DS doesn't write/draw

[arinah]

DS is coming up to 5 years old and it is such a rarity to see him pick up a pen/pencil and use it for its intended purpose! He much prefers to line them up in a particular order depending on his mood - might be size, colour, or a mish mash. How can I encourage him to at least draw on paper rather than the walls? He is fantastic at saying the alphabet, numbers etc and I'd really love to practise these with him :(

Is he in reception year? What do his teachers say?

Mine was like this. IME it’s hard to force it. You could try to encourage him to complete the activities in kids magazines if he’s interested (mine wasn’t), otherwise focus on trying to improve his fine motor skills using finger gym activities. Also gross motor skills - core, shoulders and arms - are key to writing too. Chalk on the side of the house or garden walls/patio, making letters in sand may also get his interest.

Where you can try to get him to write his name in cards, write signs for his bedroom or other doors around the house - we currently have various notices Blu-tac’d about.

We held off reception for a year since his birthday is right at the end of the school year and he is already quite immature that DH and I decided to wait for the next academic year. I'm really tempted to home school him for KS1 but I also want him to get the experience of being with lots of kids his age.
RE gross motor skills, his focus remains on 'bitty' activities such as making the alphabet out of play dough, and lining up his cars etc. He's also mostly non verbal which makes it a bit trickier.
I feel a lot of guilt with DS as he's our first and I didn't have a clue what I was doing (still don't!). DD is almost 5mo and she seems to be thriving in ways that I didn't see in DS until he was double her age.

I bought a book called Five Minute Mum at the beginning of lockdown, there’s a website too. It’s got quite a few different activities that you might like to try, a number of them are stealth learning activities. It’s aimed at preschoolers really so good for those dc that are older but immature. Have a look at the website and see what you think. My ds particularly liked the code-breaker game.

@openupmyeagereyes thanks, I'll check that out :) And love the username

Has his key workers at nursery said anything? as at nursery from age 2 there would have been lots and lots of drawing (2Y+) and writing (3Y+) activities.

He didn't attend nursery as he's been living overseas with his paternal grandparents and aubts/uncles since he was 2. This situation was created by the fact that I have totally unsupportive parents and both DH and I had to work full time (I was doing close to 20 hour days) for visa purposes. The plan was to bring him back this year but the lockdown has put my entire plan on hold :(

Then that would probably explain it unless your relatives where home schooling him in a structured and consistent way most days. Certain fine motor skills like holding a pencil using a tripod grasp are difficult (and not fun) and hence will not come naturally, they would need to be learned through practice using structured (fun) activities over many years. It tends to start by first using their hands and fingers to paint and write (2Y), then using bigger objects such as brushes (3Y) before moving to finer objects like pencils (3-5Y). However it is never too late to start, he just needs to be in a fun and inspiring environment where he would want to learn and try things out (i.e. siting him down after giving him a pencil and a piece of paper and asking him to draw or write something after you have showed him how to do it is unlikely to work).