Mark making

‘Sparking joy: Mark Making

Opportunities for children to develop their gross and fine motor skills underpin our curriculum, environment and interactions at Kingmoor. We stray away from ‘only writing at tables’ and build it into our continuous provision.

We have created several areas within our setting to allow children to mark make on vertical surfaces. We make use of larger vertical surfaces such as chalkboards, dry wipe boards, our OHP wall, easels and smart board. This allows our youngest children within our school to use bigger arm movements eventually refining into small movements as their physical development progresses.

The large chalkboard area has allowed children to doodle, draw, make marks and even write. The children have tried making their own chalk paints using tools such as the pestle and mortar to grind old chalk, adding water to make a paste: nothing goes to waste!

They have used ‘giant paintbrushes’ to make their marks and even simple water and brushes. At times the children will access the step ladders and box steps to help them to reach further, adding in elements of balance and coordination. All this while improving their physical dexterity and control of their shoulders, elbow and hand.’