At what age did your child start writing letters and words?

[winnybella]

Without having been intensively coached and encouraged, that is.

dd can write her name at 3.5 and has been writing L since 3 as her names starts with an L.

Ah, ok, thanks.

A couple months ago DD (2.11) and I were playing with blocks with letters on them and I showed her how to 'write' "mama' and since then she wrote few letters here and there and then 2 days ago she bent over her doodle pad and wrote 'mama'- in perfectly formed letters

I was looking for reassurance that it was about the right age as DS knew how to read and write etc well before school and then spent next 4 years being bored and a PITA slightly erm, disruptive in school and so I was hoping she would start to learn in preschool/school iyswim. Hence me not teaching her (except telling her the name of the letter when she asks).

DS1 was a bit late and had no interest in letters and coloring. He was about 4 when he tried to write letters, and in reception by the time he could write his name - about 5 yo. He can now write quite well despite late start and is above average in year one for reading and writing. DS2 was 3 when he started writing letters and numbers, and 3.5 for simple three-letter words.

dd could spell and write her name, mom, dad and nan at 2.6. she was very interested in letters on signs etc from an early age though and learned on her aquadraw.

Thanks, Blueberry and family fun.

I asked her today about how many apples she would have if I gave her two and DP gave her two as well and she hesitated for a second and then said 'four'. Then answered correctly another question. Withut using her fingers to count. But I have never, ever done any sort of additions with her, any maths at all, in fact.

I guess that around 3 is the age that a lot of children start to get interested in letters and numbers, I have just forgotten what age DS was when he did that, even though I recall it was early, and I just didn't want her to be bored in school (they are/will be in French state school and I don't think they are as accommodating as UK school in giving more challenging material iyswim).

But I can see I'm being very PSB

I think it depends entirely on when they are interested. DNephew formed letters at 5 and wrote his 5 letter name at 6. DNiece started copying letters at almost 4 and could write her 5 letter name at 4.5. DD has just started signing her pictures with her 4 letter name (after seeing her cousin do it). She'll be 2 in March. I think like everything else they do it when they're ready.

Dd1 was really interested in writing. She was typing word (spelt out for her or copying) by age 2yo. I didn't really think of teaching her to write but she picked it up very quickly after starting preschool age 2.10yo. What they did there was write their name in yellow pen and then the child would start by going over the top in pencil. When they could do it on their own they dropped the yellow. She also very quickly went from writing her name to other things.

Dd2 wasn't as interested in writing, but was interested in doing anything big sister could do. She was very early to write her name, I can't remember when, and I didn't teach her, but it was certainly before 2.6yo. However her name is very easy, short and no hard letters, and it was quite a long time before she tried to write anything else.

Ds isn't interested in anything with a pen/pencil at all. He did manage his name from some time round age 3yo if encouraged/bribed for granny's card etc. but not out of choice. He would write it with the stylus on the DS sometimes. He didn't write anything else until he started at school. After his first term he now will occasionally choose to write a sentence at home.

My observation with the method used for dd1 was that most if not all children could do a reasonable approximation for their name within 2-3 terms. Some then chose to go onto writing other words. Other children weren't interested then and didn't. After a year at school there was no difference in their writing abilities.

I would just like to add that DNephew (who didn't write his name until 6 or and did not progress past the first reading level until 7) is now 15 years old and has recently won first prize at his school in Maths, Physics, English and Geography.

In my opinion it doesn't matter when a child starts reading/writing. That has no bearing on how they will do further up the school. What matters is that they have people who care about them who are interested in their education.