Grab a Pencil

A crucial skill that needs developing at this age is fine motor capabilities. This includes holding a pencil, lacing, or basically anything that requires coordination of small muscle movements (ie: fingers and eye). An easy and fun way to practice this skill is to practice lacing. You can use yarn with noodles, popcorn on string (a cute Christmas decoration) or beads on string or pipe cleaners. I happened to have small beads leftover from my classroom so I pulled them out one day to see how Maverick would do with them.

He did great and actually surprised me with how focused he remained working so hard to string those beads! These activities are great for teaching pre-writing skills.

Speaking of writing, a good place to start with little ones is having them practice drawing lines (vertical and horizontal), curves (think about the curves in letters like C, D, etc) and slants (like in the letter A). Also writing with different utensils such as chunky crayons, wet sponges on chalkboards, markers, pencils, chalk, fingers, etc.

Tracing the letter Qq with his finger dipped in water.

Writing with a wet sponge (I cut a normal sized sponge into small rectangles).