Surprisingly there are few differences when teaching left and right-handed children to handwrite. A left-handed child needs a slightly different pencil grip, and needs to hold the pencil slightly higher up the shaft, as well as a different paper position and tilt. Some left-handed children do find handwriting challenging to start with because they naturally want to draw straight lines right to left rather than left to right.
The Dynamic Tripod Grip is still the most efficient grip for handwriting, for those with good fine motor skills, as it allows the fingers to move freely; so, the writer can form the letters more smoothly.
The following link will take you to the grip section of our ‘Parents’ section of the teachhandwriting.co.uk website where you will find information on the tripod grip for left and right-handed writer: https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/tripod-pencil-grip.html
The Drawbridge Flip Method is a simple way of helping a child pick up a pencil and hold it correctly in the tripod grip for handwriting. This can also be used as a whole class approach to support correct pencil grip development for handwriting.
• Place the pencil on the table in front of the writing hand, so it forms a straight line up the table with the writing tip of the pencil pointing towards you.
• Then using your thumb and index finger pinch the pencil either side of the shaft about 2 cm up from the tip for a right-handed writer and about 3 cm up for a left-handed writer. Dots or sticker may be placed on the pencil to help thumb and finger placement.
• Pick the pencil up off the table and place the fingernail of the middle finger on to the pencil just above the tip.
• Keep the ring and little finger gently curled in.
• Push down with the middle finger so that the pencil moves up and over like a drawbridge, keep pushing until the pencil is supported in the cup (web of skin that joins the thumb, hand and index finger) and the pencil is resting on the inner edge of middle finger.
• Then writing, the end of the pencil will be angled towards the shoulder for right-handed writers and the elbow for left-handed writers.
We would recommend teaching joins in join type groups, whether your child has learnt cursive or continuous cursive single letter fonts.
Teaching the join types in their groups helps a child to understand the directional pushes and pulls required to successfully join the different letter combinations.
There are 4 main groups of letter joins; bottom joins, bottom to “c” shape joins, “e” joins (top and bottom join strokes) and top joins.
Moving from Cursive Single Letters to Joining
There are seven join strokes to be taught. Most children will find the bottom joins the easiest to achieve, as it only requires the extension of the exit stroke they already put on the letters. The bottom to “c” shape joins can be tricky at first but soon mastered. The joins that tend to cause the most confusion and difficulty are the “e” joiners and top exit joiners.
I would recommend teaching the bottom joins first, then the ‘e’ joins and finally the top exit letter joins.
Moving from Continuous Cursive Single Letters to Joining
There are three join strokes to be taught. The easiest is the bottom exit letters (the majority of the letters), all a child has to do is write the letters closer together without lifting their pencil off the paper. Only the top to “e” and top joiners need to be taught for continuous cursive, as the nature of the font style means that the lead-in and exit strokes needed to join the majority of letter combinations have already been taught.
I would recommend teaching the bottom joins first, then the top exit to ‘e’ join and finally the top exit letter joins.
The ultimate aim is for a child to develop a good handwriting style; which means;
They can produce and maintain a good speed
Have a fluid hand movement that is comfortable
Letters are of a consistent and appropriate size, positioned correctly
Handwriting is legible (so others can read it easily).
It is important to remember that for some children (mainly SEND pupils) this may mean that they will always print or use a single letter form of writing as learning to join is just not appropriate. But that does not mean they will not comply with the bullet points above.
Have you got your Free Join Animations & Worksheets?
Here at Teach Children we believe that a child is only ready to start learning to join their handwriting when:
They have learnt to form all 26 lower-case letters correctly.
Letters are of a consistent and suitable size (not necessarily the perfect size, remember big is beautiful).
Letters are positioned appropriately on the writing line as well as in relation to one another.
Children generally begin to join letters between the ages of 6 to 7 years old, depending on the handwriting font style being taught. Those taught a continuous cursive font style from the beginning tend to join much earlier due to the nature of this font (for some by the end of their Reception Year).
Children do not need to be able to remember how to correctly form all their capital letters before they are taught how to join their letters. This is because capital letters never join to the lower-case letters in a word. However, for these children correct capital letter formation needs to be taught alongside the introduction of letter joins.
We would recommend teaching joins in join type groups, whether your child has learnt cursive or continuous cursive single letter fonts.
Teaching the join types in their groups helps a child to understand the directional pushes and pulls required to successfully join the different letter combinations.
We would recommend teaching the bottom joins first, then the top exit to ‘e’ join and finally the top exit letter joins.
Have you got your Free Join Animations & Worksheets?
It can often be assumed children will pick up how to write letters if they see them often enough (by osmosis). This is just not the case. Correct letter formation has to be taught. Seeing a completed letter or word or watching it being typed up and appear on a screen does not show children how to form the letters.
For children to develop a good handwriting style it is important to learn how to form letters correctly to begin with as this makes the transition from single letter formation to joined letter handwriting much easier. This enables them to develop a speedy, fluid and legible handwriting style.
Letters are created through joining lines and curve shapes in a particular way. They have a designated start point and set directional pushes and pulls of the pencil to reach the designated finish point. This is why at Teach Handwriting we teach letter formation in groups/families rather than in alphabetical order. Certain groups use the same, or similar, shape and directional push and pulls of the pencil to form the letter, for instance the letter c has the same start point and anti-clockwise directional movement shape that is needed to create the letters a, d, g, o and, though a little more complicated, the letters s and e. Teaching letters in groups and families can also help to limit letter reversals such as b and d.
Due to how handwriting has or hasn’t been taught over the generations we all have our own way of handwriting. When supporting and teaching young children we need to develop a consistent approach so that they do not get confused or frustrated by adults giving them conflicting information.
For parents this means finding out from your child’s school which letter font they are teaching so that you can support them more effectively at home. This may mean that you have to learn a new way of writing some letters. This also applies to teachers and teaching assistants. As the adults in the situation, we have to accept that it is for us to make the changes. Just because something is different from the way we were taught, or do it, doesn’t mean it is wrong, it is just different!
Our free letter animations are not just to support children with their learning but also to provide parents and teachers (all adults really) with the knowledge and support to help children develop a consistent handwriting style.
Crayoning and printing activities are great ways for a child to experience and experiment with pressure and the amount needed to create different effects. These activities will also encourage and support a child in helping them to understand, and for you to model, the language associated with pressure and how the pressure used feels. By linking the words used to the feelings and the outcome of using the pressure they can start to understand what is needed when asked to press gently or to press harder.
When supporting a child to understand what we want when we ask them to press harder, we need to model how our body reacts to make this happen. You may need to exaggerate the actions but as you do this you also need to talk about what your body is doing and how it feels. Then point out the effect that this has had on the crayoning for instance.
When we press hard, we tend to lean our body forward over the table slightly as this allows us to put more force down on to the paper through the crayon. We may feel our arm and hand tense and often the movements made are slower and in small strokes. If it is something we are not used to doing it can make our hand and fingers ache and it will feel like hard work. The crayon marks will be thick and dark.
When we want to be gentler with the crayon, so that the crayoning is lighter in texture and colour, we tend to sit back away from the table. This way the hand moves across the paper more easily and often the strokes are longer and quicker, which sometimes feels as if we have less control over the colouring. This is why young children tend to be a bit heavy handed initially with colouring because their fine motor control skills have not reached a point that enables them to have control.
There are many creative ideas to be found on the internet and in books published by companies such as Usborne.
This crayon technique can be used to create a vast range of pictures. Here are just a couple of ideas to get you started:
The same technique can also be used to create great firework pictures:
It is also worth remembering that drawing also helps to develop a range of different line formations, also needed for developing a good handwriting style.
The weather this Autumn has been unseasonably warm, making it easier to go out and explore our local green and wild spaces.
It is amazing how much quality time you can spend with children just looking, talking about and collecting different leaves. The amount of language shared and new vocabulary introduced is invaluable.
It is suitable for all age groups and you don’t need a vast knowledge of plants and trees to make this fun; just remember not to take whole plants or leaves from endangered or dangerous plants and watch out for thorny, spikey and prickly leaves (if you are not sure leave the plant alone). Make sure when collecting leaves, you do not trespass on to other people’s property, or pick from their gardens!
The aim is to look at and talk about the different shapes, sizes, textures, colours and parts of the leaves. There are so many new words you can share. It is important to make sure the words used, especially if new, are age appropriate and help develop the child’s understanding:
If you have been able to collect some leaves, they can be used to create lovely leaf print pictures and patterns.
The printing activity is a great way of helping children to understand, and for you to model, the language associated with pressure and to experience how the pressure used feels. By linking the words used to the feelings and the outcome of using the pressure they can start to understand what is needed when asked to press gently or harder.
Materials:
Paper, child safe poster paints, brushes or sponges, leaves collected from walk
Method.
Protect the surface being used for painting and aprons for the children
Put paint in to trays/tubs
It can help to tape the corners of the paper down before you start printing to stop the paper lifting when you lift the painted leaf off.
Paint one side of the leaf. This is when we can talk about how much paint (not too thick) and how gentle we need to be. If the leaf tears, due to too much pressure being used, we can support by explaining and helping the child to try again; with maybe a different painting tool or using their finger to give a great sense of feeling.
Then pick up the leaf by the stalk, or at one end, and place it paint side down on the paper
Encourage the child to gently tap the leaf down on the paper. Help them, if necessary, by demonstrating.
Then using the stalk, or from one end, gently peal the leaf off the paper.
The important thing to remember is to chat about what you are doing and have fun!
Last week we explained that pre-handwriting patterns are the first stage of learning to handwrite. Once a child has mastered theses, they are ready to start learning how to form letters.
But where do you start?
Our view is to focus on lower-case letters first and only the capital letters for the first letter in a child’s, examples: Peter Rabbit, Sally Green, George Blue or Mary Shell.
Why?
One reason is that about 95% of what children write, and are exposed to, is in a lower-case form and only 5% in capital.
Lower-case letters are far less complicated, requiring fewer pencil lifts to complete the letters.
As both lower-case and capital letters require a child to form curved lines, a skill which most children have to practise, writing lower-case letters is no more difficult than writing capitals.
In a young child’s writing all the letters are initially the same size, whether they are capitals or lower case; it is part of the normal developmental path of handwriting. So, the view that teaching capitals letters is easier because they are bigger is not true.
Young children who have learnt mostly capital letters first find it difficult to stop, as it is so ingrained into the memory, often using them half way through words and sentences. Even when they are older this inappropriate use of capitals creeps back into their work especially if they are tired or concentrating hard on composing their work.
Have you got your Free Letter Formation Animations & Worksheets?
A child’s first major achievement, in their eyes, is to write their name. So, although concentrating on lower-case letters, teach them how to form the capital letter for the first letters of their name to get them excited about handwriting.
As they master the lower-case letters introduce the remainder of the capital letters. It is important that both are taught so that a child can develop a speedy, fluid and legible handwriting style.
Pre-handwriting patterns are the first stage in supporting a child to handwriting success. They help the child to learn the shapes and directional pushes and pulls required to form letters. All letters are a combination of these shapes and lines.
Young children can start to learn these patterns through their play, long before they are ready to pick up a pencil, moving toys back and forth across the floor or whirling them around in the air. To a child it is just play and fun, but you are doing something far more powerful and constructive by helping them to develop the motor memory patterns and directional movement skills they will need for handwriting.
Later, as their coordination and gross motor skills develop, they make more controlled and varied movement patterns in their play. Changing directions, speed and size are all prerequisite skills needed for learning pre-handwriting patterns.
These handwriting patterns do not need to be taught as worksheet activities (though they do help to perfect shape and pattern formation), drawing pictures and patterns in sand, paint and with other writing tools are all fun ways to practise.
Teaching the handwriting patterns in groups helps to further develop the specific movements (pushes and pulls) required to form them and help commit them to the motor memory. A child can then recall these motor memories to support them as they begin to form letters.
Pre-handwriting patterns that encourage a child to move their pencil from left to right are very important for left-handed writers. They need to be taught this so that they can make the cross motion in the H, T, J, G and I from left to right, as their natural instinct is to go from right to left. If this is not corrected when writing E and F the cross lines will not be “anchored” to the letter.
Once the handwriting patterns have been mastered a child will have the confidence and skills base necessary to start forming letters, numbers and symbols.
Have you got your Free Pre-handwriting Pattern Animations & Worksheets?
There are three distinct stages for children to progress through to develop a good handwriting style:
Stage 1 – Pre-handwriting Patterns
Pre-handwriting patterns support a child towards handwriting success. They help the them to learn the shapes and directional pushes and pulls required to form letters. All letters are a combination of these shapes and lines.
Stage 2 – Single Letter Formation
For children to develop a good handwriting style it is important to learn how to form the letters correctly.
Beginning with lower-case letters and only the capital letters for the first letter in a child’s name, examples: Peter Rabbit, Sally Green, George Blue or Mary Shell.
Learning the correct lower-case letter formation also makes the transition from single letter formation to joined letter handwriting much easier.
Stage 3 – Joined Handwriting
Learning to join letters for handwriting enables children to develop a speedy, fluid and legible handwriting style.
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