Have you ever tried form drawing with your little ones? Or perhaps you are brand-new to the term and stumbled across it while searching for pre-writing skills and activities for children. If that’s the case, let me introduce you!
Essentially, form drawing is the freehand drawing of repetitive lines and curves.
Sounds simple enough, right? But the benefits are truly astounding!
Form Drawing for Pre-Writing Skills
For young children, form drawing is wonderful for developing pre-writing skills. Making horizontal and vertical lines, curves, and everything in between introduces children to the shapes that make up letters and numbers, builds coordination and fine motor skills, and so much more.
That’s exactly why my learn-to-write program, How Wee Write, starts with form drawing!
In How Wee Write, we break down learning to write—from squiggles to sentences—into four parts that perfectly complement my learn-to-read program, How Wee Read.
In Part One, your child will work on a variety of form drawings to understand the flow of writing and the idea of mark-making. From there, we progress into letters, sounds and blending, special rules, and eventually full sentences:
- Part One: Pre-Writing (7 lessons)
- Part Two: Letters, Sounds, and Blending (12 Lessons)
- Part Three: Special Rules (5 Lessons)
- Part Four: Familiar Readers (36 Lessons)
Want to take a peek inside? Grab your FREE Form Drawing Printable, which includes a sample of How Wee Write. Once you have your printable, keep reading for how to use these form drawing pages with your child.
The Benefits of Form Drawing
As I mentioned above, there are lots (and lots!) of benefits of form drawing. In fact, form drawing is a big part of Waldorf education and is used in grades one through five and even higher.
While we don’t exclusively use one educational style in our homeschool (we tend to mix-and-match to make something uniquely us), I do love Waldorf! And form drawing is one component I’m using with my youngest as she starts her learn-to-write journey.
So why am I so gung-ho about form drawing? Let’s talk about some of those benefits!
1. Pre-Writing Skills
Form drawing introduces children to the basic shapes, lines, and patterns that make up letters and numbers. This is a wonderful foundation for pre-writing skills, enabling children to recognize, replicate, and eventually write letters and words with greater ease and accuracy.
2. Fine Motor Skills
Form drawing involves the precise coordination of hand movements and control of writing tools, developing fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, finger dexterity, and muscle control—all skills necessary for future writing.
3. Crossing the Midline
When a child continuously draws a line from one side of a piece of paper to the other, it forces them to cross the midline (reaching their right hand across the body to the left edge of the paper, for example). This strengthens the connection between the left and right hemispheres in the brain which is critical for—you guessed it!—future reading and writing.
4. Cognitive Development
Form drawing enhances visual-spatial awareness. As children interact with patterns, they develop the ability to perceive spatial relationships, identify differences in angles and proportions, and understand the concepts of symmetry and balance.
5. Creativity and Imagination
Last but not least, form drawing encourages creativity and imagination. Children have the opportunity to experiment with lines, curves, and patterns, leading to the creation of unique designs.
Have I convinced you yet? (Yes, absolutely, Sarah! I was convinced five paragraphs ago!)
Perfect!
How to Use Your Form Drawing Pages
Now that I’ve converted you, let’s get into how you can use your free form drawing pages. (You did grab the freebie near the top of this blog post already, didn’t you?)
There are two main ways that you can use the printables: for tracing or to reference for freehand drawings.
Pre-Writing Skills: Tracing Activities
For young children, tracing is a wonderful way to introduce form drawing. You could:
- Simply print the form drawing printable and have your little one trace over the lines with their writing utensil of choice.
- Trace over the lines again and again with different colors to make some beautiful rainbow forms.
- Pop the printable into a page protector and have your child trace over the lines with a dry-erase marker.
Pre-Writing Skills: Freehand Activities
As your child becomes more comfortable with form drawing, you can use the printables for freehand practice. Print a copy, then using it as a reference, your child can:
- Use chalk to make the forms on a chalkboard
- Paint the forms on a piece of paper
- Dip a paintbrush in water and “paint” on a piece of construction paper or a chalkboard
- Draw the forms in a salt tray using a paintbrush or finger
And after all of this practice, your little one will be all ready to start forming letters!
I hope these printable form drawing pages are helpful for you and your little one.
If you’re ready to continue your child’s learn-to-write journey, I invite you to check out my complete learn-to-write program, How Wee Write!
Get your copy right here: https://shop.howweelearn.com/products/how-wee-write
Thank you so much for reading, my friend!
xo
Sarah
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