This July, the DfE introduced a new Writing Framework for Reception through Year 6, with a strong focus on transcription (handwriting and spelling) and sentence level work and much less attention on the playful, exploratory mark-making that we champion in the early years.
While the framework offers insight into how writing might be taught for older children, it’s important to remember that early writing begins long before children can actually write.
In Early Years and Reception in particular, our priority remains on nurturing the foundations of writing: building confidence, strengthening fine and gross motor skills, encouraging mark-making, and helping children find joy in expressing their ideas. These are not just optional extras; they are essential to developing writers who feel confident, capable, and motivated to write.
As educators, we can stay aware of non statutory frameworks and expectations, while still holding onto what we know is right for young children: playful, meaningful, and developmentally appropriate practice.
In this week’s newsletter, we are going to be thinking about those all important first marks; the squiggles, the swirls, the zig-zags, and those proud little “I’ve written my name!” moments (even if it’s upside down and backwards!).
Before children can confidently write letters and words, they need lots of time to explore making marks in their own way, at their own pace. Early writing isn’t just about pencils and paper, it’s about building the confidence, curiosity, and physical skills to express themselves.
Mark-making is the foundation of writing. It’s where the writing journey truly begins. It’s where children; develop fine motor control and hand strength, begin to understand that marks carry meaning and build the confidence to have a go. When we create playful, pressure-free spaces for mark-making, children develop a genuine love of writing and that’s far more valuable than perfect letter formation in the early days.
When we offer playful, ‘pressure free’ opportunities for children to explore making marks, we’re not only supporting their physical development, we’re also nurturing their sense of agency, creativity, and self-expression. And in those moments, we’re laying the groundwork for a lifelong love of writing.
Here are some simple, fun, and low-pressure ways to support early writing through play:
- Use paintbrushes and buckets of water to make giant marks outside.
- Chalk on pavements and walls.
- Big rolls of paper taped to the floor or fences.
- Spray bottles to make patterns on outdoor surfaces.
- Finger painting.
- Shaving foam or sand trays for sensory writing.
- Mud kitchens with sticks for drawing in the mud.
- Salt trays for tracing letters or shapes.
- Set up ‘mark-making stations’ with stamps, stencils, and rollers. Download our Mark Making Patterns to add to this area.
- Encourage mark-making on unusual surfaces—tin foil, cardboard boxes, mirrors.
- Offer themed invitations to write, like pirate maps, superhero badges, or shopping lists.
- Clipboards in the garden for ‘notetaking’ explorers.
- Whiteboards in the construction area.
- Order pads in the role-play café.
- Chalkboards near the bikes for ‘traffic control.’
- Use ribbons or scarves for big, sweeping movements in the air.
- Set up obstacle courses that involve crawling, squeezing, and climbing to build gross motor strength.
- Add tweezers, threading, and playdough to strengthen little hands and fingers.
If you decide to having a specific area for writing we have some prompt sheets that will help adults support writing in the area.
On our website, we have a Fine Motor and Gross Motor Yearly Plan. These skills will form the basis for writing skills later on.
We must keep at the forefront of our minds, that our job is to keep writing playful, meaningful, and child-led. Early writing should feel like an adventure, not a task to be ‘got through.’
For more mark marking activities click here.