With Early Years Mark Making a very real issue, we have decided to put together an information pack to help guide you and your child through the processes they may encounter whilst with us at Addingham Preschool Playgroup.

We have worked very closely with the staff in Class Reception and feel that you will benefit from the information enclosed in this document.The purpose of this information is to make you aware of the importance of the stages your child will pass through before ‘recognisable writing’ will emerge and how vital it is that your child is not rushed through the process. Early mark making is a personal journey that each child passes through at their own speed and time. Each stage is vital to their overall skill; the main aim at this early stage is to encourage all the motor skills/movements required for efficient mark making. The key area being to encourage a good pencil grip/hold, this is also explained in this booklet along with pictures of a variety of pencil holds you may encounter whilst your child is working out how to manipulate a pencil to make marks. We sincerely hope that you will find this guidance beneficial and if you have any further questions please ask a member of staff for any extra help or clarification you may require.

Throughout your child’s early years is it essential that they be given the opportunity to make a wide variety of marks using a wide variety of media...

A tray with a small amount of dry or wet sand can fire the imagination, creating straight lines, curves, zigzags or circles using just a finger or thumb. A variety of implements can be added; brushes, cars with a variety of tyre treads, bevelled/ patterned rolling pins add a new dimension to the marks being made. (It doesn’t have to be sand... flour, icing sugar, shaving foam are all good for early mark making)

The use of paint does not necessarily require a paint brush, making marks with hands and then fingers shows your child how a mark can change just by modifying something at a basic level. This is the same when a mark making implement is introduced.

Likewise painting does not require the use of paint; paint brushes and water are great fun for large mark making outside on floors and walls.

Writing DevelopmentEarly writing begins from the moment babies make their first marks. These are more likely to involve the children making patterns in their food, or possibly discovering that foods such as jam and melted chocolate can make interesting marks on their body or other available surface!

Supporting Early Mark Making

The following is a series of early mark making steps that all children will travel through. They will travel through all/ some of these at their own pace and guidance and support from the adult is key to this journey. This journey will start from muscle development in baby stage to hopefully refining pencil grip and early mark making by age 5. The best and most vital help you can give your child is a good refined tripod pencil grip. This is key to refining marks and early letter forming.If letter forming begins prior to a refined pencil grip, the skill has to be un- learned and re learned in order for efficient mark making skills to occur which the child will need as he/ she continues through school.The following is what we consider to be a good refined tripod pencil grip.

Pencil held lightly between thumb and index finger, with middle finger lightly supporting and tucked behind the pencil.

From Birth to approx. 26 months your child will be developing a range of movement that is essential for later mark making:The adult needs to...

- Encourage exploring, crawling, rolling and wriggling.- Join in with actions and movements.- Show interest in marks and patterns.- Provide toys that can be easily held by small hands.- Appreciate marks made and praise the childs efforts.- Imitate/ copy the marks the child makes.- Let the child see you make marks.- Provide a range of small movement activities.- Provide a range of mark making activities.

From 22-36 months...

The adult needs to...- Point out the child’s name and draw attention to other

print in the environment.- Show interest in the child’s mark making, supported by

appreciative and encouraging comments.- Play with the child imitating their marks and modelling

other ways of making marks.

From 30-50 months...The adult needs to...

- Model writing and read it back to the child.- Show how to use a variety of writing materials.- Talk about what you have both written and drawn.- Let the child see you writing for a purpose, such as

memos, labels, messages and so on.- Show interest in all mark making attempts.- Demonstrate that speech can be recorded in a written

form by scribing the child’s own caption for a picture or story.

- Illustrate that writing communicates a message by reading instructions for games, construction toys, recipes and so on.

- Write for a purpose; letters, shopping lists, labels and so on.

- Draw attention to his/ her name and encourage him/ her to mark their name on pictures.

- Encourage a comfortable and effective writing grip.- Talk about the difference between pictures and text.

From 40-60 months...The adult needs to...

- Draw attention to text whilst reading stories, demonstrating left to right and top to bottom.

- Talk about the way print works, a word then a space.- Draw attention to the names of other children.- Once correct pencil grip is established, encourage

correct letter formation.- Encourage child to talk about their writing and let

them read it to you.- In shared reading, draw attention to features of text

such as direction and repeated words or refrains; big books are good for this.

- Identify letters of the child’s name in texts, value the attempts they make to write their name and compare similarities and differences to how you would write their name.

- Write for different purposes and read back where appropriate.

- Build up sentences of individual words.- List familiar words.