Flour Hands
Pour flour (or something like flour, for example a safe-to-use baby powder, sand, etc) onto a large baking tray (or another flat surface that would be easy to clean) Trace a letter or word into the flour. Be sure to ask your child to watch you as you do this. Then, ask them to trace the same letter/word that you just did. If needed, guide your little one’s hand to help them trace. Repeat this process for at least ten to twenty letters and/or words. Include some letters/words that your little one already knows, as well as some that they are on the cusp of learning, so that they feel a mix of challenge and accomplishment throughout the activity.The benefits of this: Your child will build their fine motor skills and small hand muscles by practicing tracing, which will help them get ready to use writing utensils in the future. Also, they’ll be building their letter knowledge and/or vocabulary.Doing this activity with letters only will make it easier, whereas tracing words will make things more difficult. You can also choose to trace both words and letters. Choose the appropriate amount of letters and words for your child’s readiness level. If you’re tracing letters, using capital letters can be easier than using lowercase letters, because uppercase letters are often easier to seperate (ex. A vs B) than lowercase letters (ex. a vs b).If you’re using whole words, the sky is the limit when it comes to how hard you can make this activity because you can choose how complex the words you trace will be. More complex/unfamiliar words may be harder to trace. Keeping your version of the letter/word before your little one traces their version can make things easier. Erasing your version before they trace theirs will force them to have to recall your version without a guide, this can make things a lot more difficult.