How do you go about teaching handwriting? There are many different ways to help children learn to handwrite and other handwriting techniques. Here are some handwriting activities to help you teach handwriting to preschoolers.
Ways to Make Teaching Handwriting Easier
It is always a challenging task teaching handwriting. There are so many curriculums and different methods. Some curriculums teach capital letters first, lowercase first, or both. Look at multisensory handwriting ideas to help with your handwriting instructions. Multisensory activities are developmentally appropriate for younger learners, giving them some fun to practice handwriting.
How Do Multisensory Activities Help Students Learn Letter Formation?
Multisensory writing is a great way to start writing instruction. These activities often do not involve a pencil, paper, or workbook! They often think about letter formation, fine motor skills, and gross motor skills. We have fun handwriting lesson plans.
Teaching Handwriting with Multisensory Activities
#1: Air Writing
Many parents want their children to write letters from the beginning and practice in different workbooks. But, air writing is a great way to get your child thinking about letter formation. Have your child form other letters in the air, and they can pretend their index finger is a lightsaber or magic wand.
#2: Easel Practice
If you have an easel available, pull it out! Having young learners practice their handwriting skills on a vertical surface is recommended by most occupational therapists, and it tops their list of handwriting strategies to help children. Bring out the paint or shaving cream and let your child practice all the different letters. You may even find letter cards and vocalize how to make each letter with your child. Don’t have an easel? A window works just the same.
#3: Play-Doh and Wikki Stix
Grab some play-doh, wikki stix, or pipe cleaners, and let your child form letters with the materials. Wikki Stix and pipe cleaners are easily tied together and bendable. This activity brings in a lot of different motor skills, and kids at the preschool level need to build those skills up before being able to have the correct pencil grip.
#4: Cookie Trays
Once your child has practiced vertical writing, try adding in some handwriting practice on cookie trays. You can add sand, salt, or colored rice, and they can practice letter formation. Remember, the child needs to vocalize their steps when forming or writing the different letters. “First, I climb up the mountain, then I climb down the mountain, and finally we go through the mountain.” This is an excellent time to let them start to practice their pencil grasp. Give them an unsharpened pencil, chopstick, or another fun object that is the same size and shape as a pencil, and let them practice with it in different materials.
Teaching Handwriting Lessons
Once your child has had plenty of practice with multisensory activities, you may feel like it is time to pick up a workbook and pencil! Finding a handwriting curriculum or resource you love is the next step. The Relaxed Homeschool has a FREE Handwriting Binder. This binder includes 48 pages of printable handwriting worksheets for handwriting practice. This binder is full of resources to teach children how to form letters using a pencil and allows them to practice line tracing as well!
