Tag: education

A journey with The Marigold School of Early Learning

September 2025 Blog! #4

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Part #4 “Fine motor skills/ development in the early years” series.

Supporting children in the early years who show a consistent interest in printing objects they find fascinating, their name, and their family’s names, etc., should be supported in their desire to learn. This does not mean forced skill-based exercises in tracing letters, numbers, and words. Really, who is happiest to see these tracings? Adults, not so much children. Adults teach children to value those tracings. There is an array of early learning educational theories and practices in our society, and you must choose the one(s) you want to expose your child to as they mature. Supporting young children’s desires to print/ write comes from giving them the time they choose to practice. Here are some ways you can support your young child who wants to learn how to print/ write early. You will notice I encourage parents to join their child and engage in these experiences together. You are not engaging in direct instruction, but rather engaging in these meaningful experiences, bonding and learning how your child learns through the process of each, rather than seeing a finished product or being told about it.

  • Engage in putting puzzles together as a team or treat it as family fun. Choose low-count puzzles at first and increase the number of puzzle pieces as the interest and ability increase.
  • Draw together
  • Paint together
  • Model how to draw the first letter of their name, and move on to other letters as they show interest
  • Engage in scissor use together
  • Provide playdough and clay for your child, along with tools for carving and cutting. (I do not support the use of cookie cutters at this time. Let your child build and exercise their fine motor muscles. And allow them to build confidence in their own ability to sculpt. Playdough and clay have their own period of scribble to symbolic form. Respect your child’s fine motor developmental journey.)
  • Provide the space and accessibility for your child to engage in all the above independently.
  • Pay close attention to how your child reacts to their first, second, third, and so on, attempts to form abstract letters and numbers. Do not praise or over-praise when your child is disappointed, but point out what you liked about their work, validate how they feel about their attempt, and encourage them to try again.
  • Provide more opportunities for your child to practice printing/ writing with you and idenpendently.
  • Accept whatever they have created without judgment. Young children have a journey to go through to learn how to print/write successfully, so as long as they are happy with the results of their hard work, that is good enough.
  • Pay attention to the process and not the end result. Your child is learning through the process. The end result is not where the learning is taking place.
  • If your young child communicates that they know they are not printing/ writing “correctly”, ask them if they want help, and support them if they do, but step back if they do not want help. Your child may take time away from printing/ writing to engage in other interests, and this is perfectly fine and aligns well with their individual developmental journey. They may not show interest in printing/ writing for months, and that is okay. There is no rush to learning the printed word in the early years of three to five.
  • When your child is clearly printing/ writing, you will see all that lovely work, and you will understand and appreciate the journey they took to get to that point.
  • And most importantly, THERE IS NO RUSH! Slow down, and allow your child to go at the pace they are demonstrating to you. Support your child, but do not demand or push them. Allow your child to show you what they want and are capable of doing. Respect the human you are raising.

The above list does not cover every aspect of this topic. I am only adding a small portion to this posting. There are books and articles in large quantities that are written on this topic. I just wanted to put out there some of the basics I want to share.

Please share some of how you are supporting your child’s fine motor muscle development and interest in printing/ writing. I would love to hear what you are doing and what your child is enjoying!

Learning is supposed to be fun, enjoyable, practical, and creative! Let’s push back against people who want regimented, boring, and abusive ways of learning, and embrace and promote open-ended and creative ways to learn! :)

See parts 1,2 & 3

Heidi Scott, BA & MIT

A journey with The Marigold School of Early Learning

September 2025 Blog! #3

marigold40

Part #3 “Fine motor skills/ development in the early years” series.

Lacing cards (see part #1) no doubt help young children support the healthy growth and development of fine motor muscles. It is also a good way to see where a child is on that developmental pathway. When young children lack advancement in their fine motor muscles, they lack the ability to control the needle and thread to twist, turn, lengthen, and shorten the thread to complete the picture as is. The intent for where the thread is aimed, the length of the thread before entering another hole, and how the string is crossed show how much growth and experience are needed in this area, or what is not needed. Wherever a child is on their fine motor skills developmental pathway is a positive thing. I love seeing early stages of sewing, because it gives me, as a teacher, information I need to know about what my students can do in this moment, and it reminds me to pay attention and document these expressions of ability so I can see and support the growth with appropriate challenges as the year progresses.

Building blocks have developmental stages to them because a child can simply pile all the blocks up, similar in appearance to a mountain seen from a distance, and call it a house. It’s once children start making deliberate decisions about which type of blocks to use, the size, shape, and color, that we see real advancement that also utilizes their fine motor muscles. The size, shape, and weight play a part in how children’s building and construction take on more advanced characteristics. As they continue to advance in their ability to construct, they add other materials such as dolls, dinosaurs, and loose parts, to name a few, making many more advances to their building constructions. When children develop to the stage of examining and discussing where to place certain blocks on a structure, they have entered higher-level thinking and more complex play. With block play, there are many things children learn, but we are sticking to the fine motor aspects, and every grab, turning, stacking, catching, and careful execution of placement is an example of fine motor skills in use. Yes, building/ constructing supports children’s future ability to print and write.

The pictures above are a small example of how fine motor muscle development and growth can be supported through a few different interest areas. Every step a child takes on the road of learning is a journey filled with reaching milestones. Development is growth, the physical growth all humans go through to engage in the tasks we do as we become adults, and for the remainder of our lives. Children need these early years to freely engage in tasks, projects, and creative expressions they are interested in, so they can be supported and appropriately challenged in the many areas of growth and development they go through. Fine motor muscles are just one area, and as we see with just small examples, there are many things children engage in that support the growth and development of skills they will need when they learn to print/ write abstract symbols. I am a firm believer that the anatomy of the hand, fingers, and wrist should be ready for printing and writing, and young children should not be forced to print and write before they are physically and cognitively ready. The process should be enjoyable from the start onwards.

See parts 1,2 & 4

A journey with The Marigold School of Early Learning

September 2025 Blog! #2

marigold40

Part #2 of “Fine motor skills/ development in the early years” series.

The pictures above (See part #1) show some examples of how the children have used their “loose parts”. One child had an idea that the spools, marbles, and beads were injured creatures and needed bandages, so they used tape to wrap as many as they could. If you are thinking this took some time, yes, it did! When children are interested and committed to their ideas/ projects, they will spend the time they have working to complete as much as they want. We also see some small bags that are filled with “loose parts”. Gathering as many as the tray offered was the priority of one child, and once the bags were filled, this child called the others to come and help unload and set up the dramatic story being created. Fine motor skills are being used without even a second thought, all while engaging in planning, collecting, and managing space and materials. Reaching out and inviting others to join is utilizing their social and communication skills, as well as allowing them to take on a role as “leader” and then a “character” in the dramatic play story. So many decisions go into play, and these are all life skills. Life skills that support fine motor development and growth.

In the above pictures, we also see two examples of transitional symbolic drawing, utilizing fine motor muscles in the hands, fingers, and wrists. The drawing on the far left is a clear and nice example of a child transitioning from scribble to symbolic form. We see the round features of a face, followed by facial characteristics such as eyes, nose, mouth, and hair. The second drawing is done by another child, and the drawing is more advanced, with many details representing the outdoor appearance of a home, complete with background and foreground scenery. This is clearly a symbolic drawing, yet it is also a nice example of a child in transition because, though symbolic, the drawing is still a bit shaky. Shaky or light-pressure drawings are examples of growing confidence. With more time, this child’s shaking light-pressure drawings transformed into strong lines with deep pressure, showing confidence in their work. Wonderful examples of where two children are on their journey of fine motor muscle development. Importantly, it is not just the time these children take to engage in drawing that strengthens their fine motor muscles; it is the many interest areas and things they engage in utilizing their hands, fingers, and wrists that support the healthy growth and development of their fine motor muscles. These experiences are the building blocks young children need for them to be able to eventually print and write, yet they must have these many years of experience building up to that point, and I believe firmly that it should not be rushed or forced.

Magnetic dolls, lacing cards, and block construction all have many things in common, but for this posting, we will focus on the fine motor skills. Magentic dolls may not seem like something that would support young children’s journey to printing/ writing, but this is another useful fine motor form of play that serves many purposes. Magnet dolls seem pretty easy to engage with. Still, when you have witnessed many a young child at various stages of fine motor development trying to dress the dolls, it really is another aspect of how development has stages, and it takes time to get to each one. When children are first navigating magnets, the force of the push and pull is both off-putting and attractive to the child. It is something they want to master, yet in the early stages of fine motor muscle growth, they lack the strength and precision to position the pieces in the correct space and evenly on the doll. As the children grow accustomed to magnets and gain more experience using them, their ability to clothe the dolls with these magnetic pieces becomes smooth and precise. As with all materials in a classroom geared towards open-ended play, the ability to dress magnetic dolls tells me a lot about what the child is interpreting when engaged in this provocation. (Many children dressed the dolls in wild and cheerful preschool fashion!) In regard to fine motor development, the positioning of each magnetic clothing piece demonstrates what the child understands about dressing, what level of control they have over the magnets, and what they are visually representing. When children place the magnet clothes in the correct places on the doll, matching the clothes and including socks and shoes, they are demonstrating their progress in developing their fine motor muscles. They are gaining much-needed skills and interest in printing or writing as they continue with materials like these.

See parts 1,3 & 4