The correct way to teach your baby to write
How old should a child start to practice writing? How to teach children to learn to write step by step? At what age is it best for children to learn to write? Let’s take a look at how to teach children to write.
With one year left to go to elementary school, many parents are asking: Should they teach their children to write? In fact, I have never formally taught Edamame to write, but recently Edamame has gradually developed an interest in writing. A few months ago, when he was almost 5 years old, he started squatting on the floor and scratching numbers and letters on the paper with a crayon.
The "S" and "9" written by Edamame
I have seen many families where parents teach their children to write step by step when their children are only two or three years old. The child's little hand is at the bottom and the adult's hand is at the top. They hold the pen together and write numbers, letters and even Chinese characters on the paper. The adult cheered with joy, "Yes! That's how 9 is written!"
But in fact, the child looked at the parent blankly, and he couldn't understand at all what "9" and "I" meant. What's the meaning.
Essentially speaking, writing is actually a kind of communication. When you write it, you hope others will understand what you mean. To reach the "writing" step, children must be able to understand what the so-called "symbols" are and have the basic ability of abstract thinking. If the children themselves don’t understand what they are writing, then what’s the point of writing it?
Basic steps of writing
When Edamame was one year old, I read an article written by American child research experts Diffily and Morrison on "The Five Stages of Children's Writing Development Process". From now on, I will follow this process to teach edamame.
The so-called law of education is: whatever you sow, you will basically get the result. When Maodou was four or five years old, he developed a love for writing. The teacher often taught classes next to him, and he would sit and write furiously.
The five stages of children’s writing development process are:
The first stage: drawing.
At this stage, children just doodle as they please. It can be dots, lines and surfaces, or it can be smeared randomly on paper with paint.
The second stage: scribbling.
Children will use pens to scribble on any material, whether it’s paper, sheets, your newly painted walls, or your ridiculously expensive furniture.
For example, when Edamame was at that stage, he liked to draw circular shapes on the foggy car windows. He proudly said: I am writing with curves! If we asked him, "Then what did you write?" he would reply: "I don't know either. I can only write with curved lines, but I can't read."
The third stage: self-expression Create letters.
Stage 4: Random letters.
In these two stages, the child will not understand the meaning of A-Z, and he will name what he writes XXX. For example, if he draws a ghost symbol, he says this is S.
At this time, you can understand the child as an "alien", but do not disturb the child. Because this is the prelude to correct and formal writing!
The fifth stage: formal spelling:
After the last two stages have passed, the child begins to be mentally prepared and honestly accept the rules of the people on Earth. A is a small ladder with a horizontal line in the middle, D is a vertical line with a semicircle...
What kind of child likes to write?
According to my observation, writing and reading are closely related. Children who love reading always start drawing with pen and paper earlier. For example, Maodou prefers to read. Although her hands-on ability is weaker, she has been fond of writing on paper very early.
I asked Maodou’s kindergarten teacher, and the teacher said: This is because children who love reading can understand the concept of “symbols” earlier, and they can understand the meaning of symbols earlier. Moreover, children who love reading often use books as models to imitate the letters and how to write Chinese characters in the books.
Reading is the upper reaches of a big river, and many children’s excellent qualities are branches from this river. We still need to train our children to read, so that it will be natural for them to fall in love with trying to write, instead of teaching them how to write at an early age!