Someone once gave me a little tip that the use of vertical surface for writing is better than the horizontal method. That was the first time I realized that it requires a different skill altogether when one writes/colors on a vertical surface. Imagine using a chalkboard for long – your hand aches, doesn’t it? Proof it’s a different experience, right there!
That said, vertical surface writing is something we all should encourage even though it sometimes gets messy when a crayon is involved (even though the said crayon is washable). These activities might include construction toys like wooden blocks, megablocks or lego, games, arts and crafts and writing tasks on the vertical plane.
So here are 5 simple reasons why they should be encouraged. There are loads of exciting ways to play and work using a vertical surface. Here are some of our favorites:
- Scribbling on the walls, doors, the cabinet doors is #1 on the list. I’ve given up on cleaning these days, and just tell myself that I’ll cover it up with a coat of paint once he’s a bit bigger, so he can keep having fun.
- Construction toys like wooden blocks, Megablocks, Lego. We have the first two and Zoe LOVES it! One of the best toys to invest in.
- Sticker activity – We love our wall decals and every time we get a new one (which is like quite a lot, thanks to Amazon sale days) we have to involve the little when putting that up , otherwise he sulks.
- Chalkboard writing – Chalk leaves a relatively impermanent mark, making its cleanup easy and efficient.I have hung a small chalkboard so the scribble is limited to only chalks – but on most days he gets the crayons to the walls anyway.
- Art Easel – Even though, it’s slightly angled it works the same. We have a double sided one that has both a magnetic whiteboard and a chalkboard, and a tray for holding paints. Talk about VFM. 🙂
- Stickers & Magnets: Children can put stickers on calendars and magnets on the refrigerator. We use a magnetic set that has ample scope for story telling and pretend playing – a Transport themed one.
- Budget Verticals – In addition to readily available vertical surfaces like classroom chalk and dry erase boards that are perpendicular to the floor, large pieces of paper taped to the wall colouring on large cardboard boxes can also provide vertical surfaces at home which are just as awesome!
Vertical plane activities help students with developmental and learning disabilities improve fine-motor skills because the surfaces are right in front of their faces- promoting visual attention. Both vertical and angled work surfaces provide the following advantages:
- The right height: the surfaces are right in front of their faces- promoting visual attention
- Hand-Eye Coordination
- Increases visual attention
- Strengthens shoulder, arms, and hand since the child reached out
We had a Christmas tree on the wall last year – That was a hit activity. Speaking of which… Christmas is almost here *eeeeeeee* Gift the kiddo in your life these awesome AR powered colouring sheets. *psst* little secret here, it makes for a great adult colouring experience too 😉
I got introduced to this brand via one of the FB parenting groups and boy am I glad I found these. These are a fun way to encourage vertical coloring!
So it comes as a complete kit of one REALLLLLLLLY long paper with removable tapes, so your walls aren’t damaged, a set of crayons. Once you put it up on the wall, you can scan using their app and the different characters in them come to life!! THere are many themes, like alphabets, fruits, numbers, etc.,. and it’s fun to bring them to life in such bright colors! You can proceed to color the sheet – this lasted us about 2 weeks or so and it’s still not fully inked, so it’s a win.
One thing which I’d love to see in their future update is to have the animal come to life in the color we actually paint – that’d be awesome. I think it’s on their roadmap already! Much much love from us to this kickass Chennai brand for making Inkmeo wall coloring rolls! ❤
The Grace Log 
These are excellent ideas and encourage a holistic growth in kids
Wall paper is a great option for these young artists. No more Nos from us if they want to practice their writing and painting skills on walls.
MothersGurukul has recently posted
http://mothersgurukul.com/lets-get-some-exercise-mamma/
Excellent ideas for growing kids… love it
Need thing actually for my two and half yr son. These days he likes to play with colours and pens. So i worried he might not show his creativity on house walls. So this rectangle paper is actually awesome idea for encouraging them to show their talent.
Working vertically is so important for young kids. And you have pened down beautifully all the benefits it has.
So true. Never knew about this. Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
Even i have given up cleaning his drawings from tge walls and cabinets because he wont give up. Gonna follow up your tips. Great article.
These are great Ideas for Kids. Thx for Sharing It Mumma.
Very interesting read….learning some parenting tips from u
These activities looks engaging and fun for kids they will learn a lot from this
Very good and interesting ideas for children to learn and grow better
I never knew this trick I will too try this
we usually don’t encourage our kids to write on the walls because we are afraid of all the mess that is left behind.. but the fact that we promote so much learning should be of prime importance
That’s quite an interesting read, no wonder kids love scribbling on walls or boards. We have a white cum black board stand at home and do all home work practice at it. Thanks for sharing.
I agree with all the reason! The wall paper idea would be fun for the kids!
That’s such a great idea if you have small kid in house…
Thank you for sharing this. Amazing ideas.. My baby is 3 years old and these tips are really useful
Wow…I wasn’t aware of this idea of vertical surface colouring…thanks for sharing ..i really liked the scanning part, that can help the child understand objects in a better way..
Wow! I recently put up a chalkboard for my son on a wall. I didnt plan the location. Didnt know the positioning would be so beneficial. Interesting read! 🙂
Wonderful ideas. Never knew vertical surface can help so much in learning and developing of skills! Great post.
Wow! Honestly I never gave this a thought! Thank you for sharing this! Will implement the same with Haniya
I was totally unaware of benifits of this .. Will definitely let her do all this and let her have her share of fun and learning
This is such a great idea. I would have never thought about the benefits of working on vertical surface
This is brilliant. I have tried this wallpaper activity as wel and my daughter just enjoyed playing around drawing on it. Will definitely try other activities some time soon
thanks for this wonderful information my son loves scribbling and painting if i put up a chart paper on the wall..i will definitely keep this in mind while we start our pre writing skills
Writing on a vertical surface is indeed an important development. this post is very informative and useful for young parents.
Wow loved reading your post. So true.. writing on vertical surface requires a set of different skills .. Would work on this with my kid, Thanks for introducing me to inkmeo, would love to try it out ..
These are some great ideas that I honestly never thought of. I will pick some & implement for my daughters too.