Children need a wide range of opportunities for developing the skills of manipulation and co-ordination before they are capable of using a pencil effectively to form recognisable letters.
Such opportunities will be available in all areas of the nursery and through everyday activities such as fastening buttons on a coat, turning the tap when washing hands and putting a drinking straw into the hole on a milk carton. These experiences are crucial in the development of children's confidence and control and so they must be valued and supported by adults.
The office role-play area should be one where children have permanent access to writing materials and are encouraged to use these at every appropriate opportunity, both to explore purposes for writing and to refine their mark-making skills. But this area can also offer children a much broader range of physical learning experiences through their use of other office tools and materials.
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