This blog post on preschool center ideas for pre-writing skills was originally written September 20, 2017. We’ve since updated it to include more resources and ideas to support the development of preschool prewriting skills that occurs through play in the preschool age. We have many preschool centers ideas to help with this skill!
Our favorite preschool center ideas involve movement, play, and exploration!
Preschool Center Ideas
If you’ve ever been in a preschool classroom and seen a lot of play, you are in a great classroom setting! Preschoolers need play to help them develop the skills that they will use throughout their lifetime. The preschool occupational therapy providers reading this are probably nodding their OT heads. And, actually, so are the school based OTs who later see those same kiddos in the elementary building. Why? Because teaching preschoolers to write is just not developmentally appropriate. Instead, we can focus on how can you help preschool children develop pre-writing skills through developmentally appropriate tasks!
The preschool classroom is a bustling place of activity, play, learning, and development. All of these areas are happening at once, driven by the focus and intention of the preschool teacher. I’ve had readers ask how to incorporate more developmental areas into group activities for the preschool aged child and how to incorporate development of pre-writing skills into a small group setting.
Before we get into the preschool center ideas, check out some of our resources to support the preschool aged kiddos:
- Our resource on fine motor activities for preschoolers is a great place to start with activity ideas and skill development during the preschool age.
- Be sure to check out our All About Me preschool activities for more ideas.
- Related, are these friendship activities for preschoolers as a tool to support development in the preschool years.
- Sometimes working with others at this age can mean problem behaviors impact learning. Check out that resource for support strategies.
- Supporting transition needs is important because circle time can be fun time that kids don’t want to leave to move on to other aspects of learning in the classroom.
- Read up on preschool separation anxiety, because moving into a circle time can be a helpful tool for supporting emotional needs.
- And, our social and emotional skills in preschoolers resource is helpful because the very nature of using circles as a learning tool is the social aspect!
Preschool Centers for Prewriting Skills
The center activities that we have listed below are designed for the developmental level of preschoolers. This means that prewriting and play go hand in hand…sometimes there are creative ways to do this! For example, you might have the center right on the carpet during a circle time. Other times, you might try a few different ways to sit on the floor during the center activity. These variations can be a great tool for developing balance, coordination, core strength, regulation needs (regulation is different in the preschool child!), motor control, and other skills needed for writing…it’s all connected!
The activities below are ones that can be used in preschool centers or in small groups of children who are working on development of fine motor, visual perceptual motor skills needed for pre-writing and other tasks needed in a classroom setting. Considering all of the pre-writing skills that are developed during the preschool years, these centers can harness the excitement and play of creative play to promote development of skills needed throughout the child’s life.
The skills developed in the preschool setting has a lot to do with visual perceptual skills. You’ll find easy and fun ways to work on visual perceptual skills through play here.
Preschool Centers and Development
Centers in the classroom are a common thing. A center is a small group of children that work together on one area for a short period of time. While in this small group, the children can work on a single area before moving on to a different center within the classroom. You may see centers geared toward a single learning concept or area or you may see a center that combines motor involvement with learning.
In the preschool setting, centers include tactile play, play dough, water tables, blocks, imagination play, art creation, finger paints, sensory play, name writing, manipulatives, etc.
The Occupational Therapist can contribute information related to development and specific needs of the classroom when collaborating with the preschool teacher, focusing on fostering skill development through play and use of various media and materials within the centers.
Try setting up center activities on the floor to develop skills like crossing midline, core stability and strength, proprioceptive input, motor planning, arch development of the hands, shoulder stability, and more.
Skills to address in preschool centers
The cool thing is that a center activity often targets many aspects of development. This is why occupational therapy providers working in early intervention, and especially when in the preschool setting love to push into the classroom for circle time. Check out the areas of development addressed with circle time activities:
- Fine motor development
- Gross motor development
- Pincer grasp
- Bilateral coordination
- Crossing midline
- Pre-writing skills
- Eye-hand coordination
- Manual coordination
- Hand strength
- Body coordination
- Object manipulation
- Grasp development
You can incorporate many of these components in a single circle time. For example, check out these indoor gross motor activities for preschoolers.
Fine Motor Preschool Centers
Here are some of my favorite fine motor preschool centers. These learning centers support development of hand strength, manipulation skills, dexterity, and the fine motor skills needed for functional tasks.
- Fill a sensory table with different lengths of crepe paper for cutting
- Squeeze water from small pieces of sponges into a water table
- Spread out various lengths of cardstock and thin cardboard (open cereal boxes cut into strips)
- Stringing beads
- Set up Quiet Bins
- Folding paper
- Manipulating tape and envelopes
- Thread recycled spools
- Pinch clothespins onto paper stips
- Poke pipe cleaners into a large cardboard box
- Color match paper clips
- Manipulate and build with rubber bands and blocks
- Bead feathers
Writing Preschool Center
While writing with a pencil in preschool isn’t ideal because of the development of the child, you can target different writing tasks as a pre-writing activity. For example, if you use aspects of the Handwriting Without Tears program, there are many preschool activities that get young kids ready for writing without actually picking up a pencil.
- Copying shapes
- You can use the letter pieces to identify the big lines, little lines, big curves, and little curves used in forming letters.
- Play with letter manipulatives
- Create a mat man using letter parts (from HWT program)
- Pre-writing lines with leaves
- Copying pictures
- Stamping letters in play dough
- Tracing shapes
- Writing in wet clay
- Drawing on carpet squares
- Painting water on a chalkboard
- Pencil control sheets
Visual Perception Preschool Center
You can also use some fun visual perceptual skill activity in center time:
- Copying block shapes
- Puzzles
- Pegboard designs
- I Spy activities
- Geoboard designs
- Memory games
- Copy shapes with colored sticks
- Color match craft sticks
Here is more information about strategies to address visual perceptual skills and handwriting.
Check out our related preschool and developmental resources to better understand child development in order to support the preschooler during center time:
- Try this developmental checklist resource for therapists or parents.
- Boost child development with rhyming games
- Scissor Skills development
- Grasp development
- Developmental progression of pre-writing lines
- Development of Play
- Development of Eye-Hand Coordination
- Development of bilateral coordination and how this skill impacts feeding
- Executive Functioning Skill development
- Visual Motor Integration Developmental Milestones
- Spatial Awareness Development in Babies
- Foster Development with Block Play
- Development of Oral Motor Skills
- Rainbow Activities for Child Development
- Preschool Separation Anxiety
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
