This is my first year to have a kindergartner and I’m loving it, ya’ll. I love watching her learn how to form her letters and numbers. I love watching her face as she strings a few sounds together to form a word. It’s kind of just amazing to me because I always doubted my ability to teach my kids their letters and sounds.
Before you start to teach your child handwriting you first need to strengthen those hand muscles needed for fine motor skills. Maria Guckian, early childhood specialist states that the first material children use to strengthen hand muscles should not be markers or pencils. She suggests forming letters with dough, tracing them with textured letters, and writing them in salt or sand trays until their hand muscles are strong enough to write.
Charlotte Mason stressed the importance of one perfectly formed letter when children are beginning to learn how to form letters. She didn’t believe in mindless repetition. As they get better, add more to them until they are eventually writing words. She encouraged kids to start out drawing strokes in the sand and teach them letters that are formed with each stroke. Eventually you can add to the letters they already know.
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Activities to Strengthen Fine Motor Muscles
1. Place fuzzy pom poms in an ice cube and let them pick them out with tweezers or clothespins. Give them an extra bonus for sorting them by color or size or both.
2. Give them a pair of scissors and let them have at it. Kristen at Arrows and Applesauce has some cute cutting worksheets to get your little one cutting away.
3. Grab some lacing cards and shoe string and let them lace. Here are some free printable lacing cards and if you don’t like printing off your own stuff (that’s okay, I don’t either.) here are our favorites.
4. String some beads. Kids love making neclaces and bracelets. Give them some beads and a string and let them make some sweet little presents to give away to loved ones and strengthen those fine motor skills all in one.
How I’m Teaching My Child Handwriting
To help my daughter learn how to form and write her letters and numbers correctly I’m using a variety of ways. Here are a few of those ways.9
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1. Use Letter and Number Playdough Mats
One way I teach correct letter formation is with playdough letter and number mats. I created these printable playdough mats myself, printed them off, and laminated them with these. It’s a fun way to solidify in her mind the process of forming the letter.
These mats are letter and number 1-10 mats.
2. Use textured letters cards
3. Use a salt or sand tray
I just use a small glass baking pan with the bottom of it covered with salt. You could also use sand if you choose. I show her how to form the letter or number, clear it, and let her form it. For her, this helps more than anything. But each child is different with different learning styles.
4. Air Write
It’s just as easy as it sounds. Show them the correct way to form their letters and numbers in the air. When my oldest two were learning their letters they spelled them out in the air all the time to me and expected me to see the letter. I couldn’t see it, but they could and they didn’t even realize they were practicing.
5. Write in the dirt
We like to get outside and write letters and numbers in the dirt with a stick. They love it and it gets us all out of the house when things get a little hairy.
6. Use Fingerpaint
I hate paint. My kids love paint. This is a fun way my kindergartner likes to practice writing and although it’s messy I allow her to do this because kids need multi sensory, kinesthetic activities to learn and concrete this in their minds.
7. Use Handwriting Workbooks
You should sit on the opposite side of whatever hand they write with and show them how to form their letters with your hand over theirs.
Remember, Charlotte Mason stresses perfection. One perfect letter is better than 10 sloppy letters.
When they write on their own, gently fix their mistakes as soon as they make a mistake. Another fun way to use workbooks is to use a dry erase handwriting book. I got one at the Dollar Tree but you can also get one here.
Show Correct Pencil Grip
When you move on to a pencil, pencil grip is important. Some kids pick up a pencil correctly the first time, other kids take time to learn the correct way to hold a pencil.
Experts tell us not to use large pencils or markers because these encourage a fist grip. They suggest small tools such as little bits of chalk, skinny markers, breaking a crayon in half for use, and these pencils because we use writing tools that are in proportion to our hands. Shouldn’t our children?
One other way to encourage the right grip is to use these cute pencil grips. These guide your child to place his finger in the correct placing for the tripod grip they need.
When Will My Child Be Able to Write His Letters Correctly?
Remember when I said all kids learn and develop at different stages? Just because your best friends 4 year old daughter is writing her letters doesn’t mean your 6 year old son should be proficiently writing his.
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Keep working on letter formation with these fun exercises. One stroke at a time, one letter at a time.
There’s no right or wrong answer for when your child will write his letters correctly. But if you suspect a learning disability see someone in your community trained to test for learning disabilities. If you’re on good terms with your public school, that could be a good place to start to find testing.
Wow! Very helpful