In reception we focus on developing hand strength way before we encourage the children to pick up a pencil and form letters or shapes.

We use playdough, tweezers and a wide variety of fine motor activities to develop their fine motor skills. Children are encouraged to do this daily and lots of practise is needed.

Holding a pencil is tricky and needs to be taught correctly.

We follow a handwriting pattern programme and there is a specific order in which we teach the patterns. Children need to be able to form static patters, such as dots, circles and lines before they can move left to right, with formation patterns.