How do you teach kids to write their letters?

charmcitygirl

Jacob isn't great about drawing.  He loves to color, but when it come to something freehand...its just a scribble.  When you ask him what it is, he always says its a flower (must be an impressionist interpretation).

I've tried to get him to write letters free hand, copying what I write.  But he's just not getting it - it just looks like another scribble.  I've seen those printouts where they can trace the letter and then write it themselves.

Any other suggestions for at-home help with letter writing?  I think they're working on this at school a bit, but I'd like to reinforce it at home.

mrsolsenk12

Tracing is good and also putting your hand over their hand and helping them. Dont expect perfection at first, it will be a scribble. However over time it will improve.

naflmj

Can he draw horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines and circles? If not, start there, kids need these skills in order to form all letters....hand over hand, tracing in sand, rice, or shaving cream to make it fun and not all about paper and pencil and the OT's I work with actually recommend against so much writing at such an early age.

howleyshell

It's all about the fine motor skills!

Start with fun games that help him improve his grasp.  Some good ideas include using tweezers or kid chop sticks to pick up things like jacks or rubber balls and put them into a small space (like little paint trays).

Another good one is to buy a dropper bottle (Container store) and some of those bath tub sticky things that have suction cups on the bottom.  Use food coloring to color the water and then let him play dropping water drops into those suction cups turned up to face him.

Another good one is to let him string beads on pipe cleaners.  We used those jars you see at pizza places with the big holes in them to put the pipe cleaners in and turn it into an arrangement of sorts.

Help him build those muscles first.  He'll have no clue he's working towards a goal.  They're just fun games to him but he's practicing a strong grasp and building those muscles.

Then.... either buy a book with dashed letters or write them yourself.  Take his hand in yours, help him get his grasp and help him draw the letters.

Start BIG.  I'm talking one letter filling a half or whole page.  It's hard to control things small at first.

Another favorite of mine is a book by Kumon called My First Book of Upper case letters.  I LOVE this book because it has several practice pages of just lines.  Lines up and down, left to right, curving one way, curving the other way, diagonals.  Then the following pages are the letters that match those lines so they're practicing the motion first and then applying it to the letter itself.

The main issue I've seen with my guys is that they usually don't grip the pencil tight enough or push on the page hard enough to get good control.  Lack of control = frustration and they quit the exercise.

Another issue is that crayons are the HARDEST thing to write with from what I've seen with my guys so I'd try something else....  They do much better with ball point pens or pencils.  Dylan marched to the beat of his own drummer and refused to write with anything but markers at home for a long time.   

GL! 

Mrs.MLR04

I would begin by getting him to trace/write straight/slanted lines from top to bottom.   Then start tracing big and little circles.  Once he's got the concept of tracing lines and circles begin with simple letters.  

Don't expect perfection.  I've had students in kindergarten that struggle with tracing and writing their letters.

ela81

I don't know if you have an iPad or not but, if you do there is a Dora ABC's app that is really good. It shows you how to do it, where to start and gives you something to trace (you can you your finger to trace or you can use a stylus). If you get too far off while doing the letter it starts you over (on that letter). It also says the letter and sound. Isabel does great with it. With that said, she can't write at all, she does not hold a pencil properly.

LIAngel

Truthfully I haven't even thought about teaching him to write his letters yet.  I'm just happy he knows them and recognizes them.    Guess I'll add that to my list:

Get rid of paci

transition to toddler bed

potty train

drink out of open cup

teach Nicholas to write his letters. 

pinkcallalily

My son is a bit young to do this, but he's completely obsessed with the alphabet so I've been teaching him a little.  He loves to have me write out the alphabet with crayons and he tells me what each letter is, so as I do this I just put my hand over his on the crayon and write some of the letters.  We've only been doing this a few weeks, but he can draw an 'A' by himself and loves to draw other letters with help.  I don't know if this is the right way, but it seems to be working a little bit at least and we are only doing it because he thinks it's fun at this point.

skoorbnibor

I got something like this: 

I think either at target or maybe the bookstore. It has pages for upper and lower case, and it uses dry erase markers. We take it with us, he does it at the restaurants, in the car, etc 

LuckySunshineBaby

All of the similar posts are good ideas.  Also (and someone may have mentioned this) writing them in box with sand and a chopstick or their finger is good.  DD likes doing it with shaving cream on the floor (messy, I used a $ store table plastic table cloth and we got her down to panties and let her do it before bath).  That was fun.  There is this cute little toy (I think you can find it cheaper somewhere else):

 https://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-19139-Scribble-and-Write/dp/B001W2WKS0

 

DD loved the Leapfrog DVD"s (thanks Howley!!!!) and this does something similar, working on lines and scriblles first.  The Dollar Tree had a ton of lined pads for letters, etc. 

DeputiesWife

with DD, I would make dots and she'd trace them. I'd also print out the sheets to have her trace letters and practice on her own. 

They did the same at daycare.

I agree with another poster, make it a fun activity -- make letters with shaving cream in the bath, trace them with his hand to practice.

Also agree with the lines.