Pre-Writers Club: High Contrast Cards

Physical Development - Moving & Handling (30-50 months):

Uses one handed tools and equipment.

What you need:

Talk to your child about all of the colours they can see around them. Explain that when babies are born their eyes can't can see all of the colours but they can see the difference btween black and white. Discuss how black and white toys can help their eyes to get better at seeing. Can they help to make some cards for their toy baby?

Use black paint or felt tips to create patterns on white paper. It doesn't matter what marks your child makes or what the finished art looks like because the purpose of the activity is to develop the skills needed for writing.

You could use stamps, foam shapes or cut up potatoes to print patterns. I really like the easi-grip stampers because they encourage children to use their fingers to grip rather than holding tools with their whole hand. This helps to get their fingers ready to hold a pencil efficiently.

You could encourage your child to paint some of the pre-writing shapes on the white card.

We made these when Benji was little, but you could set up a play area using a toy doll and the high contrast cards.

Bilateral Co-ordination – This allows children to use both sides of their bodies together in a co-ordinated way. They need to hold the paper still with one hand to stop it moving as they lift the stamp off. They will bilateral co-ordination when the begin to write, stabilising the paper with one hand, while writing with the other.

If you have a go at this activity and share any photos on social media I would love to see them. Please tag @miniwritersclub and let me know how you get on.

Anna