Being able to write is one of the many things that most of us take for granted. Even if we’re not keen writers, we may still write out a shopping list or jot down the odd note. For children, writing is a skill that they have to learn and, like so much during their childhood, it develops gradually.
Children begin their journey towards writing by making marks, not by producing letters and words. Once they can sit with a meal in front of them, babies love to play with spilt food and drinks, touching them with little palms and fingers to create patterns before the spill can be mopped up. They’re not just making a mess, they’re making marks.
Even so, the first clear sign that children are interested in markmaking comes when they use thick crayons to make big circular and straight lines. This type of mark-making is often dismissed as scribble, but it is actually an important step in learning to write, because children are trying out new things to see what happens.
National Curriculum Appendix 1 - Spelling
National Curriculum Appendix 2 - Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation.