Follow Farmer Brown along a path, sharpen the zigzag edges of a saw, lace up high boots---and develop the fine-motor competence necessary for good penmanship! Promoting stylus skills through everyday practice, 16 sequential levels train kids in forming the rings, spirals, zigzags, straight lines, and curves required in writing letters and numerals. Includes certificates and instructor's guide. Ages 4 to 8. 192 reproducible pages, spiralbound softcover from The Providence Project.

“Do you remember these?” I asked my son, Nigel. I was holding open a copy of ReadyWriter and reminiscing.

“Oh, yes,” he answered.

Nigel, our youngest, is in his teens now, but it doesn’t seem so long ago that he was learning how to gain control of a pencil. As a child, he didn’t do as much sitting and coloring as his sisters did. Coloring a picture with crayons is a fun activity that is supposed to help preschoolers prepare for later penmanship lessons, with the goal being “staying in the lines.” But for some 4-year-old boys, simply “staying in a seat” is the goal.

ReadyWriter is especially helpful for children who haven’t done much coloring. It isn’t a coloring book, but it does supply the important step of developing fine-motor control that should come before tracing letters on a page.

ReadyWriter is charming. First, the child is read aloud a “short and sweet” story that introduces the picture-activity page. Then he uses his pencil to do the activity: follow the path of a hopping frog, lace up the high boots, trace the spiral on each lollipop, sharpen the zigzag edges of a saw, draw the missing straight lines of a rabbit cage. Rings, spirals, zigzags, straight lines, and curves are motions that will be required when writing letters and numerals.

By advancing through the 16 levels of these clever activities, Nigel built competence. The following year his penmanship attempts took effort, but they were not a struggle.

I recommend short lessons for young children, even if some of these pages are left incomplete. Five to eight minutes of attentive work daily accomplishes more than you might expect. Children naturally get faster as skill increases. Their powers of attention (and ability to sit still) develop over time, too. For ages 4 to 8.

ReadyWriter would also be a big help to students aged 6 to 8 who struggle with the dexterous requirements of penmanship. Includes achievement certificates for mastery of each level. 196 reproducible pages, spiralbound softcover from The Providence Project.

There are other products that help your children develop the basic skills necessary for future tasks. For memorizing the order of the books of the Bible, SanctiFinder’s quick drills make searching for a Bible verse fumble-free. AlphaBetter helps your child become a whiz at looking things up alphabetically. Both are for grades 3 and up.

—Karen

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