Handwritingforkids

Some children take to handwriting like a duck to water, whilst some children really struggle with the concept of letter formation and unfortunately their self esteem takes a massive dive downwards.

Sometimes its just that kids need some extra practice, or it can be a sign of underlying issues, such as learning difficulties (dyslexia), attention issues, memory problems and language issues etc.

Whatever the case, mixing up the different ways your child practices by incorporating some of the other senses can help immensely.

Making it Fun

My little boy does have an underlying learning difficulty and struggled immensely with handwriting (on top of reading), so as you can imagine his self esteem was so low that whenever he even thought about handwriting he would burst into tears. He would constantly be overwhelmed with feelings of failure in the classroom environment as the other children around him sailed through and he would often be upset at school, which as you can imagine just snowballs and is extremely overwhelming.

After trying lots of different ways to entice him to put pen to paper, eg rewards, praise etc and him constantly digging in his heels because he believed he just could not do it, I researched some different ways that we could practice that not only were fun, but also incorporated some of the other senses, eg touch, feel etc.

Top 10 fun ways to practice handwriting for kids

1. Shaving Cream on a tray. This is my little boy’s favourite (although I must admit Daddy had to go without shaving once or twice as we had got a little excited and used up all of the bottle)! He loves that he can use his daddy’s shaving cream to first decorate an oven tray. Then we practice letters using our fingers in the tray of shaving cream.

Handwriting activities

2. At the beach in the sand. We use a big stick to write the letters. We also have collected seaweed and shells and formed letters on the sand with them.

3. Salt/rice in a tray. Again I just use a baking tray and use rice. I prefer rice as its cheaper for us where we live.

4. Draw some big letters on large pieces of paper and then we drive the cars around the letters, using the proper formation.

5. Dotty. Draw some letters on a page, give your child a large bingo dot pen and then have them dot around the letter, making sure they dot around the letter the correct way. Even those fun textas that stamp out pictures are ideal for this activitiy.

6. Take turns in practicing writing letters on each other’s backs. Have the person not writing, guess what letter it was.

Handwritingforkids

7. On the pavement, draw large letters with chalk. This one is huge fun. We hop, jump, dance/boogie around the letters.

8. There are some great free iphone apps out there where children trace the letters with their fingers. They cant move on to the next letter until they form the currently letter correctly.

9. Use a large paintbrush and some water and paint the letters onto the path, the house etc.

10. Playdough. Roll out thin snakes first and then make letters from the snakes.

Make these handwriting activities fun

Get involved as much as you can. You do the activities too. Do a few silly things to get them laughing and engaged and you will find that they throw themselves wholeheartedly into the activity.

Always be supportive. Believe me I know how frustrating it is for both you and your child when they cant remember the letter formation from one day to the next. All you can do is be positive and keep going.

Perseverance really does pay off and by having fun, the kids dont even realise they are practicing!

I hope that you find some of these Handwritingforkids ideas useful and found something that you and your child can have fun learning together, like we have.

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Amanda Sutton

Hi, my name is Amanda and I live in Australia. Im a Wife, a Mum, a Friend, an Accountant and an online Entrepreneur. You could say life is a little bit busy! Im the major breadwinner in our family, so my dream of reducing my working hours so that I could be there each day to pick my little man up from school was slowly slipping away....I'd probably get there by the time he was in high school...but lets face it that's going to be exactly when he DOESNT want Mum picking him up and hanging out with him after school lol! Nothing was going to change unless I did something about it. So I am taking control and making happen. Ive learned from the best the industry has to offer and have successfully grown several income streams in a reasonably short period of time and I LOVE it! Its so much fun and Ive met some absolutely wonderful people from all around the world who have taught me so much, not just about business...but most importantly about me 🙂 What started out as a small dream to reduce some hours in my "day job" has now grown into a dream of full retirement from 9-5. Ive taken control....and IM MAKING IT HAPPEN!

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