Why isn’t my preschooler loving those colorful letter and number tracing sheets?  

Ever wonder why your mini-Picasso is scribbling and not interested in writing numbers and letters yet? Some of it is explained by the growth of their hands and wrist bones.  Those tiny hands are still a work in progress, not quite fully cooked yet.  Take a peek at the differences between a little preschooler’s hand and the hand of a 7-year-old.  Notice that they have a significantly different skeletal structure.  Look at all the spaces in between the bones.  There are huge differences in bone length, muscles, and tendons. As a child grows, the cartilage-filled spaces between the bones in the fingers are replaced with bone. Also, note the appearance of additional bones in the palm of the 7-year-old. 

In adults, the wrist joint (red) is composed of eight bones, but in young children several are still formed from cartilage. In fact, many of the bones in the wrist of the 2- and 4-year-old – are still mostly cartilage! (circled in red).   So, preschoolers have a lot of physical development to do before they can write the way school-aged children or adults can!  Please DO NOT stress if your preschooler does not want to write or draw.  Some love it and some don’t.

How can you support this development?  What’s the game plan to give them a hand (pun intended)? Put away those letter and number tracing sheets.  While they are growing, strengthen those little bones and muscles:  Here are some great pre-writing, muscle-strengthening activities: Playdough squishing, snip-snap cutting, artsy gluing, outdoor escapades, digging up dirt treasures, sensory shenanigans, dress-up extravaganzas, mad scientist experiments, bead-stringing adventures, puzzle-solving quests, and even some epic ball throws – they’re all in on the secret handshake to hand development.

All these things are great pre-writing, muscle-strengthening activities that can help preschooler’s hands develop.  When they are physically ready to write letters and numbers, they will.  No need to rush them.  They will show you when they are ready.