Final answer:
Activities recommended to help students develop visual-motor skills before they learn to form letters include tracing and drawing geometric shapes, drawing on sandpaper, and skywriting with large movements. These activities enhance both fine and gross motor skills, which are essential for writing and overall motor development.
Step-by-step explanation:
To develop visual-motor skills before learning to form letters, various pre-writing activities are recommended. Tracing and drawing geometric shapes allow children to practice the coordination of small muscle movements with visual cues. Another useful exercise is drawing circles and lines on sandpaper, providing tactile feedback that enhances motor control. Skywriting in the air with large movements is especially beneficial as it engages the whole arm, promoting gross motor skills which are foundational for fine motor skill development.
These activities are not only crucial for handwriting but also for the overall development of fine motor skills. For example, engaging in activities are such as using different colors while drawing on a large sheet of paper can stimulate creativity and motor skills concurrently. Drawing and writing on paper can be significantly more challenging for the nervous system compared to typing on a keyboard because it requires precise coordination of sensory and motor pathways, including an array of different sensory receptors, peripheral nerves, synaptic connections within the spinal cord, and nerve tissue throughout the brain.