Prewriting Jumbo Set with Storage

Children can trace the prewriting patterns with their fingers along precision-cut grooves. The grooves are hand-sanded for an optimal sensory experience. 

There are ten boards, each with one of the pre-writing patterns in extra-large size, to allow for additional shoulder movement and more repetitions – important for children to practice and learn in preparation for handwriting. 

The boards can also be used with the Play Boards, to build and make ‘rooms’ where all sorts of play can develop! 

Jumbo Boards

Large repetitive grooves give a sensory opportunity from the shoulder to the fingertip, allowing children to trace each pattern many times so that their brains can gradually learn these patterns before moving on to smaller versions of the same movements. 

The set includes ten patterns that are important for children to practice and learn in preparation for handwriting. 

Play and Learn Environment

Combining a storage bench, large boards, and play boards offers a creative environment for children to play and learn simultaneously.  

Why are Prewriting Patterns Beneficial?

Pre-writing patterns are designed to encourage a series of basic movements in the child’s upper limb (hands, fingers, wrists and even shoulders) that will assist their brain to learn the movements required to produce the basic shapes needed in preparation for learning handwriting. 

It is important for a child to develop their handwriting gradually and build the foundational skills needed before trying to produce letters and words.   

Which part of the body learns to do handwriting?

• The brain needs to learn about the direction and shape of the movement.  This can only be learnt by doing and feeling the movement, providing sensory feedback to the brain (with large upper limb movements and the grooved patterns with a textured finish).  Lots of repetition is needed to help the brain learn this. 
• The body needs to be strong (good core strength).  This will free up the child’s hands so they can sit and do tabletop activities like writing. Lots of big play movements are important for the body to have good core strength – climbing a tree or a rope net or a tree, or pushing a heavy trolley are some ideas.   
• The whole upper limb initially – when preparing to for handwriting, movements need to happen all the way up at the shoulder, and down the whole arm.  Gradually the movement will change, so that more occurs at the hand and less at the shoulder.    

How does a child learn the foundations of handwriting?

Handwriting is a complex task!  Before being able to pick up a pencil and write letters or words, a child needs to have some foundational skills and experiences.   

Some key aspects of learning handwriting are that the movements need to start larger, and gradually become smaller.  A child will begin with making more simple, and later, more complex movement patterns.   A child will be able to learn to do straight lines before curved lines, and moving in a single direction before they will manage a pattern that requires a change of direction.   

These pre-writing boards provide the gradual change from where a child will start, through to more complex patterns – allowing them to then move onto forming letters and start learning handwriting.   

When a child is starting to write, it will be easier to hold a thicker pencil or crayon and as they develop more strength in their small hand muscles, they will be able to hold and use a thinner pencil or crayon.   

Set Includes

• Ten jumbo boards, each containing a different CNC precision cut prewriting pattern, hand sanded to provide a beneficial texture for sensory input to assist with learning 

• Large mobile bench for convenient storage of all ten Jumbo Boards and Play Boards (clipped on to the back) 
• Ten colourful Play Boards 

Additional Features

• Easy to clean 
• Extra-large size of patterns, important in preparation for handwriting 

• Long boards with many repetitions of each pattern 
• Easy pack away and storage with the custom designed mobile bench 
• High quality castor wheels for easy rolling to move the bench 
• The mobile bench doubles as an opportunity to place the jumbo boards for tracing when in an upright position, providing more shoulder movement (this gives more input about the movements to the brain) 
• When placed on flat surfaces, child does not need as much shoulder movement as when they are first learning these movement patterns 

• The Jumbo Boards can double as a gross motor opportunity e.g. can be turned over and used as a balancing board! 
• Play Boards can be used with the jumbo boards to ‘build’ – rooms, a farm, zoo, whatever the children decide…! 

Materials Used

• 18mm hoop pine plywood
• Water-based coating, environmentally friendly and low in VOCs
• Environmentally friendly wood stains
• Heavy-duty castors

Dimensions 125cm (l) x 54cm (h) x 42cm (d)