Back to the basics of Handwriting! 5 ways to strengthen fine motor skills!

As children are growing their hands are getting muscles and we have to train them to know how to write, how to hold a pencil, pen, spoon, fork, marker, needle, straw, etc.  Teaching a child how to write starts way before they hold a pencil.  Often times, when a child comes into my classroom and is struggling to hold a pencil correctly I have to think back to the basics.  So this post takes us back to the basics of handwriting and strengthening our child's hands.

It all starts with the fine motor skills.  What is fine motor? Our fine motor skills are those small muscle movements that we make with our hands, fingers, toes and feet.  Most of them focus on our hands.  Making a fist with our fingers, touching each finger with your thumb, pinching, snapping your fingers together and most importantly holding a pencil which can also be called a pincher grasp.

It is hard to teach kids how to hold a pencil. Most kiddos like to hold their pencil in a fist.  It is their first natural instinct of how to hold. There are five muscle training techniques that I suggest to parents when we are trying to teach kids how to hold a pencil. All hands-on and kids love them!

The Tissue Trick, Lego Pinching, 
Tweezer Pick Up, 

Q-tip Write and Wipe, Pin Art 

The Tissue Trick: Kids can either love this technique or hate it.  It is all in how you approach it.  I always like to teach kids that it is a trick or game.  The concept of the game is to not drop the Tissue.  How to play: Give your child a pen, pencil, marker or anything to write with.  Show them how to hold it correctly by placing the pointer finger, middle finger, and thumb in the pincher grasp on the writing object.  With their ring finger and pinkie finger place a tissue under them holding it against their palm. Remember to make it a game and say, 
"Don't do it, don't drop the tissue."  
They can then write what ever they want.  Try coloring a page or writing on whiteboard.  

Lego Pinching: I don't know that I have ever met a child that doesn't like playing with Lego Blocks, most LOVE playing with them.  If you have ever played with Lego Blocks it's hard to not pick them up in a pinch.  The trick with this technique is to have your child pick them up with their middle finger and their thumb.  This strengthens  that middle finger so that it is easier to control a pencil.  This can also be done using the Tissue Trick as well.  

Tweezer Pick Up: I know, I know giving your child tweezers can be nerve racking! I am the first to admit that they can be dangerous.  You can find kid friendly ones at Lakeshore, Discount School Supply or any other teacher supply store. The ones at Lakeshore come in a fine motor skills game.  But if you are up for the challenge you can give your child normal old tweezers.  The name of the game says it all.  The goal is to have your child pick up as many objects as they can with the tweezers. Find small objects around your home.  One thing that I like to use is food such as; raisins, M&M's, Skittles, peas(careful they can pop), popcorn, etc.  You can also use craft supplies such as; pom poms, buttons, dry beans, beads, etc.  Put these objects on a plate or in a bowl and have an empty bowl next to it.  I like to put everything on a cookie sheet so that objects do not roll away.   Show your child how to pick up an object and place it in the empty bowl.  Do a few for your child and then help guide your child's hand until they are comfortable doing it themselves.   

ADD-ON: When your child gets good at moving the objects to an empty bowl try adding another teaching aspect. Get a muffin tin and have your child sort each different object into a separate muffin cup.  You can also get a bag of rainbow pom pom balls and have your child sort them by colors.  

Q-Tip Write and Wipe: All you need is a Q-tip, water, and a towel!  Clean off an area of a table or a desk.  It is going to get wet so make sure that it can.  You can also use a cookie sheet (Buy one at the dollar store just for kid art and school, it is worth the dollar investment.)  Use the pinching grasp again have your child dip the Q-tip in a small cup of water and then write and draw on the table/cookie sheet.  Dry it off and start again. 
ADD-ON:  Print off a few letter writing or number writing pages on colored paper and slide them in a sheet protector.  Your child can then write on the sheet protector with the Q-tip and water with out ruining the paper.  They can also use a dry erase marker and practice their letters and numbers. 

Pin Art: Yes! Just like you did in elementary school.  You need a push pin and a piece of construction paper.  Either have your child draw a picture with a pencil on the paper or print a coloring page on the picture.  Teach your child to hold the pin in their thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger.  Then have your child lay down on a rug or carpet with the paper in front of them.  Start poking holes on the drawn lines. When you are all finished hold it up to a window and enjoy the picture lit up! 

I hope you enjoy all these techniques!
Let me know what works for you and your child or class! Don't forget to take pictures and label them #YoungHandsLove2Learn. I would love to see what you are up to!

Feel Free to leave a comment, question, or outburst of emotion! :)

How's My Handwriting?

    Handwriting is one of the most important things that teachers can teach!  I actually love teaching handwriting and I often put a major emphasis on it in my assignments.

    One of my favorite ways to teach writing is using my "How Should I Write?"chart. I teach this near the beginning of the year so that I can refer back to it at any time.

    For each line in the chart we talk about all the wrong ways to write.  I then use the actions and a silly voice that we practice and we read each line with. Below is a list of the writing sentences and the actions.

• I am too thin and too light.  
• We pretend to be really skinny and say the "too light" in a whisper voice.
• I am too fat. 
• We say it in a low voice and put our arms out wide.
• I am tooclosetogether. 
• I teach the students to say it really fast with no spaces.
• I am too          far       apart.
•   They love this one because I teach them by speaking the sentence and pausing for a long period of time between each word.
• I am not on the line.
•  Using our pointer finger we draw a squiggly line in the air and say in high and low voice tones the sentence. 
• I am not neat. 
• I teach the students to say in a stern, angry voice while pointing like an angry parent.
• I am ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.  
• The student love this one too. They stand up strait and tall like soldiers and say it in a loud soldier voice finishing with "No sir."
• I am spa cedki nd    off un ny. 
• This one the students say in a robot voice and we make sure the words sound more like nonsense words. 
• I am traced over. 
• Almost done! The kids laugh so hard when you first teach this one. I read it and repeat it over and over until I am out of breath. 

Last the best of all the game:

• I am good writing! 
• We say in the nicest, most polite voice possible. 

   When teaching handwriting I love to use whiteboards.  It saves not only paper but the student's love being able to write on whiteboards.  It also provides a way for a quick self-check and whiteboard writing is easily erased and fixed. My first year of teaching, I applied and received a grant for whiteboards from my school district. I ordered them through Discount School Supply.  They have lasted me 5 years and are still in great shape.  The erasers are slowly falling apart, but I have just cut off the back and made mini erasers that work perfect. 

   After teaching the writing chart for the first few writing assignments, I review it by using all of the actions and remind the students to use their best writing. As I walk around the room and look at student's assignments I may notice that a student is using one of  the incorrect writing patterns and I will usually ask the student what their hand writing looks like. I then ask them to rewrite it in their best writing. You only have to do this a couple of times and then they begin to remember to use their best writing. Throughout the year I will  occasionally review it again.  Usually not the whole chart but a few of the lines, especially if I notice a student is struggling with his/her writing.

ADAPTIONS FOR HOME:

I know that teaching handwriting at home to your children before they attend school or even after they have started can be difficult.  It is especially hard to teach if they have already established bad habits.  You do not need to make a whole chart like the one I use in my classroom but you can still use the sentences.  If you notice that your child uses one of the wrong writing patterns in particular you can just teach that one.  Using your best writing, you can write a sentence on paper with a yellow highlighter for them to practice.  You can then have your child trace your writing.  This provides great practice for your child.

   I hope that this helps you in your classroom or at home when you are teaching handwriting!

Check out my TeachersPayTeachers store for handwriting pages and more!    

Please feel free to leave a question, comment, or an outburst of emotion! :)