Do you have a child in your classroom or at home who struggles with handwriting? Do you wonder why, even with all of the handwriting practice, writing still seems hard for them? Handwriting is a motor skill, and like all motor skills, it requires practice to get good at it. However, children also need good eye-hand coordination, oculomotor control, and visual perceptual skills to handwrite well. For some children, just copying and practicing letters isn’t enough. Some students can easily be taught how to handwrite correctly, while other children may need to work on the foundational skills that are necessary for good handwriting.
Hand-Eye Coordination
In relation to handwriting, hand-eye coordination is how the brain sees and perceives a shape, letter or number, interprets it and then copies the same shape, letter or number. Children who have difficulty with hand-eye coordination, may not be able to copy words and letters consistently or correctly.
Here are some ways to teach kids hand-eye coordination skills and have a positive impact on handwriting skills:
- Playing catch
- Dot-to-dot worksheets
- Practicing letter formation using wooden craft sticks or pipe cleaners instead of writing with a pencil
- Building with blocks and Legos
- Completing puzzles
Visual Perceptual Skills
Visual perceptual skills refer to the way we make sense of what we see. In relation to handwriting, visual perception helps with proper letter formation, spelling, copying letters and words, organizing work on a page, and writing on the line. Children who struggle with visual motor or perceptual skills may have messy handwriting, letters of different sizes that are all over the page, and/or difficulty with controlling their pencil.
Here are some activities to help children work on visual perceptual skills and will have a positive impact on handwriting skills:
- Completing hidden picture worksheets
- Completing mazes
- Playing I Spy
- Playing Memory
- Beading and patterning
- Matching
Consider using the Letter Leaders workbooks to help students who are struggling with handwriting. Letter Leaders is much more than basic worksheets and tracing activities. In as little as 5 minutes per day, children who learn how to handwrite using the Letter Leaders program will be better prepared for success in the classroom and beyond. This matters because children use handwriting in school 30-60% of their school day. The better a child is at handwriting, the better their school work will be.
Letter Leaders is a complete, comprehensive handwriting program developed through years of evidenced-based research. It teaches children the right way to handwrite in a way that is fun and success-based. This means kids will learn how to handwrite and gain confidence in the skill as they are learning. Click to browse Letter Leaders handwriting workbook series.
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