Writing centers in preschool are a great way to encourage writing, doodling, and drawing. By supplying children with the necessary tools to facilitate writing education, toddlers will engage themselves in all types of creative learning activities. Supporting self-expression, exploring imagination, and working on the use of fine motor skills, there are many benefits of having a writing center in a preschool classroom.
A good writing center must, of course, be furnished with a sturdy desk or table and a chair or chairs. From there, keeping the center organized will allow children to discover and learn by experimenting with different writing tools and mediums. Stackable storage bins, file folders, and desktop trays are a wonderful way to keep supplies in order and have them readily available for use. Finally, put together a group of all items that will promote writing, drawing, and creativity. To get started, there are five must haves for every preschool writing center.
5 Must-Haves for a Preschool Writing Center
1. Dry Erase Boards or Chalkboards
Whether on an easel or a wall for group use, or personal sized for individual use, dry erase boards and chalkboards are the perfect surfaces for a writing center. Providing space to practice writing letters and drawing pictures, theses types of boards can be used over and over again. In addition, most dry erase white boards are magnetic, making them useful for alphabet letter magnets or other educational magnets that preschoolers will like to play and learn with.
2. Paper
Blank paper, construction paper, and cardstock are just a few of the types of paper that children will enjoy using to compose letters and draw pictures. Index cards are also a good choice to have on hand for writing small messages or creating flashcards that introduce new words to study. Another great alternative to standard paper would be to have
postcards. Toddlers can familiarize themselves with writing a short note and addressing it for the mail. Also, paper can be cut, taped, glued, and stapled for additional writing center activities. Keeping scissors, tape, glue and a child-friendly stapler available are great accessories to enhance early learning visions.
3. Letter and Number Stamps
Stamps are always a big hit with toddlers. From single alphabet letters to numbers stamps, preschoolers will enjoy stamping letters, names, and maybe even, small sight words on different mediums. Keeping an assortment of ink pad colors will increase imagination and creativity.
4. Templates
Templates are ideal tools to offer in a preschool writing center. Students can practice expressing their creativity by tracing different stencils and either coloring them in or decorating them as they see fit. Working on early writing skills with letter templates or creating colorful collages with shape templates, toddlers will enjoy having these options offered in their writing center.
5. Writing Tools
Stocking up on standard sized No. 2 pencils with erasers allow preschoolers to become familiar with the most common writing tool used in elementary school. Along with pencils, there should be other writing tools available such as washable markers, dry erase markers, colored pencils, chalk sticks, and a variety of crayons for coloring, drawing, sketching and tracing that will help provide hours of writing fun.