Early Writing/ Scribbling

Give your baby a piece of paper and a pen or pencil and let them scribble once they’re able and want too. It’s good for developing fine motor skills, for building confidence, and expressing themselves.

Benefits of scribbling for young children:

  • Improves fine motor skills
  • open ended
  • artistic
  • They are proud of their work.
  • They make things for you and each other and it’s a way of showing love and an opportunity for you to say you’re proud of them.

My experience:

As a mom of four, it’s always so exciting for me when one of my babies gets interested in scribbling for the first time. I mean that initial moment when they grab something and start trying to make any kind of mark on paper. It’s so fun watching them learn to hold onto a crayon, pen, or whatever it may be and seeing them get excited about whatever they’ve made on the page.

I tend to take a pretty hands off approach to it, and just sort of allow them space to explore. Simply having access to some sort of writing utensil and paper will pretty much make this happen. It’s a natural discovery, I think, for young children.

As a parent, seeing my toddler make little makes on the page makes me so proud! I love the looks on their faces as they run up excitedly to show you what they’ve made! It’s so sweet and there’s nothing quite like it.

Beyond that though, it’s also a very important part of early writing development. Scribbling is important for fine motor skills and getting accustomed to holding a pencil/crayon etc. as well.

It’s also wonderful for creativity! Kids absolutely love creating something through their scribbling/art. The more the have access to materials and time to freely draw, scribble, and write, the more they can grow this creative muscle.

I prefer to generally provide blank paper and art supplies so that each time they sit down, it’s an open-ended time for them to scribble, draw, write, or create whatever they want, and not be confined by whatever is on the page.

Art Supply Ideas:

Recommended Activities:

  • Sand trays to practice forming lines, curves, etc. and make it fun and sensorial
  • Insets for tracing shapes (like big stencils)

For more information about scribbling, check out these links:

*Links disclaimer: I do not endorse everything, nor have I read everything on these entire websites. I have simply shared these specific links as they explain more about scribbling.