Child writing a word

How To Teach A Child To Write – The Complete Guide

Do you want to teach your child to write? If you do then this is a very good thing as writing is an essential life skill that everyone should have. In this comprehensive guide we will answer the question “how to teach my child to write?” and show you various proven methods that will work for children of all ages.

We tend to take writing for granted as parents because we have been doing it for a long time. But you need to bear in mind that writing is not the easiest thing for your child to master. You need to have a good degree of patience and it is best to start to teach your kid to write as early as possible.

When to Teach Child to Write?

With the right reading program, you can teach your child to read at the age of 2. A lot of people think that their child is only going to be able to write when they are close to the age for kindergarten but a research study proved that this is not necessarily the case.

This study was conducted in 2017 and it concluded that a child can develop their writing skills from as early as 3 years old. The Journal of Child Development published this study. One of the conclusions from this study was that kids learn writing fundamentals prior to learning the sounds that letters of the alphabet represent.

Before this study the experts assumed that a child could only learn how to write after learning all of the different alphabet sounds. Once a child new the sound for the letter “A” for example they would then be able to start writing this letter.

These experts were wrong to assume this. The study revealed that younger children could recognize patterns in the words they saw, such as typically how letters go together and the length of certain words, without understanding the meaning of these patterns or even understanding the meaning of the words.

The Development of Writing Skills in Children

Another important area of this study was how the writing skills of children develop. This is important to know when you want to teach your child to write. The researchers observed that young children as young as 3 would follow written language rules when they started to write words.

At this early stage it was not important that the words they wrote made any sense. What the child was likely to do is to write a word as they thought it should look. Children are able to assess the length of a word and so they would know that the word “dog” is shorter than the word “giraffe” for example.

As the child gets a bit older and progresses with their writing, they will improve their skills. So, as you might expect, a 5 year old child will be able to write a word that looks more like the real word than a child that is 3 years old. The conclusion of the study was that children had the ability to read and write at younger ages than previously thought.

How to Encourage Kids to Write

Some parents will naturally be overwhelmed when thinking about how they can teach their kids to write. The first thing to understand is that you are not going to be running a full-on handwriting class with your child. You will be slowly introducing the skill of handwriting to your child instead.

It is important to get started as soon as you can. So, if you want to know how to encourage 4 year old to write or how to encourage 6 year old to write it doesn’t really matter because you can provide encouragement to your child to learn writing from the age of 3.

Of course, a child will change quite a lot from when they are 3 years old to when they are 6 years old so you need to take this into account. We recommend that you don’t try to do too much at once no matter how old your child is. Just always give them words of encouragement when they are practicing their writing.

Develop Muscles and Dexterity

Learning to write is different to learning to read. A child needs to develop the required muscles and the dexterity to write. Fortunately, there are a lot of things that you can do to help them with this. One of the best things that you can do is to let your child color in pictures. You can even give your kid a blank piece of paper and some crayons and let them do what they want.

We recommend using crayons because your child should find these easier to hold and use. By using the different color crayons your child will start to use the muscles that they need to write. Another good way to develop writing muscles and the necessary dexterity for writing is to get your child to participate in other activities.

Kids love to use Play Doh and when you let them do this not only will they have a lot of fun (which is very important), but they will also build up their hand muscles and improve their dexterity. Another good method here is getting your child to cut out various shapes. There are special scissors that are safe for kids that you can use here.

Most children love to play with stickers and you need to encourage this as they will develop the finer motor skills that they need to peel off the sticker from the backing paper. Something simple like giving your child a small water spray bottle, so that they can help you to water the plants, will help them to develop their hand muscles as they will need to squeeze the lever at the top.

Teaching Posture and Grip

Another essential element of writing skills is having the right posture and grip. You will need to teach your young child these skills. A good way to do this is to break a crayon in half and give the pointed end to your child. In order to use the crayon, they will have to practice gripping it with their fingertips.

Be sure to help your child out here. How to teach a child to hold a pencil correctly? Show them how to do this and help them if they get it wrong. You are their parent so it is natural that they will want to follow what you do. Hold a crayon or a pencil in your hand to demonstrate the “tripod grip”. This involves using the index and middle finger and the thumb correctly.

A lot of parents that ask us “how to teach my child to write?” have a specific question about their child holding a crayon or a pencil too tightly. Some of the parents’ report that their child complains to them that holding the pencil hurts them. If you see that your child has white knuckles when holding the pencil then they are gripping it too tightly.

Another sign that a pencil is held too tightly by a child is that the paper just rips when they are trying to write on it. You need to show and teach your child that they do not need to grip the pencil so tightly. A good idea here is to place a small blob of Play Doh in the palm of their hand which should make them loosen their grip.

Also, when you want to know how to teach your kid to write you need to pay attention to the pressure that they are applying on the paper with the crayon or the pencil. Initially, your child may break a crayon because they are applying too much pressure. Teach them that if the pressure is not enough the writing will be barely visible.

The best way to teach a child to write in the early stages is to secure the paper that they are writing on. It is inevitable that they will make mistakes with grip and pressure initially. If the paper is continuously moving as well then it can be a real challenge for them. This is an easy fix that could prevent your child from giving up too soon.

Other Activities that Will help Teach your Child to Write

There are other activities that you can engage in with your child to help develop their dexterity for writing. These will all give your child a “hands-on” approach to developing their writing skills. Not all of these are directly related to writing but don’t let that stop you using these activities as they will help.

Tracing on a Surface

The easiest way to do this is to show your child a certain letter. Start with the letter “C” as this is one of the easiest to trace. Ask your child to study the letter to see what shape it is and the formation of it. Then you can ask them to use their finger to trace this letter using their memory on a surface such as a window, a window, a door and so on.

Be sure to congratulate your child when they get somewhere near the original letter with their tracing. Another thing that you can do is to use your finger to trace a letter on a surface. Start off by making the letters you trace very large and gradually make them smaller as your child gets better at giving you the right response.

This may not be a total success immediately so you can help your child by placing their hand on top of yours as you trace the letter. If you want to know how to teach a child to write letters, then surface tracing from memory is a good technique that will really help them.

In addition to this, you can purchase a stencil that has all of the letters of the alphabet. Some stencils include the numbers zero to nine as well. Teach your child how to use the stencil with a pencil. Hold the stencil still for them when they are first attempting this. People always ask “how to teach a child to write numbers?’ and a stencil with numbers will definitely help.

Wet and Dry Method

This method is proven to work and is based on research. In order to recreate this activity, you will need a slate chalkboard. You start the process off by writing the letter on the board with chalk. Make the letter fairly large.

Now you need to ask your child to wet their finger using a sponge and then trace over what you have written. Tell your child that they then need to wait a few minutes for the letter to dry. Once the letter is dry, ask your child to use the chalk to trace over it again.

Use Magnetic Letters and Numbers to Feel Formations

You can purchase a magnetic letters and numbers pack fairly inexpensively from Amazon. Alternatively, you can make all of the letters and numbers out of Play Doh. The idea here is that you will discuss the shape of each letter and let your child feel the shape (the formation).

As your child develops their writing skills you can talk about the way a letter looks before you reveal the magnetic letter. So, for example, you could describe the letter “E” as a comb that has some of its teeth missing.

Once you have described the letter to your child then ask them to describe it to you. Ask your child to write the letter or do a surface trace of it. Be sure to discuss the letter formation as they are doing this. At the end, you can reveal the letter and show them how close they were to getting it right.

Show and Read Children’s Books

We recommend that you read your child a story every day. If you want to know how to teach your child to read and write then you can use the excellent Children Learning Reading program to teach reading and when you are reading the story books show them the printed letters.

It is important that your child sees what you are reading. You can use your finger on the book as a guide for them. Your child is probably going to struggle with this at first so you need to be patient. Sometimes your child will lose interest in following the letters and even your finger in the book. Be prepared for this and keep going.

How to Write Letters A-Z – Learning to Write the Alphabet for Kids – Uppercase and Lowercase Letters

Provide your Child with Multiple Tools for Writing

Most people start off with crayons as these are easy for kids to handle. But there is no reason to stop there. You want to encourage your child to practice their writing at every opportunity so make sure that you have other tools available.

Most people think that painting is different to writing. This is correct, but the action of using a paintbrush on paper will help to develop muscles and dexterity needed for writing. If you have a sandbox in the yard then give your child an appropriate stick that they can use to make drawings in this. They can also use their finger to write in sand of course.

Tracing and Connecting the Dots – How to Teach Kids to Write their Name

How to teach a child to write their name? Write their name clearly on a piece of paper in fairly large letters. It is probably best if you use a marker to do this. Encourage your child to trace the letters in their name with their finger first. You can then place some tracing paper over letters and ask them to trace what is underneath with a pencil.

How to teach your child to write their name part two – create a connect the dots version of their name. It is a good idea to do this once and then make several copies of this so that your child can practice. They will probably make some mistakes when they first start to use this technique. This is fine.

You can help your child by showing them how they can go over the letters with their pencil. Make sure that you guide their hand at the start so that they get the hang connecting the dots as quickly as possible.

When your child is able to easily trace the letters in their name and connect the dots properly, you can move things up a notch by asking them to copy the letters onto a separate sheet of paper. This helps to reinforce the writing of the letters because your child now has to recognize the letter formations and recreate them.

How to Teach your Child Writing Skills – Make it Fun

Children want to have fun so when you make learning to write as entertaining as possible, they are likely to take to it a lot better. There are several things that you can do to make it fun to learn to write. One of these is to get a can of shaving foam and let your child practice their letter by squirting the foam onto an appropriate surface. You could use whipped cream as an alternative.

Finger painting is another fun way to learn how to write. It is going to get a bit messy so make the necessary preparations for this. Another thing that you can do is to give your child a water gun and get them to create letter shapes on an outside wall or other suitable surface. When it is hot outside, you can both watch how quickly the letters vanish.

We have already mentioned magnetic letters and numbers and you can get your child to play with these. Once they have practiced writing their name a few times, ask them to use the magnetic letters to spell out their name and when they get it right tell them to copy this on paper.

If you want to know how to teach your 3 year old to write or how to teach your 4 year old to write then talk to them whenever they are practicing their writing. You can use fun stories that you associate with the letters as well.

For example, you can make up a fun story around the letters in your child’s name. Make this as simple as possible so your child can easily remember the story and learn to recite it themselves. There are games available to help children to learn how to write so be sure to check these out as they are another fun thing to do.

How to Teach your Child to Write Sentences

Do you want to know how to teach a child to write sentences? Once your child has learned how to write individual letters and words competently then you can move up to teaching them to write sentences. To make this easier, teach them how letters sound in different words.

This is where a proven reading program like Children Learning Reading will help immensely. Your child will learn how to use phonetics to understand how to spell words and then to write them. There are teaching your child worksheets available and these will help in the composition of words and sentences.

Practice Teaching your Child to write Every Day

The best way to teach your child to write in the quickest possible time is to practice every day. When you make writing a fun activity your child will probably remind you that it is “learning to write time”.

Make sure that you are patient throughout this process and watch how your child develops their writing skills. As they improve be sure to present them with more challenging assignments. Start a writing journal with them and ask them to write things about their day. You can write the start of a sentence and ask your child to finish it for example.

If you have any questions about how to teach a child to write please leave a comment below.

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When you really think about it, the fact that children learn a language, learn how to speak, and learn to write in such a short amount of time is extraordinary. As parents and caregivers and educators, we all want to encourage our children to learn the skills they will need for a lifetime, but many of us don’t necessarily think a lot about how those skills develop—or at what age we can encourage our children to start learning skills like how to write.

When Do Children Learn to Write?

We might think that children don’t really learn how to write until they approach kindergarten age, but a 2017 research study uncovered some interesting findings that show otherwise. The study, published in the journal Child Development, showed that children actually start to learn writing skills as early as age three.

Previously, child development experts had assumed that children learned how to write only once they learned what sounds each letter represented. So, for example, once a child learned what «A» sounds like, they could connect that sound to a letter and from there, start to write the letters that are representing sounds.

Study co-author Rebecca Treiman, PhD, a professor of psychological and brain sciences, says her research shows that children actually display knowledge about the formulas of written language, such as which letters are usually grouped together before they learn what those letters actually represent.

How Writing Skills Develop

This study, unlike other studies that examined how children’s writing skills improve as they get older, looked at how early children actually learn how to write. The researchers found that children begin to write «words» that actually follow rules of the written language as early as age 3.

Treiman’s study looked at spellings of «words» from 179 children in the United States between the ages of 3 years 2 months and 5 years 6 months who were «prephonological» spellers. This simply means that they spelled words with letters that had no connection to the sounds of the letters in the actual words.

What they found was that when asked to spell a word like, «cat,» for example, an older child may not be able to write any letters that actually sound like the letters in the word, but the child recognizes that «cat» is a shorter word than, say, «elephant,» and writes down their word accordingly.

This skill improves as the child gets older, so the 5-year-olds had much better ability to write words that looked like words than the preschoolers. The researchers based what looks like a «word» on a few standards, which included: length of a word, using different letters within the words, and how they combined the letters within the words.

What the Research Means

This study is an important look at how children learn how to absorb the basic rules of reading and writing at younger ages than previously thought. Knowing this allows parents, caregivers, and educators to better teach young children the foundations of language, giving them a better start on life-long learning.

Dr. Treiman also pointed out that the findings might help educators develop a plan for identifying any potential learning disabilities early on, too. Children who have learning challenges benefit from early intervention, so identifying those challenges as early as possible could be very helpful.

Encouraging Writing Skills

Don’t worry about hosting a handwriting class with your little one. But you can definitely get started on introducing writing skills to your toddler if you would like. You may be curious to see how your toddler approaches reading and writing, if they will naturally gravitate towards a love of language, or if you should anticipate any problems.

But of course, keep in mind that kids change quite a bit from the toddler years to school-age years, too. To get started on introducing writing to your toddler:

Motor Development

Consider your toddler’s motor development. If your toddler is following typical motor development, you can check their skill development timeline to see what they should be able to accomplish by age. If your toddler is too young to hold a crayon, for example, it may not be time to start introducing words just yet.

Large Writing Implements

Provide larger crayons, markers, or pens for your toddler to grasp. A three-year-old with typical development should be able to hold and color with a regular crayon, marker, or pencil, but a younger child may benefit from a larger crayon with a more stable base. The larger design makes it easier for the toddler to hold and start to draw on paper.

Word Games

Lead your toddler in word games. There are many ways you can introduce the concept of words to your toddler. For example, you could draw a word with a corresponding picture, you could have your toddler practice writing words after you write them, or you could play «Snowman.»

Snowman is like «Hangman,» but child-appropriate. Draw lines for each letter in a word, have your toddler guess letters for the word, and each missed letter gets one part of the snowman.

Space to Learn

Give them freedom. Although it may seem tempting to try to lead your toddler into becoming a wordsmith by age 2, one of the best things you can do for your child is to simply step back and let them explore what it means to write all on their own.

They may imitate you or try to write words from their own books, but rest assured that play is the work of childhood and your little one always learns best through free play.

A Word From Verywell

As always, the single best thing you can do for your child at any age is to read together. You can read to your toddler or have them «read» to you, but either way, studies show that reading together helps all aspects of communication, language development, and future abilities.

Plus, reading is always a fun activity to do together, and it’s exciting to see research showing us that there is more development happening at even very young ages than we might have realized.

Literacy is one of the most important life skills a person can acquire, and learning to read and write is one of the biggest milestones in a child’s life.  Parents are naturally concerned with their children’s progress. However, to teach your child to read & write can be a stressful experience filled with uncertainty, misinformation, and unrealistic expectations for many mums and dads.

And as challenging as it may be for parents, no one bears the brunt of the frustration more than the child.  Difficulty reading can lead to a loss of self-esteem and a loss of interest in reading altogether.  Fortunately, there are ways for parents to be involved in the development of their child’s literacy and be instrumental in building reading and writing skills.

By age seven, your child’s reading journey should have begun, as young readers and writers.  Parents play a crucial role not only in developing their children’s literacy skills but, just as importantly, providing the right environment for learning to read and write. If you’re still unsure of your ability to help your child learn, here are 9 tips for teaching kids to read and write.

Know What Key Reading Skills To Develop

As with many educational endeavors, reading is a set of skills that must be learned and practiced before proficiency is gained.  From a parent’s perspective, knowing the individual skills that make up your seven-year-old’s reading toolbox will enable you to nurture that which needs further development and refine what your child has already accomplished.  You may very well be as enriched by your child’s journey as they are.

Although particular teaching philosophies vary, there are essentially five core skills that young children must develop as they learn to read and write:

• Phonemic awareness – The ability to recognise and manipulate the different sound components of words
• Phonics – Recognition of the sounds made by different letters and combination of letters
• Vocabulary – Understanding the meanings and definitions of individual words and how they are used in sentences
• Reading comprehension – The ability to understand the meaning of a text in different forms and of varying lengths
• Fluency – The ability to read out loud with speed and accuracy while understanding the material that is being read

You can teach these skills to your child through different exercises and activities – some of which focus on one specific skill, while others work on multiple skills.  The greatest temptation for parents is to judge or grade their child’s progress.  Do yourself (and your child) a favor and resist this urge at all costs.  Patience is essential when teaching your child to read and write.

It is also important to talk to your child’s teacher to see what your child is learning in the classroom and if they are facing any areas of difficulty. It is great to understand the way that the teacher is teaching the concepts in class so you can model the same strategies and use the same language when you are teaching your child. It can become confusing for your seven-year-old if their parents and teachers are teaching them the same concept in different ways.

As far as teaching your seven-year-old the five core reading and writing skills, here are a few skill-building ideas:

Read and recite songs and nursery rhymes

This is far more than a fun activity done in classrooms across the globe; it is a proven method for building phonemic awareness. The rhythmic structure of songs and nursery rhymes emphasizes sounds and syllables in words, which lays a strong foundation for developing literacy. Using Nursery rhymes at reading time are also fantastic for practicing tricky words. Make sure that you sure proper sounding out of words when you read words to your child

Basic decoding of words

Simple words consisting of three distinct letter sounds (typically a consonant-vowel-consonant structure like “cat” and “hop”) are basic building blocks upon which more advanced reading can be built. Letter sounds can be practiced between you and your child. Writing words on cards and having your child recite each sound while looking at a card is a good way to develop decoding and phonics skills.

Sight words and high-frequency words

Sight words are slightly complex words that cannot be easily decoded or sounded out but are part of a child’s everyday vocabulary (for example, “who” and “why”). High-frequency words are those that are often encountered in reading and conversation.

Young readers typically memorize these words, and you would likely be surprised by how many of these words your young child already knows (assuming that there are books that you regularly read together).  Simply reading from the book or read words with your child will expose your child to the sight and high-frequency words they will need to know.

Reading to your child sets an example

The benefits of reading to your young child are great, and they are many. One overlooked benefit is that by reading to your child, you are demonstrating to them what an advanced and fluent reader sounds like and setting an example for what they should aspire to accomplish with practice.

(Source:  Reading Eggs)

Make Learning Fun By Playing Reading And Writing Games

Seven-year-olds are likely in Year 1 or Year 2 of primary school and have just begun their reading and writing journey.  They are also becoming more aware of the world around them and may be more curious about the things they see and hear.  As a parent, you can channel their natural curiosity and playfulness into fun and interesting ways to develop their reading and writing skills.

One way to do this is to turn writing and reading lessons into games and activities.  Not only will your child be more engaged in the learning process as a willing and enthusiastic participant, but both you and your child will enjoy quality time together.  Your child’s reading and writing skills will improve right before your very eyes, and without any of the pressure or stress sometimes associated with rigid, traditional teaching methods.

Here are a few ideas for developing reading and writing skills through games and activities for your seven-year-old:

• Word games – Spotting words within words (like “arm” within “farm” and “ape” within “paper”) is an entertaining way to develop reading skills while boosting your child’s vocabulary. Another fun language arts activity is making up alternate words or phrases for everyday things, like “smoketube” for “chimney.”
• Phonics games – Cutting up letters and having your child spell words with them (from their weekly spelling list perhaps) is a fun way to engage them in spelling exercises, which will boost their reading skills. Word scrambles and word searches are other phonics games that make reading fun.

You and your child can even take things up another level by making up your word scrambles and word searches, challenging each other to solve the other’s puzzles.

Board games such as Scrabble and Bananagrams can be fun ways to learn sight words.

• Writing games – Have your child write words on index cards, use them to play charades, or use duplicate sets of word cards to play a memory game where your child flips over two cards at a time, earning a point for each matching set. To make things more interesting, let your child choose a theme or category for the word cards such as sports, animals, or green things.
• Games on the go – Turn routine errands into teaching and learning opportunities. The next time you drive to the supermarket or the mall, have them serve as your little navigator by reading road signs, billboards, and street addresses as you head to your destination.  You can turn these reading exercises into games by hunting for specific letters or words.

(Source:  Oxford University Press)

Improving handwriting and other fun writing tasks can assist with making a fun environment.

Disguise Writing Exercises As Grown-Up Activities

If there is one universal behavior among all young children, it is imitating parents and authority figures.  Whether it is talking on the phone, cooking a meal, or working on a computer, children from a very young age mimic what they see grown-ups doing.  Converting this natural behavior into a learning vehicle can be a useful strategy for encouraging & teaching kids such as your own. Children learn best through play & examples.

Taking daily routine writing activities and downsizing them to a seven-year-old’s level can engage your child and sharpen their writing skills without even realizing that they are being taught.  Writing exercises disguised as “grown-up” activities can encourage your child to develop the processes needed to put pen to paper and articulate thoughts into written words.

Here are some examples of fun exercises that can encourage your seven-year-old to write:

• Mimicking your daily activities – Whether it is writing down a shopping or to-do list or texting a quick note to a grandparent, several routine tasks can be writing activities for your seven-year-old to mimic. Have your child “help” you by jotting down a few things for you, leaving a note for someone, or even writing a card or letter to a friend or family member.

Additionally, incorporating writing into playtime can add a bit of realism to your child’s make-believe adventures. Are you playing doctor?  Have your child write out a diagnosis or a prescription. Are you play-shopping?  Have them write out a receipt or a sales order. Are you playing school?  Let them give assignments and grade papers for a change.

Not only will these activities encourage your child to write and have fun doing it, but they will also observe firsthand just how important writing skills are in doing basic, everyday tasks.

• Have writing tools readily available – You never know when inspiration may strike, so it would be wise to have writing supplies available for your child to grab quickly. Items like crayons, markers, pencils, and paper, should be easily accessible so that when the urge or need to write arises, time will not be spent hunting around the house for something to write with (as adults are sometimes prone to do).
• Set aside time for family writing – Many families designate a special time of day just for reading. This will assist in developing essential reading skills. Extending this practice to include writing with your seven-year-old can make a big difference in developing their writing skills. Try to set aside time at least once a week, for a minimum of 15 minutes, to write things like journal entries, short stories, and letters with your child.

A fun writing project to take on with your child is to collaborate on making a simple book together, complete with illustrations and a cover.  Not only will you see an improvement in your child’s writing skills, but upon completion, you will have a wonderful keepsake documenting their development as a young writer.

Another great activity is to encourage your child to write letters and/or birthday cards to important people in their lives. They can write birthday cards to their family and friends. They can also write thank you letters to their teachers and/or coaches.

(Source:  Public Broadcasting Service)

Work With Your Child To Develop Motor Skills For Writing

In addition to the mental aspect of writing, the physical skills needed to put pen (or crayon) to paper cannot be overlooked.  Writing legibly requires fine motor skills that no one is born with. Like so many physical tasks that adults take for granted, proper techniques must be learned, and then they must be practiced until they become second nature.

For writing, basic skills like how to hold a pencil, write in a straight line, and insert spaces between words, can all be learned and practiced at home with a bit of guidance and supervision.

Here are some items and practices that can help your seven-year-old to improve their writing:

• Properly sized writing instruments – A seven-year-old’s hands are still quite small, so it is important to size the writing instrument they will be using properly, whether it be a pencil, a marker, or a crayon. Scaling these items to their hand size will help them develop the fine motor skills they will need for writing legibly as they get older.
• Textured paper and raised lines – Eventually, a child’s skill will develop to the point where their writing is neat, legible, and in a straight line. To help children get there, textured paper will allow them to “feel” the letters as they are being written.  It also helps to reinforce the proper writing movements – top to bottom and left to right.

 Check out our online platform for more strategies to help your child develop fine motor and handwriting skills. You’ll also find printable supplementary material there too! The first 30 days are free, so you can get the first few lessons free!

Similarly, paper with raised lines alerts the child when the pencil tip bumps against them, thereby keeping letters to a uniform size.  Another effective method is to use color-coded lines.  For example, sky-grass-dirt letters. Sky letters are for tall letters like “b”, grass letters for small letters like “a”, and dirt letters for letters with a tail like “y”.

• Writing without pencil and paper – Sometimes, not having to worry about writing in a straight line or properly holding a pencil will allow a child to focus on what is important at a young age – knowing how to write letters of the alphabet and combine them to form words.

Something as simple as using their pointer finger to write words in the sand or on a fogged-up window can make writing fun and meaningful for a child 

(Source:  Understood for All).

Stress The Importance Of Repetition And Frequency

A young reader’s mind is still developing, and the process of reading can be a bit overwhelming.  There are a few writing nuances, such as repetition and frequency, that can help your child learn by reading through books in a meaningful way.

The repetition of words (especially those with similar constructs) and letter groupings will eventually lead to your child memorizing them and reciting them on sight.  High-frequency words may not necessarily be easy to sound out or decode, but by being exposed to these words so often, children memorize them in the same way that they recognize sight words without thinking.

Word repetitions and high-frequency words present a lower cognitive load for young readers, allowing them to progress through a book at a comfortable pace, understanding the meaning of words encountered, and just as importantly, being engaged with the plot or subject matter.

(Source:  Touch-type Read & Spell)

Encourage Your Child To Use Phonics To Decode Words

When teaching your child to read and write, it may be helpful to look at the process of literacy through their young eyes.  In many ways, the exercise of reading for a seven-year-old is a series of problems where one must be solved to move on to the next.

In other words, your child is reading one word at a time, pausing at the difficult ones, and likely losing the overall meaning of the words due to the amount of effort expended.  One of your responsibilities when reading with your child is to ensure that the flow is maintained so that the entertainment aspect of reading is not lost.  A disinterested child will not be a willing learner.

You can encourage your child to become a reading problem-solver by providing them with a few rules they can follow to figure things out independently:

• No guessing at words – Discourage guessing and urge your child to look at all the letters in a word and not just the first few letters.
• Reinforce command of the alphabet – Although by the age of seven a child should be familiar with the letters of the alphabet, it may be good practice to reinforce this knowledge through the use of magnetic letters on the refrigerator or a dry-erase or chalkboard on which your child can practice.
• Master familiar words and letter groupings – Certain words and letter groupings become so familiar with frequent exposure that young children simply memorise them and recognise them on sight. Not only can these familiar words and letters be used to build confidence in your seven-year-old, but they can also serve as important building blocks for reading books and longer texts.

(Source:  Reading Rockets)

Know Reading Milestones And Help Your Child Reach Them

Even though children learn at different paces, there are certain milestones that young readers and writers are expected to reach at certain ages or grade levels.  In the case of seven-year-olds, they are at the age when they are beginning to read to learn new things while gaining greater speed, accuracy, and fluency in their reading ability.

As the parent of a seven-year-old reader, it is important to know what these milestones are so that you can assess the progress that your child has made thus far, what areas your child may need to work on, and what achievements lie ahead.  In other words, milestones serve as a roadmap of sorts, showing you where your child started, where they have been, and where they are headed.

Here are some of the milestones you should be looking for in your seven-year-old reader:

• Reading strategies – Your young reader should have the rough workings of a framework by which they approach reading and the course of action they take when they encounter something they do not understand. They will likely be reading longer and more complex texts at this age.
• Reading comprehension – Seven-year-old readers have increased reading comprehension levels and can predict outcomes as they read. They can justify conclusions they draw by referencing back to the text they have read. Children at this young age can even skim through the text to find answers to specific questions.
• Fluency and visual literacy – Many children in this age group understand rules governing punctuation and can now read with expression. They can also interpret basic maps, graphs, and tables. The materials they read now serve as models or templates upon which they base their writing.

As you observe your child’s developing reading skills, you may recognize that their vocabulary is expanding, and their phonemic awareness is becoming more advanced.  But they are still young readers and will need your guidance and help from time to time.

Here are some ways you can provide guidance and assistance to your seven-year-old:

• Correcting mistakes – Encourage your child to sound out difficult words and offer gentle corrections that steer them toward the answer rather than providing the answer outright. Encourage your child to look beyond the first few letters as young readers are prone to guess words from the first two letters. Offer clues as a fun yet challenging way to have them work out a solution on their own.
• Choose skill-appropriate books – As a general rule, children should read at a 95% accuracy rate (they are fluent but still challenged). As a parent, you must provide your child books appropriate for their reading level; material that is too difficult for them to read independently should be read to them.

(Source:  Kidspot)

Establish And Nurture Your Child’s Reading Routine

An important part of your child’s development as a young reader and writer is building and reinforcing good habits and establishing a daily routine that includes reading.  In the same way that activities like getting dressed, brushing their teeth, going to school, and getting ready for bed are part of a seven-year-old’s daily schedule, setting aside a designated time every day for reading will not only improve your child’s reading skills but also cultivate their passion for reading on a much larger scale.

The key is to establish a daily routine for reading with your child.  The routine itself should evolve with your child’s reading ability.  In the beginning, you may be doing all the reading, pointing out the words with your finger as you read them so that your child can follow along.  As your child learns letters, they may recognize certain words on sight and read them out loud.

Storytime is vital to a child’s reading development, and this is particularly true for your seven-year-old.  As your child’s skill improves, they will assume more responsibility for reading, and your role will shift to helping them with difficult words as needed.  Find out what subjects or genres interest them most and provide them with material to keep them engaged.

Accessibility is another important aspect that should not be overlooked.  Place books and other reading materials where your seven-year-old can access them, such as in the living room, the playroom, the bathroom, and even in your car.

(Source:  Petit Early Learning Journey)

Create A Reading-Friendly Environment At Home

A common theme that can be found in many modern workplaces is creating an empowering environment where like-minded people are placed in positions to succeed.  This same approach can be utilized at home to put your young reader in the best position to thrive from a literacy standpoint.  With a little mindfulness on your part, you can create a home environment that nurtures your child’s developing reading skills in every room.

By making a conscious effort to create a reader-friendly home environment, you will let your child know that reading is an important part of everyday life.  And since seven-year-olds are highly impressionable and often imitate their parents, reading in front of them will show them that reading is a valuable skill that grown-ups use all the time.

Recognize that books are not the only materials that can foster a love for reading in a child.  Things like magazines, comics, newspapers, and even cereal boxes can give rise to a meaningful reading session with your child.  Encourage your child to be curious about the things you read together and invite discussion.

Placing labels on everyday household items and having magnetic letters on the refrigerator door provide visual cues that create a sensory-rich environment for your seven-year-old to sharpen their developing reading skills. This is also a great tip for older children around the ages of 10-12 years old.

Conclusion

Literacy may be the most essential skill that a child can learn, so, understandably, parents are eager for their children to begin reading and writing at an early age.  Formal schooling will assist teach your child with school’s reading lesson plans & formalized writing lessons, but it is very easy for certain students to get left behind.

Particularly for young readers like seven-year-olds, creating the right environment to foster a passion for reading is just as important as teaching the specific skills themselves. Older children who have not learned basic literacy skills really do struggle as grades increase so it is best to teach your child to read and write as early as possible.

Whether it is finding ways to make learning more entertaining and rewarding, building your child’s enthusiasm for reading and writing, or recognizing progress and instilling confidence in your young reader, you can have a dramatic and positive impact on your seven-year-old’s reading and writing ability.