How to Teach Handwriting To Kids

Unfortunately, many schools have eliminated teaching one of the most critical elements of education: handwriting.  Although children are expected to write legibly, many have never been taught how.  Without a solid writing foundation, many kids begin to form bad writing habits and then struggle with handwriting throughout the rest of their formal education.  Stop these bad habits from forming and help your child build a strong writing foundation with these handwriting tips for kids!

#1 Get the right grasp

Many kids are at a disadvantage with writing even before their pencil hits the paper because they are using an immature grasp for their age.  Pencil grasps follow a typical developmental progression and by around age 3.5, children should be using a “tripod grasp” or holding the pencil with 3 fingers, similar to the grasps of older children and adults.  Check out this article, Teaching Kids Pencil Grasp for easy ways to get your child’s grasp to where it should be.

#2 Start with Lines 

Each letter in the alphabet is made up of some combination of vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or curved lines, so if your child can draw these lines, then he has the capability to make each letter.  There is a typical developmental progression for drawing lines, so make sure you follow this sequence when introducing lines:

#3 Move to Shapes

After your child learns how to draw each line, help them to practice placement and connecting lines together by drawing shapes.  The basic shapes (cross, circle, square, and diamond) contain all of the line types needed to make each letter. Follow this sequence of shape drawing:

#4- Don’t learn letters in ABC order 

One of the most common mistakes is teaching handwriting in ABC order.  As mentioned above, children’s handwriting follows a natural  pattern of development (vertical lines, horizontal lines, circular lines, and diagonal lines). So, it makes sense to teach the letters that contain horizontal and vertical lines first, then move to those with circles, and lastly those letters containing diagonals.  Here’s the order of which letters to teach in accordance to developmental patterns:

#5- Use Dots for Correct Starting Points

Letters are meant to be formed in a top-down direction which means each letter needs to start at the top.  If letters aren’t formed properly and they start at the bottom, there’s a greater tendency that the letter will be reversed (written backwards) or written illegibly.  So, get your child in the habit of good letter formation by placing dots at the top of where each letter should begin.#6- Don’t just write letters,  MAKE letters!

As with anything we learn, we retain information better when it’s presented in a hands-on way. Reinforce learning by making letters out of fun materials like Play Doh, Twizzlers, pipe cleaners, or popsicle sticks!  After you build the letter several times, have the child trace it and then write it.

Whether your child is just beginning to learn how to write or has been writing for years, its never to late to try these tips for writing improvement!