Dot-to-dot

What you need

Large piece of paper (you may wish to tape this to the floor or even to a wall) and some markers.

Benefits

Your child will get to practice their mark-making skills, with a particular focus on drawing lines - this is essential for when they learn to form letters correctly further along in their writing learning journey.

The large scale of the experience will allow your child to develop gross motor strength. Enjoying the experience on a vertical scale by sticking the paper to a door or wall ensures they are fully using their shoulder, elbow and wrist pivots, all of which are essential for when they become writers at school. There is also research that shows that some children (often boys) prefer to write standing up.

As your child will also be drawing lines across their paper and in different directions, this will also provide the opportunity for ‘crossing the midline’ (when your child moves their arm or leg across the middle of their body to perform a task; this is vital to the development of using both sides of the body together, such as writing, cutting or even putting on shoes and socks!)

The experience

Prepare the paper before sticking it into position by drawing a number of large dots all around the paper. Then place the paper in place, provide your child with their own marker/pencil or crayon and challenge them to join all the dots. Provide them with a starting dot and they have to draw lines to another dot, eventually adjoining them all.