My son has just finished reception and can’t write at all

[Inan]

My son has never been interested in arts / crafts / writing / sitting still in general. He’s very physical, was riding a bike at 2, adores football, tennis, swimming, gym but his fine motor skills are terrible! He’s doing fantastic at school with maths and reading but he can’t even write his name properly yet (it’s 4 letters) after a whole year of reception. His teacher has told me she’s not concerned but I want to work with him during the summer to improve his writing - anyone have suggestions on what to do? It’s very difficult to convince him to do any writing, drawing, colouring but I’m worried that he will struggle a lot in year 1.

I think you can practice fine motor control without making it all about writing, if he's reluctant to do that. Would he draw on the ground in chalk? Trace around a sibling on big paper? Do finger painting? I'd try to build the skills while making it fun.

There’s a book called write from the start. It’s got exercises in it. Helped my DC a lot.

Work on his fine motor skills instead of writing, Hama beads, threading/sewing, playdough etc.

You can get those books where the letters are indented on the page and you draw in the indents (if that makes sense!) to guide him - could start there?

I found my boys enjoyed writing on the window with chinagraph pencils at that age, which made writing more fun. Would he be interested in dot-to-dot puzzles, colour peg boards, tracing pictures, bark/coin rubbing, painting the windows with water and a paint brush, magic painting books?

We used to use an iPad app called "Dexteria Jr" with the little ones at school. Yes, it's a screen app but used in moderation, it can feel more like fun and you may have more success getting him to have a go over the holidays. We also used sand trays to trace letters. Good luck!

I second this!

As others have said focus on fine motor. Don’t make him think he is being pushed to write.

dough disco is fantastic. There are lots on YouTube - early years Emily and spread the happiness are good.

things like using water and paintbrushes to paint paths outside, stick paper under a table and get him to draw that way. Threading is another good activity.

Get his eyes tested!

You have described my son - super physical, loved maths and clearly got it but not interested in writing or reading.

At the end of his second year of school we were able to get his eyes tested and turns out he was very very long sighted so could barely see the page. This past year since getting his glasses he has come on leaps and bounds and has caught up fully.

To clarify - he had the nursery screening but it wasn't picked up (he wasn't keen - turns out cos he couldn't see what they were talking about). We had tried to get a normal sight test before this but he had other medical issues and didn't want to do the eye test - we didn't push it as his other medical needs needed his compliance more at that time.

Echo the others that improving his fine motor skills will help with his writing. Also when is his birthday? A September born nearly 7yr old is going to have much better fine motor skills than a just turned 5 year old despite being in the same academic year

Mine took their time with writing and we were just told to practice fine motor skills and hand strengthening exercises. I'm sure yours will get there.

I'm originally from a country where kids don't start school until they're 7, and I remember being in second grade (so 8-9 ish?) and lots of my classmates still didn't know fully how to read or write and that was just normal. Pretty much everyone was reading and writing by the 3rd grade. I think kids start school too early around here. 🙈

Write his name in yellow highlighter and get him to write over it - maybe three sets per day. You can put small circles for him to trace over in pencil.

How is he getting on now? My son is the same ☹️

He’s in year 1 now and his writing has suddenly come on amazingly - he can also read suddenly (is just about to finish the phonics scheme and move to free readers) and he is in the top spelling group. We didn’t really convince him to do anything that helps his fine motor skills, he just developed them in his own time! Wish I hadn’t worried now … he is very much much “a boy” who has always been more physical and rough and tumble compared to my girls who could all write, draw etc much earlier!

Get him one of those magnetic drawing things… this was very popular in my house.

Get him to write in the sand with a stick at the beach or sand pit. Get him to pick out little Pom poms with a tweezers sort them by colour. Play with play dough. Try to cut out pictures and stick them on to paper. Threading with beads. Using stickers,

My son was the same - excellent gross motor skills but had little interest in quiet games like this like my DDs played without prompting. So I encouraged him to do this type of play for few 10 - 15 minutes a day and it helped a lot. If he’s like mine, you would be tearing your hair out trying to get him colouring or something. Just keep it fun.

@Inan thats great to hear! How’s he found year 1 in general? Aren’t they expected to be writing short sentences by then? 😩

I second the advice to get his eyes tested.