pencil holding and control skillsMy little one, 3, took to mazes and his pencil holding skills are great. Because of the practice manipulating the pencil around mazes, now at 4 he can write the letters and numbers very well. His control of the pencil learned doing dozens and dozens of mazes (and Kumon tracing books as well) allow him to do so much more now. While mazes can seem sort of recreational compared to core reading, writing, and math skills, if a child likes them, they build an essential skill. My older boy, now 5, never cared for mazes and has a hard time holding his pencil or writing letters and numbers. That turns him off of other tasks like writing, while he has excelled in number sense and does well in reading. He’s more the type to hold a paintbrush and teach triple digit arithmetic from his head. Of course some of that is down to the individual, but I would recommend mazes and tracing for any child that shows an interest in them as they help form an important building block in pencil holding and control skills. Personally, I do not dote over the minutia. I’ll show them how to hold the pencil once and then I just give them the maze or tracing page and encourage them to complete it without “crashing” into the sides. I’ll help them more if they ask, but I don’t try to force correctness because as individuals, my boys would find this overbearing and ruin the pleasure and their motivation. I’d rather teach the necessity to do things we don’t want to do with chores and so on. Anyway, best wishes…
