10 Techniques to Improve Your Child’s Handwriting

Did you know that 25 to 33% of children struggle with handwriting? Growing up from the age of scribbling to serious writing, many attain beautiful handwriting, while others deal with untidy handwriting. This can be a major concern, especially when kids are back to school after a long vacation – Where a long period of them not writing may have resulted in them forgetting how to write neatly. These back to school writing prompts can help ease your child into going back to school, along with the tips in this post. As we know, handwriting styles can differ from child to child. The good news is that it can be improved, through these 10 techniques to improve your child’s handwriting.

What are the common handwriting issues?

Wrong grasping, poor letter formation, poor sizing of the letter, unable to write within lines, unable to copy words, word mirroring, weak motor skills, speedy writing etc.

Can bad handwriting be fixed?

Affluent techniques are the way to attain good handwriting without any extra efforts. If kids understand these techniques they will never go back to messy handwriting and will keep on improving with time.

10 Techniques improve Your Child’s Handwriting:

1. Correct the grasp:

This is the most basic and effective step for neat and peachy handwriting. If the grip is correct, then half of the improvement is already done. Always ask children to hold the pencil slightly backward with the fine grip of their thumb, middle and index finger. If children learn this simple technique, even their drawing and sketching skills can be improved.

2. Write within the lines:

Lined paper is a brilliant guide to use which will you’re your children understand the size of alphabets in upper and lower case. Just be sure to fill the given space in between the lines properly and the stretch and space of words should be balanced. The line shows how much space to be used and how to write freely.

3. Maintain the basic speed:

Always go slow with the flow. If you are too fast then you might end up making more mistakes and end up erasing more, which can make your writing look messy which again isn’t a good habit. When you go slowly most of the issues are solved. Maintain the balance between too fast and too slow. Writing too slow again isn’t a good habit, they should maintain fine speed to meet desired results.

4. Don’t apply too much of pressure:

When using a pencil make sure your child avoids too much pressure. As observed many kids put too much pressure on the tip and that results in messy handwriting. With most kids, the problem is solved when they start writing without putting pressure on a pencil or pen.

5. Use right stationary is essential:

Grip and less pressure solve a problem dealing with writing but not completely – Until you ask them or give your children the right stationary at the right age to use. Always start with a pencil which has a sharp tip and then at a later stage introduce using a pen to them. Try using a pencil grip which is available in most stationery stores.

6. Practice:

Practice makes perfect and that is true in order to make your handwriting perfect too. Make sure your child gets lots of practice through giving them mini tasks to do, like asking them to write your shopping list or to write their own names and so on. You can use these fun writing prompts for kids to help your child write more on paper. You should also give your child a practice book and encourage them to write in it daily to ensure nice and peachy results.

7. Make writing fun:

Kids love playing games, so this is the best way to make writing interesting. For example encourage them to write short fun stories, play paper games, word puzzles and so on. Take a look at these fun writing activities for some ideas. Once they enjoy basic writing, you can even let them explore writing in cursive!

8. Find out the root problem:

Sometimes kids overlap their letters to hide their wrong spelling and this could be a big reason for untidy handwriting. To deal with the improvement of handwriting, first, you should help them improve their spellings or keep a dictionary always handy to support them. Once this is efficiently done, then you can work on improving handwriting with the techniques mentioned. Finding this out might help you solve the problem easily.

9. Pinpoint the problem:

Common handwriting problems lie in different areas like sizing, formation, line alignment and spaces between words. Focus your child’s practice on words and the basics of handwriting improvement mentioned in the earlier points.

10. Motor skills enhancement:

This is required at a very young age when their hand muscles are sensitive, as we have noticed in preschool more emphasis is on hand movements. This also helps in handwriting improvement. Always pay attention to developing motor skills from the very start, every bit counts. Art and crafts and activities, such as beading can be very beneficial in developing these motor skills.

Kids can love writing or studying and still not have great handwriting, so take steps slowly and let them enjoy the journey to better handwriting.