Play, Posture & Handwriting, From Age 0
Last Friday, I shared some links on the blog, which came from the B for Betula Facebook group. One of them was about preparing children for handwriting, which you're probably thinking, don't children just have it in them to write correctly? Or maybe you're thinking, I have a newborn, I don't need to be thinking about this yet! Hmmm, see answers below...
Handwriting skills are instinctive right?
Yes, it probably felt like that in the past, when most of us had plenty of opportunity to carry out actions using different muscles in our body, as part of our (for some, daily) outside play. These days, our children are spending more time indoors and the type of outside play that they get involved is a different to what we experienced, our was probably more spontaneously vigorous and unstructured - all good things it turns out!
This is relevant for my newborn?
Yes. Toys and day to day life at home used to provide lots of opportunities for children's fine motor growth, but suddenly, Occupational Therapists are seeing a large number of children who are lacking adequate core, upper body and finger strength and dexterity, to successfully pick up a pencil and write with ease.(2) Since you will likely be buying toys for your newborn from when they are little or maybe even before they are born, there are some great ideas in this article for the type of toys to introduce to their play. There are also great examples for what you should be doing in terms of play, with your infant, before they turn a year old.
How did you play?
In my case, in our back garden at home. We had trees and a robe tied to the two ends which we used for climbing the tree, swinging etc. I also loved to play outside whether I was building sand castles or playing hopscotch or just running around and picking almonds from the floor and lining them up on the other side of the garden. I also distinctly remember putting on my swimming costume and going outside to jump and dance in the rain (in warm weather). All this was helping me build my motor skills, even though I didn't know it - I thought it was play purely for the sake of fun.
And thats part of the concern, we Parents are now so intentional about play, we no longer know how to just let children get on with play, instead more and more planning and supervising is going, with a view to perhaps reduce harm or prevent injury.
Skills needed for handwriting
Fine motor skills refers to your baby picking things up between her finger and thumb, wriggling his toes and when he/she uses his lips and tongue to taste and feel too.(1)
To be able to hold and control a pencil, strength and stability of the core muscles (belly and back), shoulders and arms, is very important.(2) What this means is that your child has to be able to sit up tall in their seat, hold their head up and stabilise their shoulders and shoulder blades, to be able to write.(3)
Ideas - where and how to play
To strengthen the skills mentioned above, play is required in big doses. This is easily done and encouraged by parents, but it is helpful to know what type of play is the right kind of play.
Local parks and recreation centres
Try to look for different landscapes that have interesting elements such as trees, uneven terrain, rock, slogs, bodies of water, dirt, sand and unique vegetation.(2)
Let your child play in your back garden
Basically you want to have things kids can jump on/off, climb on/off, heavy things they can move around, areas to dig with small objects and places to roll, run and hang.(2)
Emphasis on play, not sport
If you're signing up your young child for sports, go for ones that offer whole body strengthening such as swimming, martial arts, dance or gymnastics.(2)
Ideas - 'good play' for indoors
Being on all fours
Any activity where a child is on the floor on their hands and knees is strengthening their core. You can have children get on all fours to work on puzzles or play games.
Crawling
Crawling is great for developing the core muscles and so much more. You can make crawling games more fun with a tunnel. Put one toy or piece of a game or puzzle on one end of the tunnel and have your child crawl down to one end to get a piece and then crawl back down to the other end to put it where it goes. You can make learning spelling words fun by putting letters at one end of the tunnel. Another great way to incorporate this in to play time is simply by letting your children push cars or trains around while crawling on the floor to do so.
Pushing and pulling activities
Whether it’s pushing a grocery cart, toys, a laundry basket, helping to push baby brother or sister in a stroller, doing blanket pulls (on a smooth and level surface), pulling Trunki or other toys, a good old fashioned game of tug of war, or simply pushing or pulling a door to open it, these movements are great for working on those core muscles!
- from Melissa & Doug, see reference (3) below.
When to start implementing
You can start with your newborn. Even something as simple as encouraging tummy time, time on the play gym mat and time outside of restrictive modern devices such as the bumbo seat, swing, bouncer, rocker, jumper, cars seats, high chairs - would do. (2) Remember that tummy time
Remember that tummy time includes time with your baby across your legs, time with your baby over your shoulders, time with your baby on the play gym mat and and generally other floor time during which your's baby's movements are unrestricted. Example of how we did this is in this tummy time post.
As your child grows older, you can introduce the indoor and outdoor play ideas listed above. These should help equip your child to hold the pencil correctly and develop good handwriting skills in the future.
The role toys play
The more a toy does, the less a child gets from them. If a toy makes music on its own, lights up and makes noises when your child does not play with it, you probably want to discourage playing with it.
I have tried to summarise the key points, but if you would like to learn more about this, please see the links below - which cover this topic in much greater detail. The writers who are Occupational Therapists have provided plenty of examples, videos and pictures. I love that Parents can get a high level understanding of topics such as this from good website links such as those below. The internet is truly a wonderful resource for every modern parent - if only as a starting point.
If theres anything I have missed out or misrepresented, please share below.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
x
You can start with your newborn. Even something as simple as encouraging tummy time, time on the play gym mat and time outside of restrictive modern devices such as the bumbo seat, swing, bouncer, rocker, jumper, cars seats, high chairs - would do. (2) Remember that tummy time
Remember that tummy time includes time with your baby across your legs, time with your baby over your shoulders, time with your baby on the play gym mat and and generally other floor time during which your's baby's movements are unrestricted. Example of how we did this is in this tummy time post.
As your child grows older, you can introduce the indoor and outdoor play ideas listed above. These should help equip your child to hold the pencil correctly and develop good handwriting skills in the future.
The role toys play
The more a toy does, the less a child gets from them. If a toy makes music on its own, lights up and makes noises when your child does not play with it, you probably want to discourage playing with it.
Here are some simple guidelines to purchasing toys to promote fine motor skills:
- Avoid anything with batteries
- if it lights up, moves on its own or makes noise count it out
- Stick with natural materials
- it’s much harder to go wrong with toys made out of wood
- Look for toys with “loose parts”
- check Etsy or DIY – sometimes the best toys are not really “toys”
- Look to Reggio Emilia and Montessori schools for inspiration
I have tried to summarise the key points, but if you would like to learn more about this, please see the links below - which cover this topic in much greater detail. The writers who are Occupational Therapists have provided plenty of examples, videos and pictures. I love that Parents can get a high level understanding of topics such as this from good website links such as those below. The internet is truly a wonderful resource for every modern parent - if only as a starting point.
If theres anything I have missed out or misrepresented, please share below.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
x
Referencing links
(1) Baby Centre
(2) Blue Mango LLC (Also Image Source)
Play, Posture & Handwriting, From Age 0
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar