Gargi, the easel is definitely recommended for early writers.

My older DS was writing words by the time he was 2 1/2. We hadn't learned the "easel" clue, but he did find it better to write on top of a 3 ring notebook that was turned to slope towards him.

My 26 month old isn't writing letters yet, butI will probably introduce them in the next month. His writing skills have really taken off in the past several weeks when we started giving him the Kumon tracing and mazes books to play with.

These are great skills, but I can't forget that there are also many critical skills for them to learn at this age that don't involve early academics. For example, my older one could write before anyone else, but he was always one of the slower ones to get his coat zippered in 3 year old preschool because it had never dawned on me for him to do it himself! smile Likewise, my 26month old is just about potty trained, but I keep forgetting to teach him how to pull his pants on and off by himself! It's funny how I get so focused on the big accomplishments and forget about some of those little ones that I need to show them!

HS Mom to DYS6 and DS2