Pen Control: Wipe Clean Workbooks

I purchased this book for my almost four-year-old son who is learning how to write his name but struggles with how to hold a pen. Up until seeing this product here and reading the reviews I think I may have approached helping him incorrectly - sitting down with him in the evenings and asking him to write his name, as he does at school, with pen and paper. Finding this a bit difficult he is obviously reticent to do it and often refuses. This book has completely changed his attitude. It starts off with short lines, then longer ones - curly ones, zig-zags and moves on to shapes and eventually to letters. I thought he'd do a page and get fed up but he loved it so much he kept asking to do the exercises on the next page and so forth. It's extremely easy to use and more importantly fun, and the nice fattish pen is easy for little fingers to grasp. The wipe clean element also helps as there is a mental association of permanence to pen and paper in the way there isn't with this - and it's somehow less stressful as he knows we can erase something he's not happy with and redo it. So he doesn't feel so much that he is getting it 'wrong'. And of course there was some mucking about on certain shapes as to just how out of the lines he could go, which added a fun element to it. I think this is a very uncomplicated and wonderful tool to help children with pen grip and gain confidence.

Before you run you need to walk.. this kind of book sometimes gets overlooked when parents dive in and think 1 step too far.. kids first need to build confidence holding the pen right then doing some basic squiggles and shapes before they can competently move onto etching letters... lovely book that you can use over and by simply wiping clean.. you may need to buy additional small wipe clean markers (dry wipe) as ours came already feint.

Really great book! My three year old loves it but just a shame the pen came and didn’t work.

I got it for my 2-year-old daughter and she is a bit too young for the activities inside but she loves drawing on the pages and sometimes tries to follow the lines in the book. The pages are easy to clean (I sometimes use bathroom spray cleaner to get the book to a 'nearly new' condition, works very well!) and it seems the book will serve her for a long time until she is ready to move to something more serious

This comes with a white board marker and the book wipes completely clean with a wet wipe. It starts off with simple directional strokes (it shows where to start each pattern on these), then moves onto simple maps to draw round, then dot to dot animals (nice and simple), then gradual build ups to drawing a butterfly independently. The final page is the alphabet in the style that schools are encouraging with the new age related expectation in mind, which is the traditional letter forms ready for joined up writing. It doesn't dictate how to hold the pen, so some gentle coaching may be needed.

Bought this for my almost 3year old left hander. I am really impressed with it, after a few weeks she has already used it a lot and made progress with her pen control and as a result her drawing skills have improved

I bought this book when my son was 3.5. He enjoyed it occasionally, however I dug it out today (he's now 4.5) and just started school and he's LOVING it!Positives:Great pen control practiceLearning basics for shapes and how to correctly write letters and numbersNegativesYou need to know when your child has used the book and make sure you wipe off the ink otherwise it stains

My little boy aged 3 loves to get this out and follow the patterns, improving each time. He even enjoys wiping them clean most of the time! I find a wet wipe followed by a wipe with a dry tissue/cloth does the job. Still works even if you happen to leave the pen on for a couple of days/week. Pen works well, we've had it for about 9 months now.

The book is very well designed. However, after the 5th use the ink stopped coming off. I believe that the protection layer just wears off and it becomes permanent... We cannot use it anymore. It's a shame. The only series I found that last for longtime is Usborne (even though I found the design from this book is much better - not too much, great practice). But the paper quality of protection is very poor!!!

A really fun way to learn how to hold a pen , do straight lines, loops, etc...Une façon vraiment amusante d'apprendre à tenir son crayon, à faire des lignes droites, des boucles... Les exos sont top.

La profesora de mi hija de 3 años me recomendó que la pusiéramos a pintar rayas rectas y círculos para que fuera desarrollando la motricidad fina. Me pareció más divertido este libro, que tiene fotos, colores, dibujos y las marcas de por dónde hacer la raya. A mi hija le encanta, lo malo es que no tiene borrador, y aunque no se limpia mal del todo, cuesta un poco más de lo que esperaba. Para los niños es genial, ya le he cogido otro para Navidad.