Ways for your Preschooler to Practice Penmanship (part 1)

As we are working on learning our letters we have been having fun learning how to write them. Here are several ways that you can help your preschooler or kindergartener have fun while learning to write letters and words. You can also use these same techniques to practice tracing and working on any fine motor skills. … … First we have sticky sticks. These are great for tracing letters you can also use them for “dot-to-dot” activities. I drew the letters out first for my daughter, but for a more advanced writer, you can leave the dots and have your child “guess” the letter they are tracing as they use the sticky sticks to go from dot-to-dot and form the letters.… … We have also used a mini-whiteboard to create letters. Our kids are still at the early stage of writing, so I need to write the letter first (usually in one color of dry erase marker) and then our kids will trace the letter I wrote in another marker. If your child is already able to write letters, you can play a guessing game where you write the letter and try to guess what the letter is before you are finished writing it – you can also do the same “game” with words. … … … … This is one of my kids favorite tracing activities. My son especially loves the way that the gel “squishes”. They are super easy to make with things you should already have at home (ziplock baggie, hair gel & food coloring). Basically, I filled a bag with gel, added the food coloring, used packing tape to seal the top and let the kids have fun! We traced letters, maps, pictures, and even just “squished” the bag with our hands. Be careful, the bags can burst with enough force. … … Another way to practice letters is either writing in playdough or molding playdough. Kids love things that are tactile and playdough is such a versatile resource!