• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • New? Start Here!
  • About GHOK
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Policies
  • Blog
  • The Shop
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
Growing Hands-On Kids

Growing Hands-On Kids

Child Development Tips, Tools, and Strategies

You are here: Home / Handwriting & Pre-Writing / 5 Tips for Correcting Your Child’s Pencil Grasp

5 Tips for Correcting Your Child’s Pencil Grasp

July 2, 2015 By Heather Greutman 7 Comments

Like what you read? Share it!

5.4Kshares
  • Share 2.9K
  • Tweet
  • Print
  • Email
5 tips for correcting your child's pencil grasp.

Affiliate and Referral links are used below to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission on any purchases made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details.

A question I often get is how to correct a child’s pencil grip once they have already established a grasp. Usually it is easiest to try and correct a pencil grasp before 2nd or 3rd grade. After that time period, a child’s pencil grasp is a well established habit that is hard to break. Today I am sharing 5 tips on how you can correct your child’s pencil grasp.

Preschool and beginning of Kindergarten are the perfect times to help correct a child’s grip, typically because they are still learning how.

5 tips for correcting your child's pencil grasp.

5 Tips for Correcting Your Child's Pencil Grasp

1. Focus on Fine Motor and Hands-On Activities NOT Pencil and Paper.

I know it seems counterproductive to not have them practice with a pencil and paper to write, but for children of this age, working on fine motor activities and strengthening the fingers for handwriting is going to get you a lot farther than just route practicing with pencil and paper.

You particularly want to focus on fine motor activities that require them to imitate how to hold a pencil or strengthening the fingers used in a pincer grasp.

Here are some ideas:

  • Activities for Fine Motor Skills Development
  • 12 Fun Ways to Practice Handwriting with Preschoolers
  • 6 Pre-writing Activities for Preschoolers

2. Using pom-poms or coins in the last two fingers.

This one is pretty self explanatory. The fingers that are not on the pencil hold on to a small pom-pom or coin. This reminds the child to keep those fingers closed in their hand with the correct fingers on the pencil.

You can check out my post on typical developmental hand grasps to see which ones your child should be using (tripod and/or quadruped grasp).

3. “Go” & “Stop” fingers.

This was a little trick I used when I was working in the school system as an Occupational Therapy Assistant. I had a sign with a picture of the green “go” fingers for writing and a red stop sign with a picture of the “stop” fingers. “Go” fingers are the fingers on the pencil, “stop” fingers go in the hand.

So when I saw a child using the wrong grasp, I would remind them to use their “Go” fingers. This worked pretty well with a lot of my kiddos. You could also make a sign to have hanging or on the child’s desk as a visual reminder instead of always verbally reminding them.

4. Using smaller or fatter pencils.

Typically a suggestion given is to use smaller, shorter pencils or crayons to promote a good grasp. However some children really do benefit from the thicker, fatter pencils, particularly if they have weaker hand grip. They may have a hard time feeling the smaller size pencils or being able to put the proper amount of pressure on them. So experimenting with different types of writing utensils would be beneficial. Pencils with a triangle shape to them can also help. You can also find triangle pencil grips, but also note my thoughts on pencil grips below.

I will stop here and note that the only way to really know what type of pencil will work is to get the advice of an Occupational Therapist who can assess your child’s fine motor skills and make a professional opinion based on their evaluation. If you feel your child truly has a delay in fine motor skills and handwriting, please seek the help of a professional and don’t try to treat them yourself.

5. Pencil grips as a last resort.

The reason I use pencil grips as a last resort is because many children lose them or they just become more of a distraction than a help, I have found. However, depending on the type of grip they can be beneficial. A couple of my favorites are the Grotto grip or the training grips. The grotto grip typically works better with older children, the training grip with younger ones.

Again, it is best to have an professional Occupational Therapist assess which grips could be helpful for your child’s situation. But here is a good post to get you started.

Pencil Grips 101 – The Anonymous OT

The Handwriting Book - The Ultimate Guide to Handwriting for therapists, teachers, and parents.

For more handwriting ideas, check out my resources below.

Follow Heather @Growing Hands-On Kids' board Handwriting Skills & Activities on Pinterest.
You May Also Like:

Developmental 10 Crossing Midline Exercises for Kids Behavior vs. Sensory subscriber printable Should I teach cursive or print handwriting first?

Like what you read? Share it!

5.4Kshares
  • Share 2.9K
  • Tweet
  • Print
  • Email

Filed Under: Handwriting & Pre-Writing Tagged With: Fine Motor, For Parents, For Teachers, For Therapists, Kindergarten, Writing Activities

Reader Interactions

CONTENT DISCLAIMER: Heather Greutman is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. All information on the Website is for informational purposes only and is not a replacement for medical advice from a physician or your pediatrician. Please consult with a medical professional if you suspect any medical or developmental issues with your child. The information on the Websites does not replace the relationship between therapist and client in a one-on-one treatment session with an individualized treatment plan based on their professional evaluation. The information provided on the Website is provided “as is” without any representations or warranties, express or implied. Do not rely on the information on the Website as an alternative to advice from your medical professional or healthcare provider. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment as a result of any information provided on the Website. All medical information on the Website is for informational purposes only. All activities outlined on the Website are designed for completion with adult supervision. Please use your own judgment with your child and do not provide objects that could pose a choking hazard to young children. Never leave a child unattended during these activities. Please be aware of and follow all age recommendations on all products used in these activities. Growing Hands-On Kids is not liable for any injury when replicating any of the activities found on this blog. YOUR RESPONSIBILITY The Website was developed strictly for informational purposes. You understand and agree that you are fully responsible for your use of the information provided on the Website. Growing Hands-On Kids makes no representations, warranties or guarantees. You understand that results may vary from person to person. Growing Hands-On Kids assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions that may appear in the Website.

Comments

  1. Rachael says

    January 30, 2016 at 11:12 pm

    Thank you for the handwriting grasp tips. My DD is a lefty and is struggling to hold and write her name with a good grasp. I have been trying new techniques and I came across the “Aligator Bite”. That’s when you pretend to bite the pencil like an aligator, but then the alligator puckers it’s lips as if it doesn’t like the taste. It sounds strange but is a helpful trick. I stopped by from The CMN Link-up.

    Reply
    • Heather Greutman says

      January 31, 2016 at 9:10 pm

      Thanks Rachel! Yes, I have heard of that before, it’s a great tip too!

      Reply
  2. Connie Akers says

    February 13, 2017 at 1:19 am

    In the main illustration of your article you show a child pinching a pencil with three fingers. Isn’t the optimal grip where the pencil is held with the thumb and forefinger while resting on the middle finger?

    Thank you,
    Connie

    Reply
    • Heather Greutman says

      February 15, 2017 at 2:17 pm

      Hi Connie,
      Yes, the tripod grasp is the optimal grasp, however when testing for hand grasp and fine motor skills, most fine motor tests also consider the quadruped grasp (the one pictured above) a typical grasp and do not mark off points for it. I actually write with a quadruped grasp myself.

      Reply
  3. Marl says

    October 22, 2017 at 8:43 pm

    What are the effects of not correcting the pencil grip? For instance, if the child holds his or her pencil wrong but still can print very legibly and clearly?

    Reply
  4. Loretta Reust says

    April 18, 2020 at 3:45 pm

    I always recommend working on a vertical surface, especially for children under 5 years. You get wrist extension, and often immediately a more mature grasp. Paint with water on a block wall, draw with chalk on the wall, tape paper to the wall or to an easel.

    Reply
    • Heather Greutman says

      April 18, 2020 at 10:07 pm

      Great suggestions! Thanks for sharing.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Fine Motor Skills checklists

Get This Free Fine Motor Checklist!

Sign-up for my weekly child development newsletter and receive this free fine motor checklist for ages 0-6.

Website Terms and Policies

Welcome to Growing Hands-On Kids! My name is Heather and I’m a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant with experience in school-based Occupational Therapy. I use my background to share child development tips, tools, and strategies through hands-on activities. You can read more about me by clicking here.

The 8 sensory systems printable packet.

Get This FREE 8 Sensory Systems Handout

Sign-up to receive my 9-day sensory processing email series and get this 8 sensory systems handout in English & Spanish!

Website Terms and Policies

Footer

Growing Hands-On Kids

Growing Hands-On Kids, LLC 2020. All content, photos/graphics, video, printables and ebooks written or created by Heather Greutman of https://growinghandsonkids.com are copyright of the owner. You may not alter or reuse text/content, photos/graphics, or videos in any way (print or digital use) without express written consent from Heather Greutman. For more details, please read our website terms of use and policy page.


PRIVACY POLICY

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.