How to Hold a Crayon

As children move from toddlerhood into school age, the way they interact with writing and drawing materials changes.  Children move from a fisted grip on a crayon or marker to using  three fingers (or, for a little while, four) at the tip. 

Children go from using their whole arm to control their coloring to using their wrist and fingers to draw.

And children go from scribbling back and forth or in swirls, to being able to form a more controlled circle and then straight lines.  

As we support children in growing toward the goal of more fine motor control, there are a few things we focus on.  First is grip.  We have been learning a song that helps children remember how to hold a crayon properly: 

Your thumb is bent.  Pointer points to the tip. Tall Man uses his side.  
I tuck my last two fingers in and take them for a ride.  

Here is a video featuring this song in case your child would like a reminder and you would like to sing it at home as your child gets ready to color or draw.

We also teach children to use their non-dominant hand to hold the paper.  This is the "helping hand."  Securing the paper helps the children have success as they work on forming circles and lines.  

Circles are the first goal and most children master this in a strong way while they are three years-old  Students should begin to draw strong circles with good closure, meaning that the line comes back to the starting place closely.  Some children overshoot. Or we may see a line that began as a circle become a swirl or a scribble as children get tired.  

You will see many circles on the clipboards in our classroom.  As children demonstrate mastery, they are offered new challenges.  Filling the page.  Or changing colors and size.  Changing colors allows the children to have more practice at establishing a good grip.  

The Thanksgiving break would be a great time to make sure you have coloring materials accessible for children!  Try drawing circles together at home.  For an added challenge, switch colors or color each circle in.  

Tip: You may have noticed that at school we have short markers and crayons.  This helps children avoid using a fist to hold the drawing tool.  If your child is using a fist at home, try breaking the crayons in half.