This rainbow therapy slide deck activity is a prewriting lines activity that can help kids with the visual motor skills needed for writing letters, numbers, and in all aspect of handwriting. Prewriting skills are those very important developmental skills needed before kids can actually write letters or numbers. Pre-writing lines activities are an often-times skipped step of handwriting. That’s why I wanted to create a rainbow drawing art activity that can be used in teletherapy (or face-to-face sessions) that works on this important skill.

You’ll also love these free rainbow therapy slide decks: Rainbow drawing art activity and the rainbow emotions slide decks. Add both to your occupational therapy interventions.

This therapy virtual activity is great to use along with some fruit loop rainbow craft ideas for hands-on rainbow themed fun.

Prewriting lines

As we discussed in this blog post on a past pre-writing lines activity, working on pre-writing lines prior to practicing letter formation is an important step for preschool-aged kids, and actually helps to develop a strong basis for proper letter formation.  

Establishing pre-writing lines allow kids to strengthen visual motor skills, hand muscles, promote pencil strokes needed for letters, and improve pencil control. 

We’ve also previously talked about the progression of pre-writing lines. Prewriting lines development is as follows:

What Are Pre-Writing Skills?

In short, pre-writing skills are the lines and strokes kids need to master and know BEFORE learning how to print the alphabet. Each of these lines is developed in a sequence, based on how old the child is. We’ve covered developmental progression of pre-writing lines previously.

This developmental sequence of prewriting lines is as follows:

• Age 1-2: Spontaneous scribbles
• Age 2-3: Imitates a vertical line, horizontal line, circle
• Age 3-4: Imitates a cross shape, and diagonal lines, a crude square
• Age 4-5: Imitates an X, triangle, square

This is a very basic description of ages and developmental progression of line development and pre-writing skills.

As always with child development, each child will progress through this developmental sequence somewhat differently and at different speeds. Some children may draw a square with refined pencil strokes and sharp corners or controlled curves before another child. Other children may form perfectly slanted diagonal lines while others at the same age may make bumpy or curved diagonals.

Still another concern that should be addressed: Older kids may have been introduced to handwriting before they have mastered prewriting lines and then you see the breakdown in letter formation, reversals, inaccuracies with curves, diagonals, line placement, etc. In this case, it is ok to go back and work on these forms in multi-sensory learning strategies. Use sensory bins, rainbow writing, drawing on sandpaper, finger-paint, drawing in shaving cream, etc. to work on accurate copying and forming of these line forms.

This developmental progression of pre-writing lines should be taken as a general outline.

In short, we want to see each of these line formations develop before a child is asked to copy or trace letters.

There are many hands-on activities that help to work on these skills.

• This pre-writing lines activity asks kids to form lines with a Wikki Stix border to help children with line placement.
• This pre-writing lines leaf activity asks kids to form pre-writing strokes using leaves or other small manipulatives.
• This pre-writing lines eraser activity uses the resistive feedback of erasers to work on pre-writing lines.
• Writing trays are an excellent way to work on pre-writing lines.

Pre-writing virtual activity

So how do you work on pre-writing skills in a virtual occupational therapy environment? There are many ways!

Copying pre-writing forms can be achieved in teletherapy through creative thinking, use of the camera, and items the child has in the home. To get started on thinking outside the box, check out our free teletherapy with kids mini-course, where you will find loads of information on all things teletherapy, including for those who are at the pre-writing stage in their in their writing and visual motor skills.

Rainbow prewriting lines activity

You can use the slide deck presented here to work on prewriting lines with children, as another virtual therapy activity.

In the free Google slide deck, kids can complete several activities to work on copying pre-writing lines, and they all have a rainbow theme.

Kids can first copy the prewriting lines with air writing as they point to the lines. Then, they can use whole body movements to air write the forms. This incorporates motor planning, crossing midline, and visual tracking.

In the rainbow therapy slide deck, you’ll find all of the pre-writing lines, including slides for strait vertical lines, horizontal lines, diagonal lines, a cross, curves, wiggly lines, arches, a square, a triangle, and more.

Finally, children can draw the prewriting forms onto paper.

Want to add this prewriting lines therapy slide deck to your teletherapy toolbox?

Enter your email into the form below and you’ll get access to thsi free Google slide deck.

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.