4 Foundational Elements Needed for Pencil Grip Preparation and Achievement

This article provides information on how kids can build four foundational elements needed for better pencil grip. Affiliate links are included for your convenience. Integrated Learning Strategies (ILS) is a learning and academic center. As a reminder, ILS is not a health care provider and none of our materials or services provide a diagnosis or treatment of a specific condition or learning challenge you may see in your child or student. If you seek a diagnosis or treatment for your child or student, please contact a trained professional who can provide an evaluation of the child.

In today’s world, we are surrounded by devices. For good or for bad, technology and electronic devices are here to stay. There are many learning and educational elements we can achieve by getting our kids involved in technology. However, during the early years, it’s important to limit a child’s usage because of other developmental delays that could happen when there is too much screen time.

One area where a child may fall behind is in hand strength and pencil grasp development. If children spend too much time swiping and not enough play time advancing their motor skills and hand strength, a child may have trouble with the following:

• Understanding how to hold a pencil
• Pressure to apply when writing
• Developing hand strength to hold a pencil
• Deciding which hand will be the dominant hand
• Strengthening the muscles in the core, shoulders, arms and wrists for handwriting support
• Correct usage of letter directionality, spacing and tracking

Research studies are even showing how millennials have surprisingly less hand strength and hand grip than older generations.

Pencil Grip Development Stages

Many people don’t always realize handwriting and pencil grip develop in stages. As the child grows and develops so does their ability to use and manipulate a writing device more efficiently. If a child lacks the hand strength and hand-eye coordination needed for pencil grip, they may show signs of immature handwriting skills that would be age-appropriate.

The first stage begins when children are just babies. They start to grasp and hold objects, which is the beginning of their journey toward pencil grip development. Each stage of pencil grip development are as follows:

• Palmar Grasp Development (3-6 months)
• Pincer Grasp Development (8-10 months)
• Palmar Supinate Grasp Development (10-15 months)
• Digital Pronate Grip Development (2-3 years)
• 4 Finger Grip Development (3-4 years)
• Static Tripod Grip Development (5-6 years)
• Quadrapod Grip Development (5-6 years)

For more on each stage of pencil grip development, click here.

How can a Child Improve Pencil Grip?

There are many ways to help your child or students to fine tune their pencil grip skills. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking you must go straight to fine motor activities. Pencil grip development begins with strengthening and improving motor skills and core strength.

Core Strength and Gross Motor

Kids were meant to be part of unstructured play, which is also important for building the core and motor skills. Even children who participate in sports and organized programs need time to focus their energy on activities that require them to use different muscles of the body. To prepare kids for pencil grip development, they must build muscle in the core, shoulders, arms, elbows and wrists. Motor stability allows kids to hold a pencil with ease while also supplementing them with the motor skills needed to apply the right amount of pressure when using writing devices. Children who work on vertical surfaces are more likely to be prepared for pencil grip because they target all of the foundational elements required for supporting handwriting skills.

When getting kids involved in activities that strengthen these areas of development for better pencil grip preparation, you may be thinking of lifting weights or hitting the gym. However, strength training for kids looks a lot different than it does for adults. Children need to:

• Swing on monkey bars
• Balance on tree stumps
• Jump off playgrounds
• Roll down hills
• Climb trees
• Activities using vertical spaces

Believe it or not, all these skills help children strengthen the following areas for pencil grip development and handwriting:

• Back
• Torso
• Shoulders
• Arms
• Elbows
• Wrists

Hand Strength

When you have strengthened the foundation of a child’s motor development and core stability, you can channel your focus on hand strength. Without properly developed hand strength, the child won’t be able to hold a pencil or apply the right amount of pressure as they write. You may also notice the child tires easily and tries to switch hands when writing, which can cause mixed dominance.

Kids also need better hand strength for functional skills like the following:

• Buttoning a shirt
• Tying a shoe
• Brushing their teeth
• Opening doors

Just like above, when helping kids strengthen the hands, encourage unstructured play. Children can play with several of the following objects to improve hand strength:

• Putty
• Play dough
• Dig in the sand
• Squeeze foam balls
• Grip bike handles
• Open jars

Fine Motor Skills

While your child or students are working to improve their core muscles and hand strength, you can also put more of a focus on fine motor activities. Fine motor skills involve the small muscles of the body that work together with the brain and central nervous system. When children develop fine motor skills over time, they are better prepared to do the following:

• Hold eating utensils
• Use writing devices
• Get dressed
• Cut with scissors
• Open snack bags

Children with underdeveloped fine motor skills may have trouble with the following:

• Picking up objects
• Cutting with scissors
• Clapping in a rhythmic pattern
• Too light or too tight of pencil grip
• Shakes out their hands when writing

To improve a child’s fine motor, you can get kids participating in many of these types of activities:

• Stringing noodles
• Cutting play dough with scissors
• Use tweezers or clothes pins
• Paint with fingers
• Get them cooking and baking with the utensils like tongs, whisks, ladles and spoons

Pencil Grippers and Devices

If you’ve worked to strengthen these areas of development to help your child or students improve their pencil grip, you can also add an extra element. There are many pencil grip toys and manipulatives that can help kids further when it comes to fine tuning their pencil grip skills. This is especially important if kids tend to work on devices for long periods of time. In fact, we recommend when working on a device, the child use a stylus like the one below to prevent swiping and get kids used to holding a writing device. If a child continues to have trouble with pencil grip, handwriting and hand strength, check to see if a retained Primitive Reflex is holding back their progress.

A few pencil grippers or pencil grip manipulatives that may be helpful include the following:

• Write Right Stylus for devices
• Grip Support Writing Tool
• Writing Aid Grip Trainer
• Grip Sorting Game

For a few more ideas to support fine motor and hand strength, click here. To improve handwriting development and impulse control, register for our free 5-Day Rewiring the Brain Email course below.

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Integrated Learning Strategies is a Utah-based center dedicated to helping mainstream children and children with learning challenges achieve academic success. Our services provide kids with non-traditional tutoring programs within the Davis County, Kaysville, Layton, Syracuse, Farmington, and Centerville areas. Areas to find Integrated Learning Strategies include: Reading tutors in Kaysville, Math tutors in Kaysville, Common Core Tutors in Kaysville, Tutors in Utah, Utah Tutoring Programs