Learning Through Movement

/ 2A: Introduction to Handwriting / 2B: Handwriting warm ups / 2C: Handwriting cool downs / 2D: Handwriting and pencil grasp support / 2E: Hand dominance support / 2F: Hand strength and further support on all areas / 2G: Handwriting practice

2G: Handwriting practice

There are many techniques and programmes you can use to practise handwriting skills. Whilst we cannot go into fine detail within this resource, here are a few ideas.

Click the arrow to expand each one or click here to expand all of the examples below:

Practice pre-writing shapes

The ability to produce pre-writing shapes is a prerequisite to the ability to combine those shapes to form letters and pictures.

Practise up – down, over – under and diagonal movements large then small. Practising large to small enables learning the movement and then refining it.

Group similar letters

For example: a, g, q, c, d or l, t, h. This will simplify the movements required to practise the letters and generalise the movements across a series of letters.

Use a multi-sensory approach

Use chalk, sand, glitter, paint etc. to produce pre-writing shapes and then letters. This increases sensory feedback as well as practising the movement.

Draw shapes on the child’s back and get them to guess what they are – this provides an understanding of the feel of letters and aids recall.

Promote handwriting programmes

If handwriting becomes an issue beyond EY look at using a handwriting program to support learners who are finding handwriting a challenge. There are many programs available.

Dig Deeper

The "Handwriting Practice" presentation on this page provides more detailed information and the video "Tactile Fabrics" shows a really nice multisensory activity to use for practising letter formation.

Tactile Fabrics

Click here to download a transcript of this video

Handwriting Practice

Click here to download the powerpoint presentation

Thinking Points

Learning to handwrite can be a deeply frustrating experience for some learners. Always try to keep in mind way that you can make this fun and engaging, especially for older children or those struggling to develop their handwriting

Supportive Resources

There are many resources on LGfL that support writing in many different ways. Below we have listed two that are particularly helpful in regard to handwriting activities.

www.busythings.lgfl.net – Lots of excellent and fun activities for drawing shapes and letter formation
www.multisensorylearning.lgfl.net – The Literacy section within Multisensory Learning gives some great advice on using a multisensory approach to support writing

Module 2F