can you teach a 3 year old to write?

[AnotherBookWorm]

Hello!

Our almost 3 year old can read (slowly!) and spells words quite well. She can also form words with magnetic letters.
So my question is: would it be possible to start teaching her to write too? Or is it too soon? (don't want to frustrate her trying to teach her something beyond her capabilities).
Do you know of any online resources we could use, maybe?
Thanks!

[mom2bee]

Yes, you can teach your toddler to write. You will want to think about the fundamental skills that go into writing: hand-eye coordination, pencil grip, finger strength, dexterity, coordination, etc. I would separate letter formation from those basic pre-writing skills. I would keep reading lessons/practice seperate from writing all together.

You can form letters in a tray of sand/corn meal/shaving cream/etc with the tip of your finger while working on building hand strength through games and activities. A lot of folks like dry erase markers + page protectors and use things like Kumon Mazes and beginning writing books for those early writing skills. You don't have to stick to Kumon books, you can find many tracing, mazes and pre-writing pages onlines and in other workbooks.

Get imaginative and find joyful and no-pressure ways to present the lessons to your daughter.

You can focus on drawing simple lines, curves, connections, and shapes for a few weeks to work on her letter formation without making it about letters or reading if you are worried that writing practice might make reading a drag.  Once she is easily and effortlessly executing strokes and forming shapes, then begin teaching the letters and numerals just a few a day, as she gets good at 1 or 2, teach a new letter or 3--find a way to make it fun and engaging, keep the lessons short and always teach when you and your daughter are in a good mood and of course stop while she is having fun.

Good luck and happy teaching!

[Mandabplus3]

Oh yes! Absolutely, I teach a class full of 3 year olds to write every year with no problems.
Begin with building finger strength through threading, play dough and construction. Add in drawing and once they have some pencil control teach the letters. Teach a couple at a time, or teach them by patterns. All the round ones, all the long ones etc depending on how familiar your child is with the letters already.
We always start with learning to write their names as all kids seem to want to know that. Then mum, dad, I love you, to and from cover a lot of letters.
Beginners work well with a little lap sized whiteboard and whiteboard markers and it saves a tonne of paper while they practice

[Orsi26]

Hi,
I agree with the other 2 post here, 3 year-olds can absolutely learn writing.

A couple more thoughts: apart from their names etc. always teach words your child can already read.
Copying is the first step.
not every child likes the "tracing lines and learning letters" approach, and that's OK! it's not part of the first steps anyways, so go with the flow, follow your child!
What to write with: something that has a string mark even if you don't push it: B2 or higher grade pencils, markers - kid size, no big markers for little hands!!! if you write you like to do it with something that's comfortable to hold!
writing on a table (horizontally) or writing on a board (vertically) require different brain functions, so don't do both! (or at least not to begin with) Find out which one does you lo prefer
there are 2 types of kids: some like keeping all their work, if they mess up, just get a new paper, so: have lots of paper. The second one: has to get everything just the way they want it, so: strong paper and white out or eraser! - you'll find out which kind is yours

Consider: writing is more than the physical putting things on the paper. Why do we adore our favorite poets and writers? because they could write pretty? - of course not. Because they express thoughts in their writing. so make sure to practice that part. for example, you could make time to make up stories or journal in the evening about the day (which is by the way a super easy memory builder) - and you would be the "scribe" in both of these though. This is the beginning of creative writing - but it does not have to wait until the physical ability is matched. You can nurture both areas from the beginning.

Have a great time!

[Adaugusto]

Wow, I started teaching my daughter to read by teaching the sounds each letter represents when she was around 2, which she learned well, but couldn´t evolve further than that because she doesn´t seem to concentrate and seems to ignore what I´m teaching, although I try to present it in a funny way...now she´s 43 months old and It seems from your posts that either I am doing something wrong or my daughter just isn´t prepared yet...

The problem is I present several words like mama, papa, and others, but she apparently refuses to recognize them when I ask "what´s written here?"...

[AnotherBookWorm]

Thank you all for your encouragement and great ideas!! We will start with some shaving foam and a magnetic board, those sound like a lot of fun.

@Adaugusto, I think there is always a moment when you think you are going nowhere but then, suddenly, they seem to get it out of nowhere. I would give her time and try not to look too interested in her learning to read (so she doesn't feel pressured).

[Orsi26]

Hi Adagustto,
firstly, congrats on teaching your daughter!
I can't know from your post what else you teach her and have been teaching her and even less, her personality.
from what I can see, it seems to me you might be making the common mistake I call "testing". Not too many kids like to be tested. So if you ask her "what's written here" it's the kid repellent. Kids are able to learn with lightning speed, but won't always show their interest, and often refuse to "give back". They are mostly very unlike the drink machines. You know, at the drink machine you go, put in the money, push the button, and it spits out the chosen drink.
Kids just won't do that (except of course the few who thrive on performing).
If we look at the whole idea of a direct question like that, we see how it projects disbelief & distrust. And at such a young age learning is built on trust. You believe in your kid in a way nobody else ever will, and she trust you like nobody else ever did. This is a powerful combination for a learning environment!
Unfortunately we bring bad habits from our past into our parenting, like testing.
So you have to go back to your original believing in her, and forget about testing and having her prove to you or anybody if she knows anything or not. learn for the pure pleasure of knowing.

I'm not sure who reads these posts, but a problem I'd like to draw yours and others attention to is that sounding out words dampens your child's ability to read. What i mean by this: if they learn with sight reading, they can effortlessly become extremely fast readers. if you force the sounding technique it will slow them down. You withhold a present from them by being a bit old-fashioned. Sounding has it's place in teaching reading, but I would definitely not put it to number 1 step. it's more like 4 or 5.

remember though that every child will read when they decide to. One of my sons was 2,5 when I accidentally discovered he could read. He never wanted to sit down to read flashcards, and i had to make major effort to "teach" him reading. LOL! What I didn't know, he was always paying attention when his older brother was having his reading sessions, and truly often played with the flashcards (mine were montessori self-check style, which by the way would recommend to a 43 months old. If you want to know how to make them drop me a note, it's easy) and even more: to our bedtime stories. So one day when I was taking a nap I woke up to him quietly reading to himself on his bed. i thought he was just repeating the story from memory, but I was so curious, so I had to test. I bought a new book, and presented it to him, and told him we could take turns reading the pages. He agreed, and we took turns reading the pages!! Ha! all this to say, just because they seem to not be interested, it doesn't mean they aren't! Your little girl might just be like that too!

look forward hearing how it goes for you! Oh, and another tip: is she interested in writing maybe? many kids her age like copying and drawing - there is a way to teach reading with writing together, it's fun, and goes along with the sounding out stuff...maybe you want to try that? Ok, drop me a line if you do! Cheers!

Wow, I started teaching my daughter to read by teaching the sounds each letter represents when she was around 2, which she learned well, but couldn´t evolve further than that because she doesn´t seem to concentrate and seems to ignore what I´m teaching, although I try to present it in a funny way...now she´s 43 months old and It seems from your posts that either I am doing something wrong or my daughter just isn´t prepared yet...

The problem is I present several words like mama, papa, and others, but she apparently refuses to recognize them when I ask "what´s written here?"...

[Adaugusto]

AnotherBookWorm, Orsi26,

I´m so grateful and surprised for your willingness to help!

You´ve hit the bull´s eye: I haven´t been able to disguise my interest and even anxiety to see her learning...and deep inside I`ve noticed a part of me that doesn´t want her to even speak (she started when she was 30 months)...subconscious blocks that I have been trying to address through therapy, but when exactly...who knows?

Well, my child is very active and outgoing, and started walking long before talking (11 months). She´s also quite agitated mostly when I´m around    .

I feel so guilty and upset that my anxiety hinders her learning, but,  now I´ve been successfully teaching her English on one week, and German on another week,  while in each of those weeks she watches videos in each of those languages (we live in São Paulo, so our native tongue is italianized Portuguese). Is there still time for her to benefit from the brain training of learning two languages?

I´ve also been able to get her interested in rhythmic reading (taaa...)and, while I felt so envious of a lady teaching her 18 month-old baby chord recognition on youtube   , I´ve finally got her interested in the Brillkids software recently  

She also listens to 432Hz classical music everyday, and I am making a CD with music from the 60s, 70s(Johnny Denver, Abba, Demis Roussous, Diana Ross) to listen in the car, because I want her to taste what it´s like to listen to music with "sentiment" which we don´t have nowadays.

Orsi26, it must have been such a joy to see your son learning that way, and I do understand I have to try to just show my daughter the way while being sure that although she may not show, her brain is absorbing everything (it´s difficult to me )

That´s it. Although I want my child to be as skillful as she can, I also make a point of taking her for outdoors activities such as parks or swimming almost everyday, and showing my love by attacking her like a monster and biting her all over until she can´t stop laughing

[Orsi26]

Hi Adagusto,

You´ve hit the bull´s eye: I haven´t been able to disguise my interest and even anxiety to see her learning...and deep inside I`ve noticed a part of me that doesn´t want her to even speak (she started when she was 30 months)...subconscious blocks that I have been trying to address through therapy, but when exactly...who knows? - It is very good you're trying to overcome this!

Well, my child is very active and outgoing, and started walking long before talking (11 months). She´s also quite agitated mostly when I´m around    .

I feel so guilty and upset that my anxiety hinders her learning, but,  now I´ve been successfully teaching her English on one week, and German on another week,  while in each of those weeks she watches videos in each of those languages (we live in São Paulo, so our native tongue is italianized Portuguese). Is there still time for her to benefit from the brain training of learning two languages? Yes of course, all the way till she is 12! So, enjoy, and keep going!

I´ve also been able to get her interested in rhythmic reading (taaa...)and, while I felt so envious of a lady teaching her 18 month-old baby chord recognition on youtube   , I´ve finally got her interested in the Brillkids software recently  

She also listens to 432Hz classical music everyday, and I am making a CD with music from the 60s, 70s(Johnny Denver, Abba, Demis Roussous, Diana Ross) to listen in the car, because I want her to taste what it´s like to listen to music with "sentiment" which we don´t have nowadays.

Orsi26, it must have been such a joy to see your son learning that way, and I do understand I have to try to just show my daughter the way while being sure that although she may not show, her brain is absorbing everything (it´s difficult to me ) Well, the point of the story was that kids do many things we aren't aware of, or misinterpret. So when you feel she isn't paying attention to you, she is just not expressing it the way you want her to.

That´s it. Although I want my child to be as skillful as she can, I also make a point of taking her for outdoors activities such as parks or swimming almost everyday, and showing my love by attacking her like a monster and biting her all over until she can´t stop laughing That is very healthy! You seem to be inclined to start/continue on a physical education program?

I'm happy to help you more if you need, we can chat about that if you would like to, PM me here on the forum or at [email protected] You're doing a good job, and it's great you are able to see your shortcomings. we all have them! - our kids are a gift, and sometimes they help us to see where we have problems so we can overcome them. Keep up the good work!  




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[Adaugusto]

Orsi26,

Thank you very much for each and every word of support. In the end, I got most interested on the German guy´s method....

Will ask you more details.

[Christina Correa]

I would suggest you not to indulge that little one in writing, I guess she has a sharp mind and will be able to write easily.

[TriciaGarcia]

Yes, 3 year old can be taught how to write  but it depends on the IQ level of the kid.

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