Winter Preschool Prewriting Printables
Pre-writing skills are an important part of any preschool curriculum. These winter preschool prewriting printables are a perfect addition to your preschool winter writing center!
Your preschoolers will delight in helping the adorable snowman collect snowballs, all while developing important foundational skills.
These free printables are useful in a variety of ways, depending on the developmental needs of your kiddos. Read on to learn how to use these pre-writing mats to best suit your toddlers and preschoolers.
For some preschoolers, writing comes easily and naturally. Some preschoolers quickly transition into using a tripod or quadrupod pencil grasp. They make curvy letters with ease and can make perfectly stick-straight lines.
For some preschoolers, however, writing does not come so easily.
Some preschoolers hang on to that full palm “death grip” until they are five. For some preschoolers, their curvy letters look more jagged and their straight lines are anything but.
Writing is hard for them, and they don’t seek out ways to use the few skills they do have. They get bored easily and give pushback when encouraged to spend some time at the writing center.
Of all the skills we teach in preschool, writing skills and letter formation seems to have such a wide degree of development!
This is the exact reason pre-writing learning activities are so essential!
Emphasis on the “pre”.
This pre-writing printable worksheet can be used via finger-tracing, which is good for novice writers and can also be used as fun winter tracing pages which is good for the masters.
But all these pre-writing printables are winter themed, which just adds to the fun!
For pre-writing skills development throughout the year, be sure to check out my Pre-Writing Cards! They include fun themes that your preschoolers will love all year long!
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Product on salePrewriting Cards for the Entire YearOriginal price was: $16.00.$8.00Current price is: $8.00.
Preschool Writing Sheets
The free printable pre-writing sheets include a variety of shapes and patterns. The writing sheets were made intentionally to help ready toddlers and preschoolers for eventually writing letters.
A major prewriting skill is the ability to form the basic pencil strokes that make up all letters and numbers. They are as follows: |, —, O, +, /, square, \, X, and Δ. Focusing on building blocks outside the traditional letter and number tracing will help accomplish this.
These winter pre-writing mats introduce the basic strokes of handwriting and shapes in a developmentally appropriate way.
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Product on salePrewriting Cards for the Entire YearOriginal price was: $16.00.$8.00Current price is: $8.00.
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Winter Activities for Preschoolers Prewriting Printable
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that at no cost to you, I may earn a small sum if you click through and make a purchase.
You can use these preschool prewriting printables in various ways, including with manipulatives for tracing, just your finger, or go completely traditional and use a pencil!
These are all good options and depending on the skill level of your preschoolers, you may try them all in your classroom.
What’s Included
The FREE printable includes SIX different pages of winter pre-writing practice. The pages have a variety of lines, shapes, and patterns to meet a variety of needs.
Additional Materials
- Small wintery manipulatives (We used floral pebbles)
- Dry erase markers (optional)
- plastic dry-erase pockets (optional)
The Set-Up
Just print and laminate.
Or put the sheets in a dry-erase pockets instead of laminating. I prefer that because the dry-erase marker comes off so much easier in a dry erase pocket.
Set the winter pre-writing mats in your preschooler’s workspace with a bowl of wintery manipulatives on the side. You want something that looks like a snowball. You can use white Pom poms, floral pebbles, or acrylic snowflakes even!
Invite your preschooler to join you for some winter-themed writing practice!
Pre-Writing Worksheets
This pre-writing printable has a few different ways to use. They vary somewhat in difficulty, so you can choose the method that is the best for your preschoolers or kindergarteners. No matter how you use them, they will benefit the building of fine motor skills and other essential pre-writing skills.
Use Pre-Writing Practice Mats for Finger Tracing
This is the method you will use for your youngest preschoolers and even your toddlers. Simply invite your preschooler or toddler to use his finger to trace the lines on the mat.
When reading books to toddlers or your youngest preschoolers, you’ve probably noticed how they already trace things they see in the books. This finger tracing method is the first step in pre-writing skills development.
Use a Winter Manipulative to Trace Along the Lines of the Mat
This is the method I recommend for preschoolers who are still learning to use a pencil with a mature grasp but still need to work on control. Invite them to trace the lines using a small, winter-themed manipulative. We used floral pebbles, but white pom poms work well, too.
The purpose here is to move the snowballs along the dashed lines down to the snowman. Using a small manipulative requires preschoolers to use a developing pincer grasp, which is needed for a mature pencil grip.
Use the Pre-Writing Practice Mats with Traditional Writing Utensils
This is the method that is best for preschoolers who already have a mature pencil grasp. Invite them to practice tracing the lines using a variety of writing utensils.
You can use the traditional ones, like a pencil, marker, or crayons.
You can also place these mats in a dry-erase pocket, (which I prefer over just laminating) and use a dry erase marker or dry erase crayon to trace. Sometimes new materials can help get kids excited about writing.
Children’s Books About Winter
Grab a few of these wintery books and you can practically feel the cold weather as soon as you open the book! Kids love the fun animal characters in many of these stories and no matter where you live, kids are always curious and interested in snowy weather.
- Tiger Tales (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 26 Pages – 09/05/2017 (Publication Date) – Tiger Tales (Publisher)
- Audible Audiobook
- James Dean (Author) – James Fouhey, Pete the Cat L.L.C. (Narrators)
- English (Publication Language)
- Henrietta Bancroft (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 12/01/1996 (Publication Date) – HarperCollins (Publisher)
- Smith, Sian (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 24 Pages – 07/31/2014 (Publication Date) – Heinemann (Publisher)
- ISBN13:9780439567039
- Format:Paperback Book
- Ages:4 – 8
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Ghigna, Charles (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Wright, Maureen (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 34 Pages – 10/08/2013 (Publication Date) – Two Lions (Publisher)
- THE BIGGEST SNOWMAN EVER
- STEVEN KROLL
- CHILDREN’S BOOKS
- Shaw, Gina (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 01/05/2016 (Publication Date) – Grosset & Dunlap (Publisher)
More Winter Theme Prewriting Activities
Since kids typically love variety, I like to have a wide range of resources to use with my preschool themes. I rounded up some of my favorite winter-themed prewriting activities for you. Enjoy!
- Free Prewriting Practice – Christmas Themed
- 6 Snowy Printable Winter Activities for Preschoolers
- Winter Activities and Centers
- Snowy Day Alphabet Writing Tray
- Penguin Pre-Writing Tracing Cards
- Pre-Writing Winter Worksheets + Mats
- Mitten Alphabet Tracing Cards
Winter Themed Worksheets for Preschool
Winter can be such a magical time for preschoolers! I gathered up some of my favorite winter-themed worksheets to keep your kiddos learning when the temperatures are too frigid for outdoor play!
- Winter Mittens Line Tracing
- Math Winter Worksheets
- Printables for Winter in Preschool and Kindergarten
- Worksheets for a winter theme For Preschool
- Preschool Worksheets (Great for Kindergarten too!)
For pre-writing skills development throughout the year, be sure to check out my Pre-Writing Cards! They include fun themes that your preschoolers will love all year long!
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Product on salePrewriting Cards for the Entire YearOriginal price was: $16.00.$8.00Current price is: $8.00.
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Winter Preschool Toys
It’s so fun to liven up your winter preschool theme with hands on toys, games, and STEM activities. We have tried each on of these fun preschool toys and the kids absolutely adore them! They are a great add-on to your winter theme!
- Popular Lacing Cards Set: This set features a variety of patterns including pigs, ducks, sheep and…
- What You Will Get: The pack contains 9 pieces farm animal themed lacing cards with 9 different…
- High Quality Material: These sewing cards in this set are made of high-quality cardstock, reliable,…
- PACKING INCLUDES: 5 pack cute Christmas snowman nesting dolls
- EXQUISITE DESIGN: Christmas snowman nesting dolls are handmade of wood, high quality acrylic paints
- SIZE: Comes with 5 different sizes nesting dolls.The largest one is around 5.39″ High.The smallest…
- Included-10 arctic animal toy set including 1 polar bear, 1 reindeer, 1 arctic hare, 1 arctic wolf,…
- Safe material-Our animal model toy set is made of high-quality and durable PVC plastic, hand-painted…
- Realistic simulation details-This polar animal character suit is hand-painted and has a highly…
- A cool way to learn math
- Reinforce counting, patterning, sorting, operations and base ten
- Features ice bars that hold up to 10 penguins each
- SPARK MORE CREATIVITY! Let’s try something new! Educational Insights toys and games provide…
- SELF-CONTAINED WINTER-THEMED SENSORY STATION: The Playfoam Winter Sensory Bin includes everything…
- BUILD FINE MOTOR SKILLS: Sifting, sorting, scooping, and extracting builds the fine motor skills…
- Package quantity: there are 36 pieces of Christmas snowflake stamps with 6 different styles, 6…
- Self-inking stamper: our winter assorted snowflake stampers are all designed with colored ink…
- Various snowflake styles: come with different snowflake patterns and classic colors, you can choose…
- Build sweet structures with sticks, swirls, gumdrops, and more
- Boost fine motor and early STEM skills
- 92 pieces in a variety of fun, familiar designs
Grab Your Own Winter Writing Printable Mats
Think this is something that will be popular in your preschool writing center? If you have a separate fine motor center you can add it there, too.
Get your FREE Snowman Prewriting Mats sent right to your inbox by filling out the quick form below.
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Product on salePrewriting Cards for the Entire YearOriginal price was: $16.00.$8.00Current price is: $8.00.
More Winter Activities for Preschoolers
I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
These are adorable. So many new options since my kids were little. These will be perfect for my nephew when he visits. Thanks for sharing