• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Member Login

The Measured Mom

Education resources for parents and teachers

  • Alphabet
  • Reading
    • Structured literacy
    • Printable Books
    • Pre-Reading
    • Phonics
    • Sight Words
    • Comprehension
    • Fluency
    • Vocabulary
  • Writing
    • Grammar
    • Handwriting
    • Spelling
    • Writing in Pre-K
    • Writing Workshop in K-3
  • Math
    • Counting
    • Number Recognition
    • Addition & Subtraction
    • Colors, Shapes & Patterns
    • Visual Discrimination
    • Time, Money & Measurement
    • Place Value
    • Graphs
    • Multiplication & Division
    • Fractions
    • Problem Solving
  • Book Lists
    • Letter of the Week
    • Early Childhood Themes
    • Pre-Reading Skills
    • Math Concepts
    • Writing Mentor Texts
    • Versions of Familiar Tales
    • Holidays and Seasonal
    • History
    • Leveled Book Lists
  • Join Membership
Home
  • Shop
  • Blog
    • Alphabet
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Math
    • Book Lists
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Membership
  • Contact

PSPKK123August 30, 2014 •  11 Comments

7 simple steps for beginning handwriting practice

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Are you teaching young children to write the alphabet?  Today I’m sharing seven simple steps for beginning handwriting practice.

7 simple steps for teaching kids to write the alphabet

 

Looking for some creative ways to learn to write the alphabet?  Here are the seven steps I follow when teaching my kids to write their letters.

giant letter B

1. Fill a large block letter with objects that begin with the letter’s sound.

You can print one of my large block letters in uppercase (see this post) or lowercase (see this post).  We try to fill the letter with objects that make its sound so we can reinforce the letter’s sound as we work.  “B!  /b/, /b/, buttons!”

What can you fill the letters with?

  • Letter A…acorns, apple stickers, alphabet stamps
  • Letter B…buttons, beads, toy bugs
  • Letter C…coins, carrots, toy cars

For over 150 ideas, check out this post!

handwriting practice with bendables

2. Make the letter using straight or curved objects that you can find around the house.

My Four created this version of the letter B out of Bendaroos.  These are a sort of bendable wax string which are great for forming letters. ( They’re similiar to Wikki Stix.)   After he made this attempt, I showed him a picture of a B and modeled how to make a B without a gap in the middle.

You could also make curved letters out of shoelaces, yarn, ribbon, play dough, or cooked spaghetti.

It’s much easier to find objects to make straight letters.  Make an F our of forks, an E out of envelopes, and an L out of Lincoln Logs.  You get the idea. 🙂

handwriting practice with blocks

3. Make the letter using small objects without a framework.  

This type of activity is still challenging for my Four.  After a few attempts at making a B with blocks, he became very frustrated, so we’ll try again another day.  I made this letter B as an example; creating the curved edges would be something young preschoolers probably would not come up with on their own.

Now that my Five has just started kindergarten, I’ll probably need to fill in the gaps with my own examples here and there. 😉

handwriting practice with bread crumbs

4. Make the letter by writing with your finger.

Make  a Y in yogurt, an A in applesauce, and a C in coffee grounds.  My Four wrote the letter B in bread crumbs.

handwriting practice 1

5. Start writing practice with Letters of All Sizes.

I created these beginning handwriting pages as a first step in writing the letters.  Have your child start with the largest letter and work his way down to the smallest.   He may not be ready to do all of the page.  Just doing a few letters is great!   Get the entire uppercase set in this post. (Get lowercase here!)

handwriting B

6. Later, write the letter on two lines.

I created these so my kids could start to write on handwriting lines before they were ready for the standard pages which have small lines and letters.  Get the entire uppercase set in this post. (Get lowercase here.)

handwriting practice 3

7. Write the letter on four lines.

I use these level three pages for my kids when they are getting close to kindergarten.  Your child might be ready for them sooner or later than my own children.   Get the entire uppercase alphabet set in this post.  (Get lowercase here.)

A few more tips on teaching handwriting to preschoolers:

  • It’s not right or wrong to use a particular order for teaching letter formation. However, we like to use this order because it progresses from easy to hard in terms of letter formation: E,F, H, I, L, T, V, W, X, K, M, N, Y, A, Z, C, O, G, Q, B, D, J, P, U, R, S.
  • You don’t need to do these steps in order.  Your child may be ready to start right off with building a letter with small manipulatives. On the other hand, your child might be ready for step one and need a whole year before moving on.
  • These ideas are not the only ways to form letters.  Browse Pinterest for other creative ideas.
  • If our child is easily frustrated by a step, it probably  means he’s not ready for it.  Try again another day!
  • You may find that your child is ready and willing to do all the steps in a single day.  You can set up stations at the kitchen table, like we did for the letter K.

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: General Tagged With: fine motor, preschool, kindergarten, Pre-K

You May Also Enjoy These Posts:

10 free alphabet printables Writing the Alphabet for Preschoolers: the letter W Little Letter I Book: Rhymes & Songs
Counting printables
Printable songs and nursery rhymes for kids – Little Letter “D” Book

Reader Interactions

11 Comments

  1. Helen

    April 26, 2020 at 3:05 am

    You are so inspiring! Tons of materials for each little topic. And the website is very professional! Can’t believe you are doing all these while having 6 children ???

    Reply to this comment
  2. rabeca

    June 23, 2018 at 5:54 am

    thanx so very much,this was helpful..

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      June 23, 2018 at 7:35 am

      You’re very welcome, Rabeca!

      Reply to this comment
  3. Samta

    July 2, 2015 at 5:02 am

    Please let me know how i can print these worksheet as i am not getting any options to print these worksheet . please help. they are awesome

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      July 2, 2015 at 5:23 am

      Hello, Samta! You can find links to print all my handwriting worksheets in this post: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/teaching-handwriting-2/

      Reply to this comment
  4. shaya

    November 3, 2014 at 7:21 am

    Hello Anna, thank you so much, your site is amazing and your posts are so useful for new teachers and mom, I love all your posts thank yo so much. so earlier you said if you have time to do letter with your kid in one or two week do some fine motor skill, craft, game and etc, about the fine motor skill which you talked abot it in this page, do you do all of them in a day? how do we can plan a scheduel and follow the activity for a week? any idea would be great, for me I always like to have something to look at and plan and be on time and organized, do not like to start teaching my boy with no plan and scheduel and ran out of ideas and game at the end and feel gilty and give up. thank you again. God bless

    Reply to this comment
  5. Bekki

    September 10, 2014 at 10:05 pm

    Really great ideas!
    I am pinning this for my readers to find:).
    Fun, fun, fun.

    Reply to this comment
  6. Selena @ Look! We're Learning!

    September 2, 2014 at 9:16 pm

    Thanks for these suggestions! I’ll be pinning this for my toddler to use in a year or two.

    Stopping by from the Mom’s Library linky 🙂

    Reply to this comment

Trackbacks

  1. Handwriting Practice Fun Activities - The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    October 12, 2021 at 3:10 pm

    […] ideas for beginning to teach letter formation and handwriting at The Measured Mom are great. Full on handwriting practice can wait until kindergarten, but I love incorporating some […]

    Reply to this comment
  2. Nice post thanks I love says:
    February 18, 2019 at 5:00 pm

    […] I like her lesson on handwriting. Incorporating different ways to learn your letters is important to help children learn to love writing and reading! […]

    Reply to this comment
  3. 7 Creative Ways to Practice Handwriting - This Reading Mama says:
    October 20, 2014 at 5:01 am

    […] 3. Make it multi-sensory {The Measured Mom} – These ideas show you that you don’t always have to have paper to practice handwriting! […]

    Reply to this comment

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Grade Level Key

  • PS Preschool (ages 2-3 years)
  • PK Pre-K (ages 4-5 years)
  • K Kindergarten
  • 1 1st grade
  • 2 2nd grade
  • 3 3rd grade

Teach your child a foreign language in just 5 minutes a day!

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED

Hello, I’m Anna!

Welcome to The Measured Mom. I’m so glad you’re here!

Meet Our Team

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Shop Our Newest Resources

At The Measured Mom®, our mission is to share high quality educational resources that are engaging for students and easy for educators.

Decodable Books & Lessons for CVC Words & Common Digraphs

$18.00

Ultimate Collection of Phonics Word Lists

$15.00

Sound Wall Printables

$18.00

Shop All Resources

Members get more!

The Measured Mom Plus is the perfect online membership for Pre-K to third grade educators.

Learn More

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Join our online courses and get the tools you need to teach every learner in K-2!

Confidently teach every reader in your classroom. Still have time to live your life.

Learn More

Get everything you need to teach writing well, including over 200 ready-to-use lessons.

Learn More

Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher

Check out these recent podcast episodes:

  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Lindsay Kemeny
  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Heidi Jane
  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Christina Winter
More Episodes

Check out these FREE email courses...

Get strategies and tools to teach a particular topic with a free 5-day email series! Just click an image to sign up. We recommend signing up for just one at a time.

For Pre-K Educators

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

Learn my must-follow tips for teaching the alphabet in this free 5-day email series!

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

Learn how to develop this important pre-reading skill with a free 5-day email series!

How to teach preschool math

How to teach preschool math

Learn exactly what to teach your preschoolers in this free 5-day series!

For Kinder & 1st Grade Educators

How to teach kids to sound out words

How to teach kids to sound out words

Learn my top strategies for teaching kids to "sound it out"

How to teach sight words

How to teach sight words

Get strategies and tools for teaching sight words to young learners!

Tips for teaching phonics

Tips for teaching phonics

Sign up for our free 5-day email series to learn what phonics skills to teach and how to structure your phonics lessons!

For 2nd & 3rd Grade Educators

How to build reading fluency

How to build reading fluency

Learn smart strategies for helping your learners become fluent readers with this free 5-day series!

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

Learn the most important writing skills to teach to 2nd & 3rd graders in this free 5-day series!

How to build reading comprehension

How to build reading comprehension

Discover the essential reading comprehension strategies for 2nd & 3rd grade and how to teach them!

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” –Matthew 6:33

Copyright © 2022 The Measured Mom •  All rights reserved  •  Privacy & Disclosure Statement  •  Site Design by Emily White Designs