5 Top Tips To Improve Handwriting In Children
The importance of handwriting for children cannot be understated. In this blog post, we took the advice of three teachers who bring you the key facts about handwriting and give their tips for improving YOUR child’s handwriting. We’ve also included a few ‘top tips’ of our own for how to improve handwriting!
The Importance of Handwriting
Teacher Ruth Cartwright, @craftcartwright on Twitter says: “Handwriting is an important fine motor skill to develop. It encourages concentration and helps build connections in the brain.”
Facts About Handwriting
Ruth told us that in her teaching experience 40 per cent of children can write their name before they start school.
However Zoë; another teacher, made it clear this can differ depending on the area that you are teaching in. Last year just three of her 30 pupils, from an inner city school, could write letters before starting school.
How Can I Improve My Child’s Handwriting?
Click on the below image to view and download a copy of our top tips for improving your child’s handwriting!
We’ve come up with this super simple, clear checklist to help you help your children with improving their handwriting.
When it comes to handwriting for children it is crucial that they have the right environment and equipment. Even the grip on the pen can make all the difference.
It’s also important to encourage your children to write slowly as this leads to better technique and fewer mistakes. But don’t forget to keep it fun!
Remember that to improve handwriting your child will need patience and support. By using our top tips you should see a marked improvement in no time.
The importance of handwriting shouldn’t take away from the fact that learning to write should be fun for your child.
Why not have a go at using our handwriting worksheets for practice at home?
More Tips For How To Improve Handwriting
Nazira from ‘Hey Ummi’, home-schools her young daughter.
She told us: “Neat handwriting comes with practise so let them play, learn to hold a pencil and practise in a fun way to strengthen their motor skills and just enjoy it without being too serious or putting on the pressure.”
Nazira added: “As they become more confident and with positive encouragement they will flourish and become so much better at handwriting without even trying. I know parents who have felt the need for their child to be able to write their name by the time they start nursery. However, I never did that with my daughter, because at that age I think it’s best to learn through play. And because she could hold a pencil anyway, that for me was a big step in the right direction. In my opinion children should be able to write by the age of 5 but I don’t mean that it should be perfect. At that age I feel like practise is what they need to become better. Even if the handwriting is not perfect as long as you can read it then that is fine. By the time they are 6 they will be able to write well enough to progress onto cursive handwriting.”
To take a look at the creative activities Nazira gets up to with home schooling check out her Hey Ummi YouTube channel.
How To Improve Handwriting and Make it Fun!
Read on for some exciting ideas from teacher Zoë . . .
- Get kids to try writing with whiteboard pens on boards.
- Or get them to give good old fashioned chalk a go!
- Use lots of coloured pens and gel pens (like uni-ball Signos) .
Zoë also suggests children that haven’t yet started writing should play and draw with: “Shaving foam, paint, mud, coloured sand, hair gel, soap bubbles, jelly and magnetic letters!”
Thanks to Zoë from Not Your Average Zoe for contributing to this blog post.