Pre Writing Activity (fine motor): maze on whiteboard

This is a simple activity to practice pre-writing skills, hand eye co-ordination etc.

I occassionally play this with him, but now with the urgency to prepare him for school, I guess I'll be doing it more often.

The idea is for the child to gain better hand control over the pen/pencil. He has to draw a line within the "road".

This is relevant because he will eventually have to write letters and numbers within two lines in his exercise books.

As he gains better control, I'll narrow down the vertical space between the top & bottom line.

Also, as he gains better control, I can maintain the same width of the "road" as seen in the photo, but make more turns on the road, or more bumps, or windy roads.

I gave him a different coloured marker pen to indicate where the ambulance is heading. This is so that it's easier for him to see where the ambulance and already been to.

When he has stronger hand and pincer grip muscles, I'll change it to paper activity where he uses pen/pencil/colour pencil. For the moment, I use marker as it doesn require much strength to create a line.

This activity is also good as a simple maze, to learn to scan and find routes from one end to another.

Variations for this activity:
I drew it on a whiteboard but you can do it on a chalk board, or just paper.

The good thing about this is that you can customise it to your child's interest, to keep it fun for him. For example, with my son, in the picture above, I drew some of the places he likes or knows: Tesco, the playground, Twin Towers, the park with lots of trees, papa's office

You can create this activity outdoors, so long as you have a writing instrument and something to write on. For example, if you're out at a restaurant waiting to be served; or at the beach with a twig on the sand; or at the playground if there's a sandpit and twig.

You can keep it fresh too, as it's easily changed... you just need some creativity. Since my son loves cars and vehicles, I can change it the next time for it to be destinations related to cars - a car showroom, a workshop, the metal scrapyard etc.

Another idea: fire engine racing to these destinations: a collapsed building, a house on fire, a cat stuck up a tree, the fire station.

A non-vehicle related idea is to use a holiday theme: to the beach, to the highlands, to the amusement park, to the hot springs, to the city.

Other skills being developed:
By creating themes like above, you're in a way developing his cognition too.

Themes help him group things or places together. As he develops more, instead of you deciding on the places to be drawn, you can ask him to suggest places that fit within the theme chosen.

As a step further, you decide on the theme but dont tell him, draw a few places, then get him to guess what's the theme. Another variation: he decides it all - the theme and the places.

It doesnt matter if you dont draw well. It'll show the child that it's ok not to be great at everything. Also, he may be more accepting of his "imperfect" drawings too.

This activity can be used to encourage speech too for those with a speech disorder.

For the non verbal child trying to practice simple sounds, you can get him to make the sound (e.g. mmmmmm - the sound of the engine) as he draws in the line.

If he is verbal, there's more you can do to encourage speech - having him name the places drawn, the colour (use more colourful markers), etc and up to a higher end of speech, of haivng him tell a story on his own.