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You are here: Home / Handwriting Help / How to Teach Handwriting To Kids

How to Teach Handwriting To Kids

December 29, 2016 by Amy Smith

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!

Learn how to teach handwriting to kids so they can learn tips for writing legibly.

#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.

teaching-kids-pencil-grasp-fi

#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:

how to teach handwriting to kids

#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:

how to teach handwriting to kids

#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:

How to teach handwriting to kids

lowercase-alphabet-edited

#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.dots-on-top#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.

left-over-candy-twisler-letters

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!

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Filed Under: Handwriting Help Tagged With: handwriting, kids, school

Disclaimer

Kids Play Smarter is a blog about general ideas, theories, and concepts related to the field of occupational therapy and the growth and development of all children. The information presented on this blog is not intended to serve as or replace occupational therapy services for your child. The information on this blog is for entertainment, informational, and educational purposes only. This blog is not meant to replace formal professional consultation or evaluation from a qualified clinician. All children need to have the approval of a physician to participate in physical activities, including those described on this blog. In addition, children need to be supervised by a responsible adult at ALL times when completing activities that are illustrated and described on this blog. The author of this blog is NOT responsible or liable for any damage, injury, accident, illness, death, or adverse reaction due to participation in the activities described on the website.

Comments

  1. Brandy says

    January 3, 2017 at 2:28 am

    Help me with my autistic son and hand writing ..He hates it

    • Amy SmithAmy Smith says

      January 3, 2017 at 9:55 pm

      My best advise is to try to make handwriting not “feel” like handwriting. Try some of the activities in the fine motor section and Handwriting Help secion for ways to improve writing skills without actually doing writing! Good luck!

  2. Alyson says

    January 3, 2017 at 4:17 am

    Do you have anything for cursive writing? We are teaching our autistic 12 year old because it lacks the stop and go, picking up and placing the pencil, her printing is all over the place and cursive seemed to have a flow to it. Her writing has improved since beginning to teach her cursive. Thank you.

    • Amy SmithAmy Smith says

      January 3, 2017 at 9:53 pm

      Thanks for the question Alyson… I do not yet have a post on cursive writing but I have been asked now by a few different readers to include one. I will keep that idea in mind and will hope to get to it sometime in the near future, so keep reading!! 🙂

  3. Jenn says

    January 4, 2017 at 1:23 am

    My son has odd possible adhd and autistic traits. He hates writing and it’s usually done so fast and sloppy.

    • Amy SmithAmy Smith says

      April 29, 2017 at 1:52 pm

      Look at other factors that are influencing attention. Here is a great link for tips on getting kids to sit still and focus… https://kidsplaysmarter.com/help-my-child-cant-sit-still/

  4. Peepal Prodigy School says

    January 7, 2017 at 7:07 am

    A great blog to teach good handwriting for kids. There should be separate classes for teaching handwriting. If this practice is implemented, children wouldn’t struggle in the future by their bad handwriting habits. Thanks for sharing this information. It will be useful for parents as well as school teachers.

    • Amy SmithAmy Smith says

      April 29, 2017 at 1:56 pm

      Thank you so much for reading and seeing the importance of building good writing habits!

Welcome to Kids Play Smarter

Amy Smith I am an occupational therapist with over 10 years of experience working with children. I created this website to offer parents, teachers, and therapists FREE ideas, strategies, and activities that they can do with their children to improve their fine and gross motor skills, handwriting, academic learning, and regulate their sensory system all while "playing" (just playing smarter)! Read More…

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