The 7 Essential Pre-Writing Skills for Young Learners

Learning to write can be a very difficult task for young children who do not have a strong foundation with pre-writing skills.

In fact, preschool curriculums are often centered around the development of these pre-writing skills rather than teaching pencil control and letter formation.

What Are Pre-Writing Skills?

Pre-writing skills are essentially the foundational skills children need to master before they learn to formally write.

Many of these skills are not actually related to writing at all. They do, however, create a strong foundation to help your child become confident and proficient in writing when they are developmentally ready to learn.

Here are the 7 important pre-writing skills your child should master before learning to write letters and numbers:

1. Bilateral Control
2. Crossing Midline
3. Upper Extremity Strength
4. Core Strength and Posture
5. Fine Motor Control
6. Visual Perception
7. Pre-writing lines

Let’s take a close look at each one of these early writing skills so you can truly understand the foundational needs of your child.

The 7 Pre-Writing Skills Explained

1) Bilateral Control

Bilateral control and coordination is the ability to use both hands together to complete a task or accomplish a goal.

When it comes to writing, this skill is essential. A child’s dominant hand is responsible for holding and controlling the pencil, while the non-dominant hand works to stabilize the paper. Both hands must work together for writing to feel controlled and manageable.

For many young children, this coordination does not come naturally. Without strong bilateral control, the paper may move or shift while a child is trying to write, making it harder to form letters and shapes accurately. This can quickly lead to frustration, fatigue, and a reluctance to practice writing tasks.

The good news is that bilateral coordination can be strengthened through everyday play and simple activities long before a child ever picks up a pencil.

Activities that support bilateral control include:

• Cutting with scissors (one hand cuts while the other holds the paper)
• Placing and peeling stickers
• Tearing paper for crafts
• Holding paper steady while coloring or painting

2) Crossing Midline

Crossing the midline is the ability to move a hand or foot across the center of the body to complete a task. For example, a child reaching across the table with their right hand to grab an object on the left side is crossing their midline.

This skill plays a surprisingly big role in writing. When children can easily cross the midline, they are able to write in one smooth, continuous motion across the page without stopping, switching hands, or constantly repositioning their body or paper.

When crossing the midline is challenging, writing can look awkward and disorganized. Children may switch the pencil between hands, turn their entire body instead of moving just their arm, or frequently adjust the paper while writing. These extra movements often lead to messy handwriting, slower writing speed, and increased frustration during writing tasks.

Strong midline crossing helps writing feel more natural and fluid, allowing children to focus on what they are writing rather than how their body needs to move.

Activities that support crossing the midline include:

• Wiping a table in large, sweeping motions
• Drawing or painting on vertical surfaces like easels or whiteboards
• Making large figure-eight shapes in the air using the arms
• Playing “Simon Says” with cues such as touching the left shoulder with the right hand

3) Upper Extremity Strength

Upper extremity strength refers to the strength and stability of the muscles in the shoulders, arms, wrists, hands, and fingers. These muscles work together to support controlled and efficient writing movements.

Strong shoulder stability helps children sit upright at a table without slouching, leaning, or using the desk for extra support. The forearms and wrists play a major role in guiding writing movements across the page. Hand and finger strength then support an appropriate pencil grip and help children maintain consistent pressure while writing.

Without adequate upper extremity strength, writing can appear shaky, uneven, or inconsistent. Children may press too hard or too lightly, struggle to control their pencil, or become fatigued after only a short period of writing.

The best way to build upper extremity strength is through gross motor play that encourages pushing, pulling, gripping, and weight-bearing through the arms.

Activities that support upper extremity strength include:

• Crawling and climbing
• Wheelbarrow walks or races
• Throwing and catching balls
• Playing with playdough or clay

4) Core Strength and Posture

Core strength plays a major role in a child’s ability to sit and write with control. The core muscles help keep the body stable and upright, creating a strong base for the arms and hands to move efficiently.

When a child has good core strength, they are able to sit tall and balanced at a table. This stability allows for more controlled and precise movements in the arms, hands, and fingers. In fact, fine motor control in the fingers is heavily supported by a stable trunk. When the body is steady, the hands are free to focus on the details of writing.

A helpful way to think about proper writing posture is the 90–90–90 rule:

• Feet flat on the floor
• Hips bent at a 90-degree angle
• Knees bent at a 90-degree angle

This position provides the best support for writing at a table. When children slouch, lean, or wrap their legs around the chair, their body has to work harder just to stay upright, often resulting in messy or inconsistent writing.

Because posture habits become harder to change as children get older, building core strength early through play is incredibly beneficial.

Activities that support core strength include:

• Playing games or doing puzzles while lying on the belly
• Building or playing with toys while kneeling
• Climbing and free play at the playground or in your backyard
• Creating simple obstacle courses at home

5) Fine Motor Control

Fine motor control involves the small muscles in the wrists, hands, and fingers that allow children to make precise and coordinated movements. These muscles are essential for holding a pencil correctly and controlling it while writing.

A key part of fine motor development is finger isolation. This is seen in pencil grips such as the pincer or tripod grip, where the thumb, index finger, and middle finger work together while the rest of the hand remains relatively relaxed. Strong fine motor control also allows children to adjust, rotate, and reposition a pencil within one hand as they write.

Children with well-developed fine motor skills are able to write with more control and endurance. Their movements tend to be smoother, their letters more legible, and they are less likely to tire quickly during writing tasks.

When fine motor control is weak, writing can become uncomfortable and frustrating. Children may grip the pencil too tightly or too loosely, struggle to form readable letters, or complain that their hand hurts while writing.

Building fine motor skills does not require formal writing practice. In fact, playful and creative activities are often the most effective.

Activities that support fine motor control include:

• Building with Legos or other small construction toys
• Arts and crafts activities, including cutting with scissors and tearing paper
• Playing with playdough
• Coloring, scribbling, and tracing simple shapes
• Using stickers or stamps

6) Visual Perception

Visual perception is the brain’s ability to make sense of what the eyes see and then guide the hands to respond accurately. For writing, this means recognizing letters, understanding how they are formed, and coordinating hand movements based on visual information.

There are several important parts of visual perception that directly impact writing. Visual discrimination allows children to notice differences between similar-looking letters, such as b and d or p and q. Visual-spatial relationships help children understand how letters are positioned in relation to one another, including spacing, alignment, and staying within lines.

Visual memory and sequencing allow children to remember what letters look like and recall the correct order of strokes needed to write them. Finally, visual-motor integration ties everything together by coordinating what the eyes see with how the hands move during writing.

When visual perception skills are still developing, writing may appear uneven or inconsistent. Children might reverse letters, struggle with spacing, or have difficulty copying shapes, letters, or words from a model.

The good news is that visual perception can be strengthened through simple, playful activities that don’t involve formal writing.

Activities that support visual perception include:

• Puzzles and matching games
• Sorting objects by size, shape, or color
• Spot-the-difference or “find it” games
• Copying simple patterns, shapes, or block designs
• Completing mazes or connecting dots

7) Pre-Writing Lines

Pre-writing lines are the basic strokes children naturally make before learning how to write letters and numbers. This is the only skill on the list that directly involves making marks on paper, but it still comes well before formal handwriting instruction.

These lines include simple strokes such as horizontal and vertical lines, circles, crosses, and eventually more complex shapes like squares, Xs, and triangles. Mastering these strokes helps children develop the control and coordination needed to form letters later on.

Pre-writing lines follow a developmental sequence, meaning children typically learn certain lines and shapes before others. This progression allows their muscles, coordination, and visual skills to develop at a pace that feels manageable and successful.

You may notice two important stages as children work on these skills:

• Copying, where a child is shown an example and draws it independently
• Imitating, where a child watches an adult draw a line or shape and then attempts to copy it

Below is a general guide to pre-writing line development. Keep in mind that all children develop at their own pace, and this chart is meant to be a reference—not a checklist.

Activities that support pre-writing lines:

• Tracing and scribbling
• Painting with brushes or finger paints
• Playing with sidewalk chalk
• Create a sand or salt tray and have kids use their fingers to draw lines and shapes

Importance of Pre-Writing Skills

Supporting your child as they develop pre-writing skills plays an important role in building a strong foundation for handwriting and future academic success.

When these early skills are still developing, children may find writing tasks more challenging. This can sometimes lead to frustration, slower work completion, or a reluctance to participate in writing activities. Over time, these experiences may affect a child’s confidence—especially if writing consistently feels hard.

The encouraging news is that pre-writing skills can be strengthened naturally through everyday play. Simple, intentional activities added into your child’s daily routine can make a meaningful difference without pressure or formal instruction.

Remember…

Children learn best through play! Providing opportunities for movement, creativity, and hands-on experiences helps prepare their bodies and brains for learning how to write when they are developmentally ready.