Our mission is simple: encourage every child to make their mark!

4th September 2017

Little Learners has created an exciting early writing programme and preschool class where children learn how to mark make through play. If it’s fun and it’s messy – it can’t be learning…can it?? Wrong! Babies and young children learn best through play.

Mark Making is the first step towards writing

Mark making is a huge part of a child’s learning journey and one of the outcomes of a prime area of learning – Physical Development – in Early Years Foundation Stage Guidance (birth to 60 months). When a child starts to make scribbles, patterns and different shapes, this is ‘mark making’. It is the very first step towards writing. Children explore, experiment and express themselves through the marks they make. They begin to assign meaning to their marks, which sparks creativity and exploration.

Making their mark

Exploring different textures, materials and grabbing various apparatus will help children get ready for writing. Encouraging a child to use their hands, fingers, feet and toes to make marks will strengthen their core muscles and develop their gross and fine motor skills. These skills are vital for holding and controlling a pencil and letter and number formation.

Children can mark make in many different ways: pen andpaper, painting, ‘messy play’ or even drawing in the sand on the beach. All of these methods provide opportunities for children to explore a range of tools too such as paintbrushes, chalks, pencils and their bodies. The benefits of mark making are huge. Children’s fine motor skills will develop and strengthen in preparation for writing.

The Mark Makers

It is our view at Little Learners that the more that children have fun mark making and developing their motor skills, the more prepared and confident they will be when it comes to writing at school. Our mark making programme and upcoming ‘The Mark Makers’ activity book has been designed by a qualified early years teacher. The programme is easy to follow and can be differentiated within the age range of 5 months to 5 years. Our four Mark Maker characters represent the four main marks that help to form all letters, numbers, shapes and patterns: a straight line, curve, circle and a zig-zag.

We focus on the main ‘marks’ that make up all letters, numbers, shapes & patterns. If a child can make each of the 4 marks represented by our Mark Maker characters, then they will be able to form any letter, number, shape or pattern.

To find out more about Little Learners, our mark making programme, activity book or our franchise opportunity be sure to visit us at stand E28 at Childcare Expo Midlands.

Visit our website for more information: littlelearnersuk.com