3.5 year old is lefty is having trouble figuring out how to hold the pencil. Think this is the root cause of a lot of frustration going to daycare - any suggestions on how we can help him? (No one is a left hander in my family)

Still very young to properly hold a pencil.

Our nursery had some useful tips to strengthen the hand (including some exercises) and they gave our daughter a grip that you add to the pencil to facilitate the grip. Several types exist ao they did individual sessions to select the right one.

Just let him grab the pencil with whichever hand is easy instead of proper grip. He is still young to hold it properly.

If your 3.5 year old is experiencing anxiety due to
not being able to hold a pencil correctly, I think that’s a bigger problem that should be addressed than holding the pencil itself. My 5 year old had a huge meltdown about thinking he forgot to do homework, and it made me sad for these kids. Trying to figure out how to lessen anxiety for him.

I’m a lefty and I still basically hold a pen like a caveman (not really sure if it’s connected to being lefty). I’m a lawyer and I have a family of my own, so I would say things have generally turned out pretty well. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to get your kid to hold it right, just that - worst case scenario - he’ll prob be alright. He is in for a lifetime of silver smudges on the side of his hand and constant pen markings. Maybe get him into pitching or tennis, there are many benefits to being a lefty as well.

Our five-year-old is a lefty too. She had trouble holding her pencil and would fatigue pretty quickly because she was gripping it too tightly and with the wrong grip. We ended up having her work with an occupational therapist who comes to her school during the day, and it has been really helpful.

They have done things like playing with therapy putty, practicing snipping and cutting paper with scissors, pulling small objects out of a rice bin to increase tactile awareness, and rolling and shaping Play-Doh to build up her fine motor skills.

It has made a noticeable difference for her. If it is something that is accessible for your family, we would definitely recommend looking into an OT. It has been really helpful for our daughter.

My 5 yo is a lefty as well. And she’s in JK. There are strategies that your child’s school should be implementing to help her learn how to grip a pencil. My child is having to correct her grip.

There is a special small tool that is attached to a pencil to help with the grip but your child may be too young. It’s great that you’re managing this now.

If your preschool isn’t working with your child on this, my only advice is researching online.

At that age another option is to make them a psuedo-righty. My parents did this with my brother. Basically start handing them things to their right hand and encouraging them to use it for every task. You’d be surprised how much of this is nature vs nurture. I’ve taught myself to do things with my non-dominant hand and done it so much that now it feels weird to use my previously dominant hand

Check with your pediatrician, they can address your concerns and potentially recommend occupational therapy.

There are grips that you can add to a pencil (rubber and make it easier to hold, various shapes). Although he is young, the grip will lessen his frustration. Address it early so that he doesn’t have to have occupational therapy.

Teach him to write/color with both hands. Chances are that he will pick it up intuitively with his left hand.

Second the comments that say don't worry too much. Still very young, and they are figuring things out. The fatter pencils and crayons are easier for their hands to hold and use, so if you're not using those, they can be helpful. My 10 year old is a lefty, and some things are definitely more difficult but she has adapted very well. They figure out what works for them as they go along.

One of my favorite things was her 2nd grade teacher made left-handed notebooks for the lefty kids (there were 4 in that class) when she made little journals for all the kids. That meant the world to my daughter that someone would do that. So as they get older, try to remember some special lefty things. They do appreciate it!

I agree with everyone who's saying after 3 and 1/2 they're a little bit young to be worrying about pencil grips from working with a lot of OTS for all that age a a full-handed grap is still age appropriate. But if you want to work on it the easiest is to model it. It's going to be highly uncomfortable until you figure out how to comfortably hold it yourself to provide an example. I have to do this with my daughter who's a righty