Guidance will include advice to set up role-play activities specially designed to interest the youngest boys, such as builders taking phone messages

Nurseries and childminders are to be told to encourage three- and four-year-old boys to write using materials such as chocolate powder and coloured sand in a bid to stop them falling behind girls, it emerged today.

Government guidance being sent out next month will include advice to set up role-play activities specially designed to interest the youngest boys, such as builders taking phone messages and writing up instructions, post office workers filling in forms, and waiters taking orders.

It is designed to tackle the "stubborn" gender gap among young children. According to official data, more than one in six boys cannot write his own name or simple words such as "mum", "dad" or "cat" after a year of school. Half as many girls have the same problem.

Boys will also be encouraged to make marks on the floor and walls outside.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "Some boys don't enjoy writing or see it as relevant – but teachers and practitioners can make it fun and relevant. The guidance will offer practical examples about how to do this.

"Because boys don't seem to be as interested as girls in drawing and mark-making, it is important that practitioners ensure that this doesn't then result in limited access to resources such as paper, crayons, paint etc, and insufficient opportunities or encouragement for boys to write."

Writing targets for five-year-olds have come under fire from child development specialists, who argue that many children, especially boys, do not develop the fine motor skills needed for writing until they are six or seven.

The controversial Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) introduced last September – the so-called nappy curriculum – includes 69 "learning goals" that children are expected to reach by the time they begin school aged five.

Figures published in the summer showed that girls outperformed boys at most levels at that age, with 78% of them able to hold a pencil and write recognisable letters, compared with 62% of boys.

Almost three-quarters of girls could write a simple shopping list, or a letter to Father Christmas, but only 55% of boys could do so at the same age.