#resourceshandwriting

Mistakes to Avoid When Teaching Handwriting

Anna Geiger

The Measured Mom

I receive many emails from parents asking me for help when teaching their young children to form letters. When should they start? What should they use? What letters should they teach first? Let’s take a look at five common mistakes to avoid when teaching handwriting … and what to do instead.

Mistake #1: Rushing Into It

Children need lots of time exploring with markers, crayons, and other tools before we begin handwriting lessons. There’s no need to rush! My three-year-old is very busy with markers, crayons, scissors, and glue all day long. Mr. Sketch scented markers are a fun favorite!

Don’t get me wrong – we talk about letters a lot, and my Three loved our letter of the week series. But I haven’t attempted any formal handwriting practice with her just yet.

Mistake #2: Neglecting fine motor skills

It’s common for parents to think that the first step is teaching their child to hold a pencil and form letters, but that should come after many playful fine motor activities. These don’t have to be structured. Think simple!

- Spraying water from a spray bottle

- Stringing Cheerios on a piece of yarn

- Punching with a single whole punch

- Simple crafts with scissors and glue

Just today, my Ten helped my Three glue colored paper to some cardboard tubes for a pair of binoculars. (Yes, we go through a lot of glue sticks around here!)

Mistake #3: Jumping to worksheets before children are ready

Many early childhood educators feel strongly that no preschoolers should be doing handwriting worksheets.  I wouldn’t go quite that far, but I’d definitely agree that most three and four-year-olds should not be using traditional handwriting pages.

Instead, give them a variety of surfaces and materials to write on/in. Here are some of our favorites!

- small dry erase boards with fine-tip, low odor Expo markers (these are our favorites) - writing in a sand, sugar, or salt tray - drawing with chalk on the driveway - using markers to draw on bed sheets during quiet time  (I wasn’t too happy when my Three tried this one!)

Mistake #4 Teaching the letters in order

I like to start with the letters of my child’s name. (And yes, we do start in all capitals, because they’re easier to write.) Then we move on to the letters in this order – from easiest to hardest.

E, F, H, I, L, T, V, W, X, K, M, N, Y, A, Z, C, O, G, Q, B, D, J, P, U, R, S

I have found that after my children know how to write uppercase letters, they are ready to learn to write lowercase letters in any order. But if you want to have a more structured approach, start with letters that include all straight lines (such as t, i, etc.), move on to letters with slanted lines (v, k, x, etc.) and then conclude with letters that have curved lines or a combination of straight and curved lines (a, b, r, s, etc.).

Mistake #5: Neglecting proper letter formation

I prefer the Zaner Bloser handwriting style. In fact, that style has been the inspiration for all of the handwriting pages you can find on my site. It’s a simple block style that works well for young writers. I appreciate the emphasis of starting at the top when forming letters.

My Letters of All Sizes handwriting pages are great for young writers. Have your child start at the dot to form each letter inside the bubble. Your child can do just the large letters or – if (s)he is ready – all the letters on the page. I should note that my Three was happy to model this page for you, but I don’t plan to focus on these until she’s four or five years old.

What’s the use of handwriting?

Jane Medwell and David Wray 

The Go teach! Handwriting White Paper, written by Jane Medwell, University of Nottingham and David Wray, University of Warwick, analyses and reviews existing literature to highlight the clear academic evidence that handwriting is an essential foundation for children’s learning. 

The findings from the White Paper provide a clear call to action to teachers, parents, and policy makes to prioritize the effective teaching of handwriting and to encourage more children to write more often. 

Coloring Sheets

These coloring sheets are ideal for motivating children to practice using a range of different fine motor and writing materials through the coloring scaffolds.

Children could complete the coloring sheets using different media and then once complete, cut out or use to make stick puppets, use in role-play or for display. Story related coloring sheets could be used to develop fine motor skills alongside developing understanding of a class book or text. Coloring sheets could also be used during child initiated free play in the setting.

Gross Motor Skills Activity Cards

These cards are useful for developing essential gross motor skills such as hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, body positioning and control, core stability, and postural control.

As part of a group activity, an adult can first demonstrate the skills shown on these cards, and students can develop their gross motor skills independently in an open space. These cards can also be shared on an interactive whiteboard as a whole class activity, as a warm up at the start of a PE lesson, or as a brain break during other learning activities.

Line Writing Activity Book

This activity book helps children learn how to develop control and write straight lines, both of which are excellent precursors to letter formation.

As a warm up, children can engage in ‘air writing’ to practice the movements of the patterns on the activity sheets. Children can use a variety of media such as foam, chalk, play dough, and water squirters to trace and overwrite the patterns.

Mark Making Challenge Cards

These cards can be used as part of an adult led or group activity to develop mark making skills using a variety of materials.

They can be used as a part of an adult lead group activity to develop mark making skills using a variety of materials. Students can use these independently to challenge and motivate their early writing, or they can be shared on an interactive whiteboard as a whole class activity.

Pencil Control Activity Sheets

These activity sheets develop pencil control, pressure, placement, and directionality through progression of mark-making lines, loops, circles, and zig-zag patterns.

Pencil control sheets could be used for individual pencil control/pressure practice as an adult led activity, where the adult models correct pencil grip, pressure and control. Children could warm up by air writing the patterns with their fingers or ribbons or making ‘big’ movements with their bodies to copy the shapes, including to music. Further uses include as a home school activity or laminated with whiteboard pens around the setting in writing areas, role-play or child led areas.

Go teach! Handwriting

Students who write by hand are better connected to their work and more engaged in learning.

We believe handwriting is the foundation for learning.

The mission of the Go teach! Handwriting program is to reinforce the importance of handwriting as a vital skill and create fun and engaging ways to enable more children to write more often.

We are committed to reaching children across the country to ensure that handwriting plays an important role in every child’s education both today and in future. As the global leader in writing instruments with our large portfolio of brands, as well as through our dedication to develop innovative handwriting products, our commitment is clear.

Every child should be able to enjoy the learning benefits of handwriting!