Writing own name for first time ...

[kleist]

Dd's just turned 3. She's verbal and imaginative but not that bothered to explore motor skills like drawing, building etc. Yesterday at playgroup she 'wrote' her name for the first time - it was backwards and upside down but if you turned the paper the wrong way round it was pretty good. She thinks it was pants and won't try again so I'm not pushing her. Here I just wondered if anyone had any tips to help her get things the right way round. And also curious to know when your little ones first 'wrote' their names. And how they did it.

TIA

Well done to you DD

DD wrote her name for first time, 2 or 3 weeks before she turned 3 - on a Mother's Day card She managed the molli, but left the e off the end as she said it was too hard to draw! She has since managed it though, and now writes her name everywhere!!!

if you've got some thin paper she could trace it..

Well done Hula's girl!
My girl is doing this too.She started out with just a few favourite letters from her name (m and a) about 6 months ago...but can do it all now.the only letter she gets wrong is the t which she ofton turns upside down so that it looks like a F.

DD learnt how to do hers by drawing over either a very faint version underneath, or us dotting out her name for her to trace over.

rummum, I'll try that. She's one of those kids who'll do things when she wants to but won't be pushed / encouraged (much to her teachers' chagrine!). As a result I often don't realise she can do things, like write her name, until she suddenly does so all by herself.

maria montessori used to get children to experiment with writing on a blackboard with chalk, or with fingers in sand, then there's not the pressure of it being permanent and they can rub it out or correct it easily.

I'll try that too Hula, thanks.

How old is she, trout?

Yes, how many of yours wrote theirs in that strange upside down back to front way at first? Dd's got a 'v' in her name and does it perfectly upside down!

This also coincides with her drawing lovely little heads with eyes, nose, mouth and stick arms and legs.

Young children like to explore writing their names in a variety of ways eg as well as using crayons and pencils, using their finger and different colour paints, or a tray filled with sand or flour.

mazzy, that's what we do mostly. Blackboard I mean.

we use sand and flour and fingertip crayons for dd
but she has very little control writing wise - she is just 3 and has some mild developmental delays - she knows all the alphabet though, can recognise letters can even read some basic words by sounding out letters, recognises her name etc
DS wrote his name very young, (was very easy though, short and sweet Max )
Before he was out of nappies and he toilet trained before he was 3
He learned from chalk on the garden path and with finger painting...

They've got to want to too haven't they though. My boy was just not interested in this sort of thing at this age (dd will be 3 in Jan Kleist). Not when there were cars and trains to be playing with!
Dd likes it partly because she thinks she's copying her big brother when he's doing his homework..plus she finds it rewarding i guess.

We got DS to practise the first letter in his name. He enjoyed looking for it wherever in books, on TV, in shops. He is 3.8 and can now write his whole name, I was very shocked when he came home from nursery and showed me!

Ds2 has just turned 3 and there's no way he could write his name. He's very good at scribble, big circles and general mark making and has a tripod grip, but nowhere near ready to form letters.

Ds1 has just turned 5 and only wrote his name confidently just before he started school in September. He's now writing anything and everywhere, in very clear, legible letters, but this time last year he could just about manage one big letter at a time. I was gutted when he got 5 Christmas cards last year that had obviously been written by his friends, then aged 4.

Both are excellent communicators, they just didn't want to write. It just comes when they're ready.

Oh yes, it has to be when they're ready, especially in dd's case! Her main passion in life is talking, telling stories, getting lost in imaginary things. So learning practical skills holds little interest for her. But I think she's been quite thrilled to discover she can do these lovely little pictures and make up stories about them at the same time!

DS1 was 4 1/2 before he started writing anything that even vaguely resembled his name (ie a "T") didn't really write it until he was 5 and at school

Spookilly enough I was about to do a thread on this. I am flabbergasted that ds2 can write his own name unaided (sometimes he even gets the letters in the right order ). He will be 4 next week. It amazes me because with ds1 I did magnetic letters, sounds, flash cards () etc. and he barely recognised his name when he started school. Ds2 is so into it - without any hot-housing at all. He wants to write letters - he wrote mummy, daddy, and his big brother's name (with help) on a chalk-board this afternoon. They are all so different, aren't they?

My dd used to write her name as a mirror image sometimes at nursery school.
She started writing it IIRC at maybe 3.5? not very well there's an h in it and she really struggled with that.
well done all those who are trying, but backwards writing etc is totlly normal and they are just playing around with it and learning. As Badhair says, it comes when they are ready.
DS1 also started writing it at nursery school (ie 3+). DD in partic has good fine motor (colouring queen) and her writing since being at school has improved no end.
Agree with those who say try non permanent ways. Ds1 loves writing on whiteboards at school because you can rub out if it goes wrong.

Talking of 'backward' writing - DS1 drew a lovely picture the other day with people, houses, cars etc etc on it - then wrote what I thought was a E and Y back to front - so I asked him (nicely) what it said..............

34 of course mummy - it's our house! When I looked again I could see that's what it was

I wouldn't worry so much about it being backwards and upsidedown for now - getting it the right way round will come with time. For now I would just encourage and praise every effort. This is something dds nursery teacher explained to us when we had our first "parent's night". She said when dd draws a picture ask her to write a story to go with it. It doesn't matter if it's real words or even proper letters, just encourage her to write. Period.

I tried it the next day. Dd had drawn a picture of two girls and a bed so I suggested she write a story. First she asked me to help her draw a W and a S. I asked what we were writing and she said "once" as in "once upon a time." Then I helped her spell BED which she wrote by herself. Then I went away and when I came back she said she had writtne the two girls names - BLE - which she pronounced Billy and SRU - pronounce Sarea? I was amazed, I thought that was brilliant. She's 4.5 now and can write her own name and a few select words but at 3 could only write the odd letter so it will come.

clary - about the mirror image thing. They wear overalls at dd's nursery with their names on. So a lot of the kids look at the names upsidedown or in the mirror to try and copy them!

I think its the same as most things,if their enjoying something they will want to do it. don't put any pressure on,it will happen when it happens. my ds3 (4) hasn't the slightest interest in writing/colouring,can write his first name(only just).I do get worried sometimes,about fine motor skills etc.But ds2 was the same and now at 6 he is writing stories all the time and constantly telling us what words are backwards!(also started off writing his name backwards & upside down).

My dd managed to write her name a couple of months prior to her 3rd birthday (she has a shortish easy name) - she was really into drawing and shapes etc and was keen to do it. Interestingly if she runs out of space or starts the "T" too far to the right she writes it in mirror writing. Ingenious!!! We now use the dots method, sand on the beach (anything really) when DD wishes - there are certainly no parental expectations...

We are a writing / drawing family though just wish we could be better on the old sport / exercise!!

Thanks everyone. It's really interesting to hear your stories.

we're a writing / drawing family too mummydreamer. I'm an artist and dp's a philosopher! She hasn't got a chance has she ...

not read the thread apart from opening post
ds1 did his just before being 3....he has a very short 3 letter name though/
now 3 years 4 months he can right a few more letters

dd is 3 and 3 months and she writes her name very well, has done for a while now.

She really really spooked me the other day - she is into doing letters on the computer (she is obsessed with letters!) and I show her various words, eg mummy,daddy

The other day I left the pc on with word open, she jumped on the chair and typed MUMMY with no prompting and was shouting "LOOK I DID MUMMY ON THE PUTER!" down the stairs at me!

No ideas sorry about how to get her to do it the right way round, I guess practising and copying.