Hand-eye coordination and readiness to learn

Hand-eye coordination and readiness to learn

Pre-prep is an important year in which children develop many of the skills they need for formal schooling. The Children transition from a play-based learning environment into a  classroom with routines and structed intentional teaching sessions.

This year serves as a gentle introduction to the structure and routines children will be involved in when they start Big School.

When children start formal schooling, they need to be able to sit for periods of time and concentrate. They also need to be able to keep a good grip on their pencil to write.

Hand-eye coordination

is a developmental skill focused on during the pre-prep year. Being able to do activities that require your hands, eyes and brain to be in sync is the foundation to future reading and writing abilities.  The key to developing hand-eye coordination is through the use of concrete materials in every day situations.

This month in the Pre-prep room the children have been focusing on using their pincer grip to pick up small objects and move them to a different container or basket. Having a strong pincer grip is one of the first steps towards being able to successfully use writing and drawing tools. The pincer grip is also used when manipulating a zipper or opening a snack food packet. 

What does this look like in our classroom?

• Threading and lacing activities;
• Stacking small blocks ;
• Cutting with scissors;
• Using tongs, tweezers, scoops; and
• Manipulating playdough.

Playdough pizzas with pepperoni

The children have been using the playdough to make pizzas.

Rolling the dough out requires control of the hands and wrists. It also requires the participant to press down on the dough with enough force to create a round shape.

The children then used small thin counters as their toppings. The counters can be difficult to pick up when placed on the table and require good hand-eye coordination and a strong pincer grip to be able to pick each one up individually otherwise they shoot off the table and onto the floor.

The children then used their fingers to push the toppings into the dough. And finally when the pizza was eaten, all of the counters where pulled out of the dough using a pincer grip.

Who would have thought that making a pretend pepperoni pizza would require so many different skills.

That’s all from Miss Patti and the Sea Turtles (pingin’s) until next month.

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