three note that most children begin by using the letters that are most familiar to them. This typically includes the letters that make up the child's first name. Encouraging your child to use these letters to practice printing will make it easier for her to remember the lines and marks that she needs to make. Instead of sitting her down and making her print her name over and over again, which will most likely bore her, add a writing lesson whenever she draws a picture or creates another type of artwork. Have her "sign" her art by printing her name. If she isn't in to making art, get her to print her name on an envelope that she is pretending to mail to herself or have her write her name on top of your grocery list.

Modeling

• The child development pros at PBS Parents suggest that adults model their own writing skills for young children. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to sit down and make your child watch you as you write word after word. Instead, take advantage of any opportunity you have to print during daily activities. For example, if you are writing out a shopping list, have your child watch you as you print. Say the letter names as you write each one to help her to connect the sounds with the printed image.

Tracing

• If your child is struggling to print on her own, try a simple tracing activity. Write basic words such as her name, "cat," or "dog" using a pencil. Give her a darker pencil or a marker to trace over your printing. Continue with this strategy until she gets proficient at drawing the lines and curves of the letters by herself. The more practice that she gets tracing your letters, the more comfortable she will feel writing on her own.