Encourage your young child to scribble, draw and color. Practicing with pencils, crayons and markers helps develop the fine motor skills and muscle strength kids will need when it is time to start forming letters at school.

Here are some story books about writing and drawing to help introduce the activity:

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

Duck’s Tale by Haarman van Straaten

A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen

Write On, Carlos! by Stuart J. Murphy

Snap! by Hazel Hutchins