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Proper pencil grasp development for writing starts a lot earlier than you think in children. From the time your child starts grasping for objects with their hands, they are developing pencil grasp.
If your child has ever received or been evaluated for Occupational Therapy, this is one thing that the therapist will be looking at when assessing their handwriting skills.
Before we get started here are some term definitions that will help explain some of the hand grasps:
- Radial – Thumb side of the hand
- Digital – Finger or pinkie side of the hand ; can also mean digits as in fingers
- Palmar – Palm side, or inside part of the hand
- Supinate – Palm facing up or forwards
- Pronate – Palm facing down or backwards
Typical Pencil Grasp Development in Kids
Let's start at the beginning. Again these are average ages ranges, every child is different. If you do suspect your child is behind in their development, please talk to your pediatrician or consult with your local Occupational Therapist.
Crude Palmar Grasp – 3-5 Months Old
- By age 3.9 months your baby should be able to grasp a rattle or other objects.
- By age 5.2 months they reach for objects with their whole arm using a crude palmar grasp (grabbing at objects with the pinkie side, or palmar side, of their hand. The thumb is not being used at this time.
Palmar Grasp – 6 Months Old
Your child will start using their entire hand to grasp at objects, including some thumb movement. This is called a Palmar Grasp.
Radial Palmar Grasp – 7 Months Old
They will begin involve the thumb and all fingers, while using more of the thumb side of their hand to grab objects or using a radial palmar grasp.
Raking Grasp – 8 Months Old
By 8 months your child will start to use a raking type grasp. This involves bending (or flexing) the fingers to bring objects into the hand and closer to them.
Radial Digital Grasp – 8-10 Months
Between 8-10 months old your child will start to perfect the pincer grasp using a Radial Digital Grasp & Inferior Pincer Grasp. A radial grasp refers to the fingers from the middle finger to thumb doing the grasping. As pictured, the child tends to use the pads of their fingers to grasp instead of the tips.
Inferior Pincer & Pincer Grasp – 10 Months Old
By age 10.2 months, they should be able to use a thumb-finger grasp (pincer grasp). The difference between the Inferior Pincer Grasp and a regular Pincer grasp is all in the placement of the finger tips.
The index and thumb are used in for this grasp. If the pads of the fingers are holding the object, that is an Inferior Pincer Grasp. A true pincer grasp is using the tips of the pointer finger and thumb.
You may also see this referred to as the “Pincher” grasp, however the correct spelling is “Pincer”.
Palmar Supinate Grasp – 12-15 months old
At this age, a young toddler begin use a palmar supinate grasp. It is a fisted grasp with the thumb wrapped at the top of the writing utensil. This is usually accompanied by scribbling. This is considered a primitive grasp.
Digital Pronate Grasp – 2-3 Years Old
By 2-3 years old, a child moves to a digital pronate grasp, pictured below. This is the beginning of an efficient looking hand grasp. The fingers are now pointed down towards the bottom of the writing utensil, however all the fingers are being used along with a lot of whole arm movements. This is also a common grasp for self feeding with utensils.
Static Tripod and/or Quadrupod Grasp – 3-4 Years Old
By age 3 to 4 a child will switch to a static tripod grasp or quadrupod grasp. They hold the writing utensils crudely and use the whole pads of their fingers on the writing utensil. There also may still be some whole arm movement, with the wrists being still and not moving, or static. A quadrupod grasp is also referred to as a 4 finger grasp, 3 fingers being on the pencil and then resting on the 4th finger.
Dynamic Tripod Grasp – 5-6 Years Old
By the time your child hits kindergarten they will use the most mature grasp, the dynamic tripod/quadruped grasp, when they use the tips of their fingers on the writing utensil and also hold the crayon/pencil more at an angle than vertical. This is much like an adult grasp.
Their wrist movements are also dynamic, which means they move back in forth without any full arm movement (the arm will be resting on the table or writing surface instead of floating above). This grasp is also referred to as a 3-finger grasp, the first 2 fingers on the pencil while resting on the middle finger.
Did You Know??
For a while, the tripod grasp was the only mature grasp to be considered an efficient grasp past the age of Kindergarten. However, an exception was made for the quadruped grasp since so many people and children use that type of grasp (myself included) and are able to print neatly and at a decent writing speed.
I always encourage a mature dynamic tripod grasp when working with my students, however if they used a quadruped grasp consistently and are able to produce legible work and good letter formations when writing I consider their handwriting/pencil grasp goals met.
Be sure to talk to your child's therapist to see what type of pencil grasp they will be looking for in order to consider that goal met, if your child has a pencil grasp goal in Occupational Therapy.
Again, these are average ages ranges and every child is different. However, this gives you a good idea of what to look for as your child starts to explore the wonderful world of writing.
If you would like to get printable cards of all these hand grasps, complete with descriptions and photos, you can check out my hand grasp development cards here. They are great to have on hand in your classroom as you evaluate students. Or in your home or therapy sessions as a hand resource and reminder.
For more handwriting tips like this one, check out my Handwriting Pinterest board below.
Resources:
Get a Grip: Grasping Patterns in Young Children
Great post. I hadn’t heard that the quadruped grasp was now considered an acceptable grasp. I have one son who has been quite insistent on this grip despite my best efforts.
I love the pictures the the timeline you provided for development.
Yes, Heather, on the Peabody Fine Motor Test I believe it is scored just slightly lower, but is considered within norms now. All of the OTs I worked with considered it an acceptable grasp as well. Which is good since I use that type of grasp myself, haha! 😉 Thanks so much for coming by and reading, it means a lot to me!
Hi Heather,
Thank you for interesting article.
My daughter is 18months and consistently uses tripod grasp in her right hand. How unusual is this and do you know if it is indicative of anything else in her development?
Kind regards
Leyla
Yep, I’m another who never got past the quadroped grasp! I didn’t know it ever wasn’t acceptable…lol. Although I do remember that teachers tried to change it, that’s just always what was most comfortable for me. I can hold my pencil and write the correct way, but it feels better and is faster the other way. I didn’t push things with my oldest and he was a little late with the pencil grasp, but then he got it just fine. I am being patient about it with my 4 year old as well 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Haha, Hey Crystal! Thanks for coming by! Sounds like you are doing great with your little ones for handwriting. Yes, every child develops different. But if you try and force it too early that is NO fun for anyone!
Fantastic post! So informative, thank you! We’re working on this at home, so perfect timing for us. Thank you for sharing. Pinned.
Thank you for stopping by and pinning!
Thanks for this!
Thank you for the specific details here, matched up with the developmental levels. It’s tempting to push kids with things like pencil grasp, so this is a good reminder of what can be reasonably expected.
Renae
I love the pictures – because I would have no idea what the terms meant otherwise! 😉
hi heather, loved your write up on pencil grasp. good read 🙂
can i please borrow a few of your pictures for my presentation on fine motor skill development
regards and thanks in anticipation
sharada
Hi Sharada,
Yes, you may use two (2) pictures as long as they are not edited in any way and you reference this post as the source. Thanks for asking and good luck with your presentation.
Pls help with the grip of my child …he is 10 yeras old…and the way he holds the pencilis not perfect…i am too much worried…pls help me out if possible…TIA
Hi Kinnari, I am not really able to help with specific cases due to licensure law and my OTA license. However, I will say that age 10 is going to be hard to change a grasp because the habits have already been formed and it will be very hard to break. It also depends on if it is affecting his legibility or not with handwriting. If you have concerns, I would talk to your child’s physician or ask for an Occupational Therapy evaluation.
Hi Heather, thank you very much for the knowledge. The information is very useful. Request permission to use the information for my sharing.
Hi Noorizam, Thanks! Feel free to share the link to this post with anyone.
Thank you for this article. Found it most interesting and helpful.
My 13 year old daughter had a good pencil grasp until last year, when suddenly she started holding the pen between her 3rd and 4th fingers, saying it is much more comfortable and less tiring. She writes fast and neat but it drives me mad seeing her write!!!!! what can I do? I would appreciate if someone could help me….it is so difficult to convince a 13 year old!!!!!