Pencil Grip

Get him fat pencils.
Or buy the triangular grips that slide onto the pencils.
Also, try a very short pencil stub.
A small (short) thick pencil is ideal.

If he's at a good preschool he should be doing all kinds of things that improve his fine motor (pencil gripping) skills. Beading, lacing, stamping, pegs & blocks, play doh/clay, etc. All of these things build muscles and coordination in his hands.
In K he will start with fat pencils, many kids don't start using skinny pencils until first grade. At that point if he's still struggling you can buy him some of those rubber pencil grips or "pillows" as my kids called them. They sell them pretty much anywhere that sells office/school supplies.
But if he's only in preschool you have a LOT of time. I'm really shocked a preschool teacher would be so concerned over something that's more of a K/1 skill. Is this an accredited preschool or more of a daycare?

Fine motor skills comes along by doing a lot of different motions with your hands.
Playdough
finger paints
cutting shapes out of construction paper with safety scissors
lacing cards
coloring
etc
His grip will improve over time but he needs to work all the muscles in his hands.

I wouldn't worry terribly about correct pencil grip at this age, but there are a lot of things that you could do to exercise his hand strength that will help him with developing a correct pencil grip and good handwriting later.

Pencil and paper tasks are not the best way to encourage good pencil grip. Rather, focus on hand, finger and whole body exercises to promote strength and stability. When children are writing, many muscles are at work either stabilizing the body or controlling the skilled movement of the hand. Coordinated children control their pencils better and kids with physical stamina have more endurance for seated tasks that require sustained attention. Proximal stability ( strong trunk and shoulder muscles) is essential to perform precise fine motor tasks.
In addition to activities to strength then whole body, such as Wheelbarrow walking, pulling a wagon, playing overhead catch, you can work specifically on hand strength.

Anytime a child is sitting in a chair it should be one in which they are able to sit with their hips, knees an ankles bent at a 90 degree angle. If their bodies are wiggly or feet can't reach the floor they have no base of support and their work will be wiggly too.

Try easy board games, lacing cards, finger paint, beading crafts. Painting on an easel, Light-Brite, Tinker toys...

Chalk is one of the best tools for little hands~ allowing children to "feel" what they are drawing with greater sensory feedback.

Smaller coloring tools are best. Avoid large marker or crayons and larger sticks on sidewalk chalk. Skinnier, school chalk is better, as are regular crayons that are broken, crayon "rocks", small golf pencils.

The concern over pencil grip in small children is that once it is established it is not easy to change. An incorrect pencil grip can make the hand tired, which causes kids to be less willing to practice their writing skills. But immature pencil grip is not the same as poor pencil grip. Kids should move through developmental stages before they are ready for handwriting. At 3 your child should be leaving the digital pronate grasp and moving toward the four point grasp.

I would find out what kind of tools your child's school uses to develop whole body and hend strength and not worry too specifically about a skill that he has a couple of years to perfect. At his age he should not be ready for handwriting or sustained writing/drawing seated work.

Good luck!

Playing with tougher playdough making shapes/squeezing it, use laces/yarn and pull beads through-using larger beads first and the smaller ones (make patterns with the colors), play with clothes pins making sure he uses the thumb on one side and one/two fingers on the other (not whole hand/fist)-attach clothes pins to ice cream bucket or cardboard. I would also put a dot on my son's hand (in the web) to visually remind him that the pencil (thicker one-in the beginning) covers the dot.

Your child is in preschool. Don't get crazy.
The more he colors and writes, the better at it he will become.
A lot of his fine motor is still developing. The teachers are suggesting that you work with him but it does not mean he is slow or behind other children.
Just make writing and coloring fun.
If you remember, we didn't do these tasks until we were in about 1st grade. Our children are doing more at an earlier age. School are demanding more of them at earlier ages.
Sounds like he just needs a bit of practice. There are a lot of kids even in Kindergarten that require help with holding a pencil.
Don't put too much pressure on him and just make it fun, otherwise he will get frustrated and won't want to do it any longer.
Practice makes perfect. Encourage him every time he writes something. The comfort of the pencil is important too. Not every single person in the world holds their pencil in the exact manner either. ;)

He will do fine, Mom
You're a great Mom to want to help him with this, but I m sure he is going to develop and master this task in the right time for him.

P.

Can't help you on the barbarian egg, but wishing you the best in your quest :)

The one (boring) suggestion I have is those huge triangular pencil/crayons. My son has every fine-motor challenge in the book, and all through preschool/kindergarten, people recommended those to us about 5 times a day.

The funny thing is, now that my son is wrapping up second grade, people just don't care about his handwriting anymore. In preschool/kindergarten, kids are surrounded by people whose job it is to teach pencil grip and the like. As soon as they move beyond that, it's like, "Oh, meh, messy handwriting. Good thing he can type." The WORLD doesn't care; preschoool/K teachers do.

I bought my daughter the fat pencils, this fixed her grip. They are only .39.

Isn't he like only three? Don't worry about it now. Let him just do it his way.

How old is he? If he's still in preschool I wouldn't worry about it too much. Our son had problems with it in kindergarten and 1st grade so his teachers suggested those oversize pencils, which are easier to grip. I think he used them until 2nd grade. They are designed especially for kids who are younger and/or have problems gripping a regular pencil. I think they even have a name for them, but I don't remember and to me they are just the "big pencils." Crayons come in big sizes too, for small fingers and kids still working on their fine motor skills.

ish. if he's working on writing, he's working on his pencil grip. both will improve with time and practice. i'm a little surprised that pre-school is already getting antsy about this. get him some fat pencils, and encourage lots of writing without a lot of pressure.
:) khairete
S. (giggling at mira's barbarian egg)

Not sure about the egg - we used the cylindrical grips that slide onto the pencil and there's only one way to really hold them, but our son wasn't using the grip your son is. He used 3 fingers and his thumb, but the end of the pencil (the eraser end) was still aimed upwards. I don't know if your child is there yet.

I'd check in a teacher store and maybe talk to an OT for one or two appointments just to get a handle on things, how "impaired" he is, and how much change will be needed. I do agree with you and the teacher that early intervention is better.

I know that there's less emphasis on handwriting these days, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Yes, kids will use computers more than ever before, but I think they need good dexterity and fine motor skills for a whole lot of things, so it's wise to get some advice from people who actually work in this field!

I wouldn't worry about it too much in preschool, especially with a crayon that is so much shorter than a pencil. For pencils, you can still buy rubber grips that slide onto them (same as what I used in the 80s). Most educational supply stores have them. They come in various shapes but my son prefers the triangular one. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias...

Otherwise, just generally strengthening his fine motor skills will help. Work on cutting and playing games with pegs or small pieces.

Hi There, I am a Pediatric Occupational Therapist and I am appalled that a pre-school teacher would be telling you to work on his "pencil grip" and not give you developmentally appropriate tips for doing so. If I recall from other posts, your child is 3 years old? The grasp you describe is typical for toddlers... they then progress to holding the writing implement with all of their fingers but with the implement between the thumb and tips of the other fingers, then as their muscles develop and coordination becomes more refined, they will be able to tuck the little fingers into their hand, creating more fluid writing (dynamic tripod grasp) around kindergarten. Children at his age should not even be holding pencils... their hands are not developmentally ready to properly hold a pencil. They should start by using short, fat crayons and markers etc. this forces them to increase the web space between the thumb and other fingers. Other ways to promote hand and arm strength and proper positioning to hold a pencil is to work at an incline ie. putting stickers on paper or painting at an easel. You can play games such as use tongs to pick up small items or use a bulb syringe or a baster and squeeze to blow cotton balls across a table. Stick toothpicks into playdough. Large chalk etc. All of these activities will strengthen the small muscles of the hand. The pencil grasps you speak are still available... and you can order them through therapy or educational catalogs, but please don't use them on a pre-schooler.... that would be totally inappropriate for his age. And, last but not least, the worst thing you can do for a pre-school child who is not using a tripod grasp on a pencil is to try to make him hold a pencil! His hands aren't ready and he will continue to revert to a more comfortable (age appropriate) grasp and that may lead to bad grasp habits down the road, which will make writing more difficult. At this age, stick to large crayons and markers to color and just do a lot of playing with manipulatives, play dough etc.! It will help to place the writing utensil in the webspace (resting between thumb and fingers) of his hands and have him practice, but use short stubby chalk or crayons (even broken pieces). And work at an incline whenever possible- if you don't have an easel, tape paper to the wall!). Good Luck!

My son had that same problem. He could not hold it right,. I bought pencil grips, rubber things you put on the pencils, from a teacher store and they helped a bit. By the time he was in first grade though, he figured it out. He did not like the pencil grips.

I have seen similar things at Target and office supply stores. Some are triangular and some are like a bulb in the middle of the gripper.

If he's not in kindergarten or first grade I wouldn't worry about it too much. Simply show him how to hold it the way you want him to hold it. But kids under Kindergarten age sometimes haven't developed that grip yet. He may get it by the time school starts next fall.

This worked with my son and is a simple fix: take a crunched up piece of tissue and have him grip it with his ring finger and pinky. This leaves his thumb, index & middle finger free for the proper pencil grip.

T. Y
SAHM of 5
(13, 12, 6, 4 & 2)