Handwriting is a skill that cannot be ignored. In the following lines, we are going to tell you about the benefits that this type of writing brings to the development of children.
We live in the digital age, where we use the keyboard of an electronic device almost every day to search the Internet, write a document, fill out a form, etc. In short, write. Typing has become an essential activity in today’s daily life, but that doesn’t mean we can forget about handwriting.
Children today, like those of past generations, need to learn the technique of handwriting, because it is a skill that brings countless benefits to the development of the child. Keep reading and find out what these benefits are!
“Writing is the painting of the voice. »
-Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire-
4 Benefits of Handwriting for Kids
The action of tracing letters on paper involves a multitude of skills and learning which take place unconsciously and which are beneficial for integral development. Here is a list of some of the most important benefits of handwriting.
1. Handwriting promotes the acquisition of motor skills
To be able to write correctly by hand, it is necessary to have a series of motor skills, such as the following:
- Firm hold of the pencil.
- hand-eye coordination.
- Control of straight and curved lines.
The acquisition of these skills promote the development of fine motor skillsthat is, the ability to perform small, coordinated and precise movements.
2. It improves concentration
Another big advantage of handwriting is that it requires a high level of concentration. Thus, when children take a paper and a pencil to write, they are forced to pay close attention to the task, avoiding faults spelling, writing and tracing letters.
3. It strengthens memory capacity
According to a study recently published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology , when children and young people write by hand, they show more brain activity than when they write on a keyboard. This type of writing helps them retain and recall information more easilyso that the memory capacity is enhanced.
4. Handwriting makes it easier to learn to read
Writing and reading are closely linked. So much so that learning and perfecting one of these skills benefits the development of the other.
When they write by hand, children must think about each of the spellings they wish to reproduce and how to perform the corresponding manual gesture. Thus, little by little and in a natural way, the little ones become familiar with the letters of the alphabet, which means that they manage to read them more and more quickly and efficiently.
On the future of handwriting…
It is undeniable that new technologies are revolutionizing teaching. Indeed, for years, digital competence has been one of the key skills of the school curriculum, which consists in teaching children, from the first years of schooling, to appropriately understand information and communication technologies.
One of the skills that children must acquire at school is to know how to use a computer and therefore to know how to write on it with agility. But, to achieve this goal, they must first learn to write by hand and, once they have acquired enough practice to trace the letters with ease, they will enter the world of typing.
Thus, as Dr. Berninger asserts, it is ” to teach children to be hybrid writers” so that they can meet the demands of present and future society.
It is clear that times have changed. Technological advances mean that we write less and less by handbut that doesn’t mean it’s a skill that should go away or be completely replaced.
Handwriting is a human skill that cannot be lost. To avoid this, it is necessary toteach this type of writing to children from early childhood and encourage its daily use.