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Handwriting practice and penmanship have been a really fun new adventure for Squeaks and I to explore together. I wish you could hear the excitement and pride in her voice when she writes out the letters of the alphabet.
Obviously teaching good penmanship takes a lot of practice, and to be completely honest, sometimes it’s difficult for me to not get impatient or controlling. There are some days where I just let the backwards d or extra bumpy m slide and let her do her thing. Other days I decide to (gently) suggest Squeaks try writing a particular letter again. Usually looking at our alphabet chart will help.
Just tracing or writing out letters with pencil and paper can get kind of dull though, so I thought I’d share the variety of tools we use for handwriting practice, letter formation, and penmanship.
Our favorite tools for handwriting practice:
Dry erase flashcards.
Using our dry erase flashcards has not only been a huge paper saver but also a fun way to practice writing. I’ll hand Squeaks a variety of colorful dry erase marker and she’ll trace a rainbow alphabet over and over. After laminating, everything easily erases with a tissue and she can start all over. Just as simple as a pencil and paper, but adding those colorful markers and the freedom to erase as she sees fit gives this method of handwriting practice a little extra pizazz.
Get your Animal Themed Printable Alphabet Tracing Cards here!
Alphabet erase game.
This activity goes way back to our first days of playing school. It’s basically tracing in reverse. Randomly write out the alphabet all over a white board, hand your little learner a stack of alphabet flashcards, and have them search out each letter. Once they find the letter on the board give them a q-tip to erase the letter by “writing” over it. Not only does this reinforce letter recognition and muscle memory, but it’s great fine motor practice too!
Using a salt tray.
This is a fun sensory style penmanship activity. I actually use a small pencil box instead of a tray so we can just close it up when we’re done, plus the lid is great for holding flashcards in place (or you can purchase an actual salt tray). Flip to the next card, use those little fingers to trace the letter in the salt (or sprinkles, or sand, or cinnamon…), and then give it a little shake to clear the tray for a new letter.
Enjoying this post? You might also like Our Favorite Homeschool Tools For Preschool
Preschool Journal
Our preschool journal has been one of the best tools for review and penmanship practice. There are two ways we use most often to practice writing in her journal. First is simply writing the letters in highlighter and having her trace them with her favorite markers or a crayon. Another way, which is more to practice letter shapes, is to have her trace letters with stickers. The second method might not be so much for penmanship but I’ve seen it really help her when she starts getting in the habit of writing letters backwards. So it’s for penmanship in a sort of round about way.
UPDATE: I created a Preschool Journal for you! Just print and learn!
Tactile flash cards
These tactile sandpaper flashcards are one of the newest additions to our handwriting practice tool box. There are multiple things I love about these cards. They’re simple, distraction free design, high contrast, and satisfyingly textured to build super strong muscle memory. I take these out when we do any kind of tracing so Squeaks can run her finger over the letter a few time to reinforce the letter shapes before putting pencil to paper. It’s been super helpful!
Kids Boogie Board.
I got a Boogie Board for myself in an attempt to cut back on the tiny pieces of paper I was leaving around the house with to-do lists scribbled on them. Then the kids kept asking if they could play with it so I looked into getting one just for them. I was so excited to find that they had a Play and Trace Boogie Board specifically for kids to use. There are even cool activity packs you can purchase depending on how you want to use the board. I purchased one pack with fun outer-space pictures to trace, and another pack with alphabet, shapes, and numbers to trace. It even includes a cool cling that makes it look like lined paper. All the kids love it! Squeaks can practice writing, Little Dude can trace rockets to his hearts content, and Flash can scribble away without wasting tons of paper.
Alphabet apps.
We have found some super cool apps that have been very helpful in learning letter formation. Screens are not usually my first choice but every once in a while they are a huge help. Little brothers need attention too, or Squeaks needs a little quiet time, so we break out the iPad and put on a learning app. I’m pretty picky about the games we let the kids play (and I’m not one to spend a lot of money on these kind of things) so these are ones that have passed my high standards. 😉
This is such an exciting process for little ones. Although it can be frustrating at times, as with any new skill, I really believe using a good variety of teaching tools has made the process easier and tons of fun!
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