In order to develop an effective pencil grip to support an efficient handwriting style, children first need to develop the muscles of their shoulder, upper arm, forearm and wrist. To do this, children are given plentiful and varied opportunities for large-scale mark-making indoors and outdoors, using vertical whiteboards and chalkboards, tabletop activities (e.g. sand tray, chalks, using tools to mark-make in different materials) and on the floor (using chalks and water). In addition, children are supported using a whole-body movement scheme (‘Squiggle while you wiggle’) to build gross motor skills and translate these into mark-making. Children also develop fine motor skills throughout provision, with small construction toys, loose parts, cutting and drawing materials, malleable materials and adult-led ‘dough disco’.

Children are taught to first write letters, then words, building into sentences throughout Reception. These skills are taught through 'Read, Write Inc'; handwriting is part of 'Speed Sound' sessions and sentence skills are taught through ‘Get Writing’ – activities which directly link to the Read Write Inc text being read each week. Children are also given meaningful opportunities to apply their skills as part of topic work (e.g. adding labels to drawings, writing cards and letters, retelling and creating stories) and independent or supported child-led projects.