Did you know that young children begin developing their pre-writing skills long before their first birthday? Your little one actually begins to feel the shapes and lines that make up our abstract alphabet through their movement.
It all starts with gross motor movement. This means that your baby experiences pathways through space while being carried and danced in your arms as you lean into a curved path or dart side to side, and even when you simply move forward and backward. Once they become mobile, your waddler will begin moving the large muscles of their arms, legs, and torso to experience bent and rounded body shapes as well as straight and narrow ones. Your toddler will love “drawing” giant designs in the air with a scarf, carving pathways through space on two feet, all fours, and even with their whole body!
All the ways your little one moves their brilliant body prepares them for when they finally do take pen to paper (or crayon, paintbrush, or fingerpaint!), which will happen before you even know it! And of course, after lots of big body play and sensory input, be sure to wrap your little one in a curvy hug to show them how to recuperate and integrate all those amazing shapes!