Book excerpt: The journey towards writing begins with children making purposeful marks. Children love expressing themselves in this way, and this fully revised Little Book will help early years practitioners and teachers to encourage mark making with a range of media, using mark makers and other implements. By engaging in these activities, children will develop fine motor control, hand-eye co-ordination and the movements needed to manage the writing process. Here are hundreds of ideas for mark making, each one photographed in a real setting.