Does your child struggle with handwriting? Does your child hate handwriting practice? Improve your child’s handwriting with fun activities that don’t require a pencil!
If forcing your child to scribble on page after page of handwriting workbooks makes you cringe, please know I’m right there with you. I am a proponent of making learning fun and interesting!
Practical Life activities, therapy games, art, science, and language materials offer indirect and direct handwriting practice. They support muscle strength, hand dexterity, and fine motor skills effectively improving your child’s handwriting without the stress and tedium.
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Indirect Handwriting Practice
Indirect purposeful practical life activities, therapy games, art, and science increase muscle strength, hand dexterity, and fine motor skills without putting pencil to paper. Handwriting worksheets have their place, but the underlying support achieved through indirect exercises brings ease and fun into improving your child’s handwriting!
Direct Handwriting Activities
When hand muscles and fine motor skills are more developed, move into direct handwriting practice like language materials (tracing Sandpaper Letters, sensory handwriting trays), handwriting workbooks, writing projects, and various lined papers.
Indirect Activities to Improve Your Child’s Handwriting
Practical Life, Therapy Games, Art, and Science
What are Practical Life Activities?
Practical Life skills taught in a Montessori classroom include the care of the environment, the care of self, grace, and courtesy. Practical Life activities develop social/emotional skills, gross (large) motor skills, fine (small) motor skills, and executive functioning skills (i.e. concentration, working memory, planning, and goal completion). In addition, they build independence, confidence, and a sense of value for a child in his/her environment.
For our purposes, Montessori Practical Life Skills support handwriting skills nicely because they:
- Strengthen hand muscles
- Develop gross and fine motor skills
- Increase hand dexterity
- Develop hand-eye coordination
Therapy games, art projects, and science experiments develop the same skills to improve your child’s handwriting.
Isolation of Skill
The practical life activities (as well as therapy games, art, and science) can be classified by which skill and muscle area they isolate and develop:
- Gross Motor (large motor)
- Whole arm- Scrubbing, stirring, whisking, hand mixing
- Whole hand grasp- transferring objects, stirring, whisking, hand mixing, grating
- Fine Motor (small motor)
- Wrist- scooping, spooning, pouring, sewing, knitting, crocheting
- Finger dexterity (pincher pencil grip)- tongs, chopsticks, dropper, paintbrush
In addition, practical life, therapy games, art, and science activities develop much-needed executive function skills:
- Order
- Organization
- Concentration
- Following multi-step instructions
- Focus (including staying focused with distractions)
- Attention
- Impulse control and self-regulation
- Working memory
- Planning and executing goals
Practical Life Exercises to Improve Your Child’s Handwriting
Gross Motor Skills (whole arm/whole hand movements)
Scrubbing
Gather a small tub, an object to wash such as a plastic doll, dinosaur, truck, etc., a scrub brush, a piece of soap, a pitcher for pouring water into the tub, and a towel for drying the object.
Demonstrate filling the pitcher, pouring it over the object in the tub, soaping the scrub brush, scrubbing the object, pouring fresh water to rinse, drying the object and work area, and putting everything away.
After you demonstrate, leave the tub, object, pitcher, soap, and brush on a shelf so the child can independently do this activity whenever she wishes.
Variation: The child scrubs a wooden or metal table, a footstool, or wooden chair.
Shoe Shining
Gather an old pair of shoes (your own or a second-hand pair), shoe shine, a small shoe-shining brush, a cloth, and a child-sized apron.
Demonstrate how to set out the cloth, open the shoe shine, apply it to the brush, and use circular motion to shine the shoe. Demonstrate how to clean up.
After your initial demonstration, leave the items in a basket on a shelf so the child can independently do this activity whenever she wants.
Cooking and Baking
Choose a recipe to make together. Allow the child to do as much stirring, hand mixing, whisking, grating, mashing, rolling, and egg cracking as possible!
Piping Frosting
Spread frosting over an entire cake using an icing spatula. Fill a piping bag with frosting using a spatula. Use a whole-hand grasp to squeeze the bag and move it around to decorate. Alternatively, decorate rice krispie treats or brownies.
Soap Mixing
Grate a bar of soap into small shavings. Pour a pitcher of water into a bowl and add the soap shavings. Use an old-fashioned hand-crank egg beater or a whisk to beat the soap into frothy bubbles.
Household Chores
Sweeping, vacuuming, washing dishes, and doing laundry utilize gross motor skills and provide value to the family community.
Yard Work
Raking, leaf blowing, bush trimming, picking up sticks, pushing a wheelbarrow, and moving rocks or mulch for landscaping strengthen gross motor muscles and contribute to the community experience.
Fine Motor Skills (wrist and fingers)
Sewing
Children as young as preschoolers enjoy sewing. If threading the needle proves too difficult or frustrating, pre-thread needles for use.
Gather a needle, thread, an embroidery hoop, fabric to place in the hoop, and a fabric pen to draw or trace a shape to sew.
Demonstrate how to thread the needle (if the child is ready) and knot the end, how to draw or trace a figure on the fabric, and how to sew stitches along the lines drawn. Alternatively, sew a button (or several buttons) onto the fabric instead of drawing a shape.
Leave the sewing materials in a basket or prepared on a tray so the child can do the activity whenever she wants. If necessary, keep the needle out of reach so the child only needs to ask you for the needle to begin the work.
Crocheting/Knitting
Demonstrate how to crochet or knit then leave the materials in a basket so the child can do the activity whenever she wants. Leah, of Leah’s Tangled Treasures, made this adorable pink bear. She learned to crochet in her homeschool co-op and now, at 15, owns her own business crocheting original custom creations. Visit her Shop Leah’s Tangled Treasures. She custom crochets and ships! Follow her on Facebook, Leah’s Tangled Treasures!
Flower Arranging
Flower arranging uses fine motor skills, most importantly, the pincher pencil grip.
Cooking and Baking
Choose a recipe to cook or bake together. Allow the child to pour, scoop, and tong as much as possible.
Frosting Piping
Precisely place decorations with a pincher grip. Control the frosting using precise hand and wrist movement to create flowers, swirls, and borders using different decorating tips. Decorate right onto a cake, rice krispie treat, or brownie. Alternatively, use a frosting practice board to isolate the skill.
Dressing frames give children the opportunity to tie, button, snap, and clasp without the frustration that comes from struggling to tie one’s shoes or button one’s shirt, often at odd angles. Alternatively, put a pair of shoes to tie, a shirt to button, and a belt to buckle in a basket for the child to work on. Check out dressing frames from Alison’s Montessori HERE.
Plant Washing
Indoor plants often get dusty. Provide cotton balls and a small bowl of water for the child to clean each plant leaf. Hold the cotton ball with a pincher grip, dip it into the water squeezing out the excess, and wipe each leaf. Arrange the materials on a tray and leave it on the shelf so the child can clean the plant whenever she wants.
Silver Polishing
If you don’t have any real silver around the house, check the second-hand stores. Set up a tray with the silver piece, the polish, and several cotton balls. The child dips the cotton ball in the polish, then uses the three-finger pincher grip (used to hold a pencil) to move in a circular motion to polish the silver. Leave the prepared tray on a shelf so the child can polish the silver whenever she wants.
Clothes Pinning
Set up a clothesline and allow the child to pin clothes to it. Doll clothing (smaller and more easily managed) allows the child to focus on pinching the pin open and attaching it to the line. As an added step, allow the child to wash the clothes in a tub using a washboard and wring it out before hanging it to dry.
Napkin Folding
Small finger and wrist movements are required to fold a cloth napkin. A simple rectangular fold or roll works nicely but search for more advanced folding techniques for added skill.
Wet Pouring
Pouring activities require precise wrist movement and finger/hand placement. Set up a tray with different pitchers and cups the child can use to pour liquid from one to another. Tea party anyone?!
Dry Pouring and Spooning
Set up a tray with different pitchers and cups the child can use to pour dry substances like beans, lentils, split peas, and rice. Instead of pouring, try spooning from one bowl to another.
Gardening
Weeding, digging holes with a spade or the fingers, picking up small seeds and placing them in a hole, transferring a plant into a hole and patting the earth around it use and develop small motor skills. The value and contribution to the family community give the child a sense of pride and personal accomplishment.
Therapy Games to Improve Your Child’s Handwriting
Gross Motor Skills
Tennis Ball Gobbler
Cut a slit in a tennis ball. The child uses a whole-hand grip (gross motor) to squeeze the ball so the slit opens allowing her to collect small objects on a tray into the ball.
Fine Motor Skills
Chopsticks Picker Upper
Use a pair of children’s chopsticks to pick up several small items on a tray and place them in a container. This strengthens the pincher grip used when holding a pencil.
Dry Rice Sensory Bin
Fill a small bin or tub with dry rice. Hide small objects in the rice the child must search for and find. She uses a pincher finger grip to grab the items and pick up individual pieces of rice. After they have all been found she hides them again. For added interest (and reading practice) set up an “I Spy” game with a list of items she must find in the rice. Other variations include hiding items along a theme or coloring the rice with food coloring.
Art Projects to Improve Your Child’s Handwriting
Gross Motor Skills
Painting
Using a thick paintbrush and wide paint strokes uses large motor skills.
Sidewalk Chalk
Thick chalk held in a whole-hand grasp and large arm movements to draw on the sidewalk uses large motor skills as does bending over and standing up.
Clay or Play-do
Kneading, rolling, and molding clay or play-do with the whole hand strengthens the hand, fingers, and wrists.
Fine Motor Skills
Perler Beads
Children use tongues to pick up each bead and place it on a frame.
Painting
Holding a small paintbrush with small brush strokes mimics holding a pencil using the same grip and small wrist movements.
Eye-dropper Color Mixing
Use an eye-dropper to mix primary colors. Provide three separate bowls with colored water red, blue, and yellow using food coloring. Provide several empty bowls the child can use to mix colors using the dropper. The child uses a pincher pencil grip to suck up and release the water.
Drawing
How to Draw Books encourages children to use a pencil to create lines forming interesting shapes (other than letters). Free drawing allows creative storytelling without writing a word.
Cutting
Scissors require a whole hand and finger grip increasing strength and finger dexterity.
Give the child a piece of paper and let them cut it into pieces as the most basic practice.
Draw vertical, wavy, or spiral guidelines on construction paper for the child to cut along depending on her skill level.
Mardi Gras beads make a great cutting activity. Cut the string between each bead. Use the beads as loose pieces in art.
Cut a straw into pieces and use the pieces in art projects or make a necklace out of them using a piece of yarn.
Necklace Making
Stringing beads onto yarn or thread requires fine motor dexterity and concentration.
Origami
The art of paper folding uses small finger and wrist movements. In addition, children must follow a series of steps, use hand-eye coordination, and concentrate.
Real or fake flower arranging improves fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, planning, and execution. The child uses the pincher pencil grip to hold the stems.
Loose Pieces Art
A collection of loose pieces for art creation entices children to pick up small and large objects using a pincher grip, place and adhere them carefully using their fingers and wrists, plan creatively, focus, concentrate, and problem-solve. Create abstract art or make creative cards to give to friends and family!
Some examples include pipe cleaners, pom-poms, ribbons, sequins, dried or fresh flowers, leaves, stickers, cardboard boxes, craft sticks, etc.
Clay and Play-Do
Clay sculpting tools use fine motor skills to scratch, poke, carve, and mold the clay into the desired 3-D form. Sculpey clay baked in the oven results in unique pieces of art. Create clay beads for necklace making! Roll the clay, poke a hole with a craft stylus or clay tool, bake for 15 min., and viola!
Craft Stylus Tool Poking
Print or draw a picture on a piece of construction paper. Instead of cutting the picture out the child uses a stylus or push pin to make a series of tiny holes around the edge until it is “punched out.” Make sure to put a self-healing craft mat, or an equivalent, under the paper for the sharp pinpoint to enter.
Metal Frame and Inset Tracing
Tracing inside a frame or tracing around a shape prepares the hand for writing. After tracing the shape draw vertical or horizontal lines inside the shape. Drawing vertical and horizontal lines isolates the skill of lines in forming capital and lowercase manuscript letters which go from top to bottom and left to right.
Science Experiments to Improve Your Child’s Handwriting
Fine Motor Skills
Eye Dropper and A Penny
Use an eyedropper to place droplets of water on a penny one drop at a time. Children will notice the drops of water begin to form a bulge on top of the penny. This demonstrates surface tension as the water molecules are attracted to one another. At some point the surface tension breaks, causing the water to spill off the penny.
Pouring
An easy experiment that emphasizes pouring is liquid density. Choose a jar with a lid. Pour a thick, viscous liquid like honey or molasses into the jar just covering the bottom. Next, pour water into the jar filling it half to 2/3 full. Finally, pour oil into the jar leaving room for some air at the top. Observe that the three liquids remain separate due to the density of each liquid. Shake the jar to mix the liquids. Set the jar down and observe over some time that the liquids separate again with the most dense at the bottom and the least dense at the top.
Direct Activities to Improve Your Child’ Handwriting
Language materials, Handwriting workbooks, Writing projects, Writing paper and, Notebooks
Language Materials
Sandpaper Letters
Children use the pointer and middle finger to trace the rough sandpaper letters increasing muscle memory for forming the shape of the letter in handwriting. The Sandpaper Letters emphasize proper letter formation.
Sensory Writing Tray
Fill a tray with dry rice and allow the child to “write” the letter in the rice following the proper formation. Shake the tray to make the letter disappear. Fill the tray with sand, dry beans, or lentils for a different experience.
Handwriting Workbooks to Improve Your Child’s Handwriting
Yes, workbooks and worksheets have their place. When the muscles are stronger and children have practiced proper formation in tactile ways, it is so much easier! In my experience, here are the best handwriting workbooks for student success:
Manuscript (print)
Handwriting without Tears
The Handwriting Without Tears Workbooks Introduce letter writing according to strokes and appeal to children’s imagination for memory cues.
For example, the “Magic C” letters a, d, and g all begin by making a “c.” The “Frog Jump” letters F, D, P, and M require your finger to go from top to bottom and then “frog jump” back up to the top to continue making the letter.
In addition to workbooks, they sell manipulative wooden pieces to form capital letters, small chalkboards to practice writing letters, block paper, and handwriting paper.
Printing Power Grade 1 Student Workbook and Teacher Manual
The First Grade Bundle includes student and teacher workbooks, a notebook, and pencils.
Printing Power Grade 2 Student Workbook and Teacher Manual
The Second Grade Bundle includes student and teacher workbooks, a journal, and pencils.
Universal Handwriting (Manuscript)
Universal Handwriting isolates horizontal and vertical strokes used when writing capital manuscript letters. Children practice individual letters but quickly progress to writing words and sentences giving them a sense of purpose and progress.
Cursive
Universal Handwriting (Cursive)
Universal Handwriting workbooks teach letters according to common pencil strokes. Children practice individual strokes and letters but quickly progress to connecting letters and writing words, sentences, and paragraphs giving a sense of purpose and progress to their work.
The workbooks reinforce the proper spacing between letters, spacing between words, and paragraph indentation. The paragraphs for copying describe historical figures (i.e. Sacagawea and Winston Churchill) and geographical places and events (i.e. Boston and The Boston Tea Party) integrating other subject areas.
Universal Handwriting 2 Intro to Cursive
Universal Handwriting 3 Beginning Cursive
Universal Handwriting 4 Reinforcing Cursive
The Good and the Beautiful Cursive
Rainbow color points guide letter formation and aid in memory recall.
Writing Projects to Improve Your Child’s Handwriting
Creative story writing gives children creative expression and authentic handwriting practice. Research topics based on a child’s interest inspire them to write about something they care about and give purpose to their writing. High motivation results when choice and purpose inspire writing.
Fun and interesting notebooks, pens, and pencils entice children to write. Experiment with blank unlined journals for nature journaling, lined journals with interesting covers, notepads for list making, or order receipt paper. Creativity contributes to helping improve your child’s handwriting.
The right paper can inspire or inhibit a child’s motivation to write.
Writing Paper and Notebooks to Improve Your Child’s Handwriting
Working with learners of all age levels over twenty years allowed me to try many different notebooks and papers with children of all skill levels. In my experience, the following notebooks and papers support learners the best.
Emergent Writers
Blank paper is ideal for emergent writers because they write letters, words, and pictures without formal lines. At this level, formal lines equal intimidation and frustration. Typically, children draw a picture to represent a word, write one letter for a word (i.e. “B” for ball), or write as many letters they hear for a word (i.e. RANBO for rainbow).
Beginning Writers (K-1st)
Beginning writers need lots of support forming letters on lined paper. They typically form large letters. Large lines with guidance cues help. A dashed line between two solid lines, a highlighted upper or lower line, or a picture for the lower and upper areas of formation guides children with visual cues. Give specific lessons for where to start on the paper, where to start letter formation, proper letter formation on the lines, how to leave a finger-width space between words, and where to go when you get to the end of a line (no, it’s not the middle of the page!).
Intermediate Writers (2nd – 3rd grade grade)
Intermediate writers have more control over the hand muscles and begin to form smaller letters. Large lined paper becomes cumbersome and slows them down. However, they still need somewhat larger lines to practice as they gain mastery over letter formation.
Proficient Writers (3rd – 8th grade)
Proficient writers display mastery over letter formation but continue to practice neat penmanship. Small lined paper with minimal guides (a dashed line between two solids) helps them write neatly. Children at this level typically write authentic pieces for assignments, research reports, and creative stories.
Pens, Pencils, and Pencil Grips to Improve Your Child’s Handwriting.
Pencils, pens, and pencil grips support or hinder handwriting. I encourage pencil writing when practicing penmanship skills, but a pen sometimes provides a smoother writing experience that encourages a struggling writer.
Pencil grips provide finger placement guidance. Many children struggle with handwriting because they have an improper grip that fatigues the hand muscles.
In addition, pencil grips protect fingers from rubbing and blistering against the pencil. Try different grips if necessary to find one your child likes.
These adorable Owl pencil grips are perfect for Owl Tree Montessori!
Three-Step Pencil Grip Training Kit (3 graduating grips)
I sincerely hope you find a few activities from the list of indirect handwriting activities above that your child enjoys. Practical life, therapy games, art, and science offer many opportunities to strengthen the hand without tedious practice.
Moving on to direct handwriting practice with language materials, workbooks, and considerations for pencils and grips bring it all together.
What is your child’s biggest struggle with handwriting or the gross and fine motor skills that affect handwriting?
What indirect handwriting activity does your child enjoy the most?
What direct handwriting practice or support does your child like the best?
What other gross and fine motor skill activities could you add to the list above?
Comment Below!
I appreciate the thorough list of ideas for strengthening a child’s writing skills and building confidence in their performance of a task. Thank you for the time you took to contribute these ideas & pictures, as well. I hope to come along side my granddaughter this summer to build up weak areas in her academics and promote confidence to her as she masters them.