This week we would like to share some of the ways that we develop a functional and dynamic pencil grasp through our play in the nursery.

Having a functional and dynamic pencil grasp is important because it means that we will find writing comfortable and we will be able to write without getting tired. A functional grip helps our writing to be easy to read by other people. Traditionally children were taught to hold pencils in a tripod grasp however this is not the only effective grasp for writing and it is much more important that we can write legibly and for long periods comfortably throughout our lives.

As you can see from our “make your mark” sheet, which we use to sign in each day, we are using a variety of grasps at this very early stage of mark making. Our grasps are very much still developing at this young age.

You may have seen this X-ray picture on social media. The left side image shows a fully developed hand (this usually happens around the age of 7) and the right image shows what our hands are like at nursery age. Or carpal bones have not fully formed and our tendons are still lax. 

As we near school age adults may help us to make subtle changes to any grasps that we find uncomfortable but the most important thing, at this stage, is for us to enjoy mark making and using mark making materials. If we are motivated to make marks and explore writing materials we are more likely to become writers in the future. 

It is very important for us to develop hand, finger and wrist strength so that we can develop a functional and dynamic pencil grasp. This uses our thumbs and fingers, rather than our wrists or elbows. These movements are usually established by age 5-6 but can be later. Others features of a functional grasp is where the ring and little fingers are tucked into the palm of the hand and where there is an open webspace between the thumb and index finger, forming a C-shape.

The best way we can learn all of this is through play, particularly play that involves using our fine motor control. Here are some examples, from this week, of play that helps develop our pencil grasp.

We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing some of the ways we’ve been working hard on developing our fine motor skills and our future pencil grasp and look forward to sharing more our learning with you next week.