Essay title - Don’t rush me, Let me play!: Developing writing skills through daily routines
Introduction
Mrs. Smith is packing up her three year olds as parents arrive to pick them up from day care. She greets each one with a smile and runs through the events of the day.
One parent approaches Mrs. Smith after watching her son singing a song they learned that day and says, “When are you going to teach Sam to read and write?”
“Sam is building his reading and writing skills through the activities we do every day”, replied Mrs. Smith.
“I understand that but when is he going to start reading and writing? I want him to be prepared for kindergarten.”
This may be all too familiar to care givers who work with young children. Parents want what is best for their child and many see being able to read and write before entering kindergarten a head start. The child may not have the necessary physical and cognitive skills to read and write at three years of age that a five or six year old would have. Having an understanding of how play and development can build reading and writing skills can help parents see the importance of what you are doing. The focus here will be on play and how it can influence writing skills.
Play as a foundation
Where do children learn to write? The skills necessary to carry out formal writing experiences begin before birth as children are spoken and interacted with in the womb. Children learn by listening, watching, and eventually attempting to copy what they see and hear (Lawhon and Cobb 2002). Play is nature’s way of helping students develop more complex literacy skills (Kalmar 2008). Before children are able to communicate formally with adults, play is the vehicle that allows them to express their thoughts and feelings. As early childhood educators, setting up an environment that allows children to explore and play with the world around them is the first step in developing these early reading and writing experiences. Children should be provided with:
- Large areas for play
- Tools to mark with (e.g. crayons, sidewalk chalk, sand, clay)
- Opportunities to communicate with peers and adults
- Books, magazines, brochures, and other print materials to explore
- Different sizes and textures of paper or materials to write on
- Finger paints
- Telephones
- Play microphones
- Dramatic play materials
Setting up the environment opens the door for children to explore different mediums. While the environment promotes play and the development of literacy skills, development itself is the key to building competent writers.
Development and writing
Children must develop certain physical social and cognitive skills before being able to read and write as older children do. As a child care provider, you are in a perfect position to help develop the skills children need in a natural way.
Physical Skills and writing
Large and small muscle development is important to making the marks necessary to write formally (Greer and Lockman 1998; Morrow 2001, 131). Children who are not given the necessary time and opportunities to develop these large and small muscle skills can develop problems when learning to write formally. Most of the issues lie with the ability to control hand movements when making small marks (Greer and Lockman). Children should be provided with opportunities to develop the large and small muscle skills. Activities for developing these skills might include:
- Providing different sized tools
- Using clay to build small muscle skills
- Playing catch with large and small objects
- Tearing paper
- Learning to use scissors (where appropriate and under supervision)
- Blocks
- Outside play
Providing different sized tools
Part of developing writing skills is practicing mark making (Anning 1999; Coats 2002). Infants explore this process when they eat. There are not many infants who do not make some sort of mess when eating. This is a kinesthetic pleasure but produces a cause and effect process with their arms and hands. Toddlers explore mark making during sand and water time, drawing as a representation of story telling, and use of finger paints to explore marks. These are the types of experiences young children need to develop coordination and muscle control. Children can explore with brushes in the art center, different sized pencils, crayons or other writing instruments. The marks they make are their way of representing the world around them. Writing is just that, our way of representing the world around us in print.
Using clay to build small muscle skills
Play Dough is nice, but very easy to work. Educators who work with clay find it harder to manipulate. Children exercise the small motor skills in their fingers when given opportunities to work with clay. This is not saying Play Dough will not produce the same results. Extended play with Play Dough or a homemade variety can build the small muscles as well. Provide ample opportunity for young children to explore with various materials.
Playing catch with large and small objects
Writing is based on hand-eye coordination as well as small motor skills. Playing catch can present children with opportunities to develop and refine hand-eye coordination. Smaller children need large objects to catch. As their abilities improve, smaller objects can be introduced.
Tearing paper
Tearing paper into small pieces allows children to coordinate the small muscle skills. Many early childhood professionals are not comfortable allowing children to use scissors. Tearing paper allows children to not only create but works on their small motor development. The act of gluing the paper onto something takes small motor and visual coordination.
Learning to use scissors (where appropriate and under supervision)
Can children be taught to use scissors at an early age? Absolutely! When provided with the appropriate instruction and supervision, children can use scissors successfully. You cannot just hand children scissors and ask them to cut. You have to teach them how to hold scissors, how to use them properly, and rules for using scissors. With this in mind, scissor use takes a lot of small motor and visual coordination as well. Don’t expect students to cut on straight lines when first give the opportunities to explore with scissors. Allow them to cut their own shapes and designs. This will provide them with opportunities to develop the skills necessary to cut on lines later.
Blocks
A well designed block center provides opportunities for children to develop both large and small motor skills as well as hand-eye coordination (Kostelink, Soderman, and Whiren 2007, 385; Stroud 1995). When children first learn to stack blocks the blocks are very unstable and fall easily. The more they play with the blocks, the better they get at stacking them. Children explore various patterns and designs when playing with blocks. Research conducted by Stroud (1995) described how blocks can assist with building literacy skills. Blocks help children visualize, develop fine-motor coordination, and practice oral language skills.
Outside play
Giles and Wellhousen (2005) provided numerous examples of outdoor activities that could be used to foster writing development. Providing children with opportunities to write in dirt or on sidewalks is one way to encourage written language. Providing opportunities to see written language is important as well. Street signs, directions, and maps can all be used to enhance the outdoor environment. Centers could create their own town with center made street signs and walk-ways.
Social Skills and writing
Play is a natural exercise to develop oral literacy skills. Oral literacy skills directly affect written language. The stronger the child’s oral literacy, the stronger the connection will be to developing their written language (Harrett 2002). As children interact with one another in centers, they build the necessary skills for later writing development. From a very young age, listening to adults talk or interacting with a child care provider, begins the process of socialization for children. This socialization, if capitalized on, can be the foundations for children’s writing.
As children draw pictures, paint scenes, or play in the block center, they are telling stories. Their paintings are opportunities for care providers to see how children symbolically represent their ideas and thoughts. Asking children to share their work with you and others provides a basis for later written examples (Lawhon and Cobb 2002). Play provides opportunities for children to work through problems and develop practical solutions. The conversations children engage in provide boundless stories they can create on their own (Stadler and Ward 2005).
Suggestions for developing social skills includes:
- Opportunities to interact with peers and adults
- Play in small and large groups
- Outdoor play
- Stimulating centers with literacy connections
Cognition and writing
Cognition is as important to learning to write as physical and social skills. Children need opportunities to develop visual and auditory discrimination (Morrow 2001, 130). In order to write formally, children need to be able to discriminate sounds, identify letters, and identify beginning and ending sounds in words. These skills are developed through phonemic awareness activities. Singing songs, playing rhyming games, and manipulating sounds in words all play a role in writing development. For young children, spending time in playful situations completing these tasks will help develop their written skills.
Children must also have an understanding of left to right progression, and the ability to process visual memory as well. Reading stories, playing games, and using picture cards all impact a child’s ability to write. Teaching these skills through play are necessary for a young child’s growth and development.
Play is the way!
Play is an integral part of everything early care providers do. Understanding how development fits into the overall picture of learning to read and write will provide educators the skills and information to answer the question, “When are you going to teach my child to write?” Care providers can provide parents with handouts on how writing is connected to what they are doing in the classroom. If parents understand that writing occurs through developmental sequences as reading, talking, and learning to walk they will have an appreciation for the role play has in the child care setting.
References
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