“What about if my child just isn’t interested in printing or anything like that; ” asked a parent at a kindergarten readiness evening, “so what can I do?” The answer to that is easy: Make it Fun!! Printing activities can be appealing to children, just check all the walls that have been decorated by children’s art work. Printing starts with lines, scribbles, dots, and other marks. Here are some suggestions for tools and materials that kids can play with to develop both the coordination that will be used and the interest. Instead of paper and crayons, your child might like:
- felts on coffee filters that are sprayed with water to make color puddles
- paint dabbers on anything that grownup hands can cut into dinosaurs, fish, crowns or anything else
- pails of water and big paintbrushes for “helping” to wash the driveway or car
- chalk on the sidewalk
- plastic eye-droppers and little containers of ketchup for putting drops on food (surprisingly, this uses less ketchup than dipping)
- q-tips and food coloring on cut-up cereal boxes
- a big wooden spoon making roads in the sandbox
These are just a few ideas and, after you try some, you will find that you can think of even more. Some of these activities will keep kids engaged for longer periods of time than others–carrot sticks that paint dip in a bowl get eaten fairly quickly–but even if it’s only for a minute or two, those minutes will add up to quite a few during a week or a month. When the time comes for using writing tools and trying some printing, it is much easier because kids are comfortable with the action of holding something to do something. Brain connections are developing for coordinating fine motor skills. The new intention is based on previous play. Are these doable activities to try with your child?