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Sunday, October 3, 2010

The smaller the pencil the better!

The best writing instruments for young children are the smallest ones you can get. Really short pencils and crayons force the child to hold it with a pincer grasp and not a fist grasp. In our classroom we love these little Pipsqueak colored pencils. They are chubby but really short and encourage a good writing grasp. I love once we've sharpened them down to just little nubs, because then they really require our lil ones to hold them correctly! Plus our kids love the fun size and color! Teach your kiddo how to use the enclosed pencil sharpener--it's great fine motor that promotes wrist strength!

These can be bought at Walmart. For toddlers I would just put out 3-4 pencils at a time to not overwhelm them with too many color choices (and to make cleaning up managable for a young artist).

We also break our crayons into smaller pieces--3rds, usually, to also encourage pincer grasps.
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