✏️ Writing & pencil control · Ages 3–4 · about 4 weeks

Pencil Play

Goal: Hold a crayon with the fingers and draw straight lines, circles, a cross and zigzags.

For parents: These strokes are the pieces every letter is made of. Short, thick crayons encourage a finger grip better than long pencils.

Do together

  1. Salt tray

    You need: A baking tray, a layer of salt, sugar or sand

    Draw lines, circles and zigzags with a finger. Shake the tray to erase and go again. Show one first and let them copy.

  2. Road for the car

    You need: Paper, crayons, a small toy car

    Draw roads — straight, curvy, zigzag — and let your child trace each road with a crayon, then drive the car along it.

  3. Tweezer transfer

    You need: Kitchen tongs or clothes pegs, cotton balls, two bowls

    Move cotton balls from one bowl to the other with tongs or pegs. It builds exactly the pinch a pencil needs.

Talk about it

  • Can you draw a line from the top to the bottom?
  • Can you make a big circle? A small one?
  • Which hand do you like to draw with?

Words to use

  • top
  • bottom
  • straight
  • curve
  • zigzag
  • cross

Play

  • Trace It
    Pre-writing
  • Dot to Dot
    Pencil control & counting on
  • Match Paths
    Matching & connecting
Play these games free

Every game is free for every family until 20 November 2026.

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