7 exercises to help kids write

The pen is mightier than the sword… but only if held by a very strong hand.

Like his Daddy, No1 child has squiggly writing. It’s not easy when you’ve a had full of ideas, yet a single word takes so long to write that by the time it’s done you’ve forgotten what comes next. So I’m very lucky to see him getting some extra help at school in a thoroughly playful way (Thnx E, welikeplay is indebted).

The rational goes like this: writing - and in particular penmanship - is not purely a cerebral activity, rather it is the body doing what the brain wants in moving a pen through the arcs and loops on a piece of paper in front of you. If it is so much to do with the body then perhaps exercise to build up the writing muscles will help. I’ve a hunch that the link between early walkers and later dyslexia is due partly to the lack of crawling and the building up of muscles around the upper body.

So, to build up strength and coordination to allow children to sit at a desk and grip a pen with less hassle here are a week-ful of playful exercises to introduce.

Stair slithering. Ok, you’ve spent the last 5-7 years teaching them to go down stairs, now its time to let them slither down on their tummy. Explain that you’re all to use your arms stretched out in front of you to hand-walk down; and when they’ve got that, to hoist them selves up again.

Putty squashing. Mix up a pot of Homebrew Snot to squish and stretch obsessively whilst watching TV for big strong fingers.

Tunnel your house. For a day or two take the cushions off the sofa, grab all blankets, clothe-racks and pegs, play tents and old cardboard boxes and create a castle/fort/warren inside your house that everyone has to use. Take tunnels from the kitchen through to the living room and even to the loo to encourage an awful lot of crawling.

Be mermaids/men. Visit a charity/thrift store for a too big pair of tracky-bums (that’s englandish for track suit trousers); tuck one leg in and down the other to make a tail. Add shells and flop around the house all day. If you’re feeling brave/playful, get a pair for every member of the family. Hang shredded kitchen foil from the lamps and have an underwater tea-party.

Hang off the sofa for a bedtime story. Together stick your shins/thighs on the cushion of the sofa, place hands on the ground either side of the book for a story time. To take it further a bed time snack can be chopped up in a bowl to be eaten from the floor.

Do the ‘Hand-wash only’ laundry. Fine, less of a play and more of a chore, but I’m constantly surprised at how much kids enjoy inclusion in mundane tasks. And with the added benefit that wringing clothes out and pegging them still heavy with water on a line really exercise those grippy muscles.

Find a grassy hill, roll down. Rolling down hills teaches, very quickly, the art of not ploughing a furrow with your forehead. This is done by using tummy muscles to keep the head up at the right time… and it’s good fun for grown ups too; last time we did it we got an audience.

Do not let these exercises become a chore, reward enthusiasm with attention, reward success with praise. Don’t let the above become limiting, invent your own (and leave them in the comments below). Join in, giggle and get it wrong, let your kids stumble upon you doing them by yourself… and above all

…enjoy.

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