OT Activity of the Day!
Vertical Drawing
Target Age Range: 18 months and up!
Ask any OT and they will tell you that a great way to build those early foundational writing skills is to draw on a vertical surface. This is a great way to build overall stability (especially if kneeling-core strength!), shoulder stability, crossing the midline (an important skill in hand dominance), and so much more.
If you have a chalk board, or easel, at your house, great, you can use that.
Don’t have a chalkboard? You can always get a giant roll of paper and, using painter’s tape, tape the paper to the wall and have your child color with crayons or markers.
You can also color on easy to reach windows with window crayons or use a paint brush and water on the outside of your house (tell your kids you’re painting the house, or cleaning it, or whatever would motivate them), or take the paint brush and use it with shaving cream in the tub.
Tub crayons are also a great way to work on coloring on a vertical surface-and so easy to clean!
Addition benefits to drawing on a vertical surface:
better wrist extension
practicing using a functional grip on the writing tool
better visual attention
Enjoy!