What age would you say my child was

I was going to say 6 - remember lots of countries don't even start formal 'writing' until age 7, we just start crazily early here and it doesn't have a long term benefit.

Hi @Therewerenosnowdaysinthenineties
school teacher here xx
most kids in my year three class have handwriting like this - it’s completely normal. One kid from a couple years ago had handwriting absolutely all over the place, and went to one of the leading private schools in the country for secondary - I’d have no concerns xx
wishing you all the best!

4-5 years old

5-6?

I was going to guess 6-7

We received 25 plus birthday cards at my summer born sons birthday this year, (reception England age 4/5) and hardly any of them had neat handwriting, most will have been 5. Handwriting has become more of a focus in Y1, which is why I guessed 6-7! It looks fine to me

If she is reading well, I wouldn’t be concerned with her writing.
I’ve teaching this age group for over 20 years. She’ll get there and all that matters is she is well and happy. Quite a few children write like this who haven’t missed any school. Everyone learns at a different pace.
Do not worry.

I'd have said y1 or y2, considering we're still in the first term of y2. I don't think she'll be much behind anyone, if at all if you could compare to the rest of her class. I hope she's better soon

This 🙏

So sweet of her to write a list for you 🥰 really sorry she’s been so unwell for so long ❤️
She sounds delightful and I would have guessed 5-6 had I got to the thread sooner.

6 sounds right.
Within a year they can move forward.
My daughters friend at 8 wrote better than my 11 and 14 year old!
They are all different.
Legibility is what counts, especially for exams later on.

Between 4 and 6

I wouldn't say it's daft at all.

My son has terrible handwriting, I stopped bothering about it when I realised that since leaving education I basically never need to write by hand (as opposed to with a keyboard), it's simply a skill that's no longer really needed.

Even in education, they do more an more on Chromebooks and less and less on paper (which is good), I wouldn't bet against even exams being online by the time my child and the OP's are sitting them.

When my daughter was in year 1 and in lockdown. The teacher told me it's really common for letters to be wrong way round. Hope your daughter is feeling better soon

That is so cute!

This is so incredibly sweet of her. (All children are different but I’d guess about 6) x

Hoping your LO is much better soon. I think for 6 years old she is doing absolutely fine. My 6 year old writes pretty similarly so without looking at the posts.. I guessed 6 years old. Some of his peers write better and some not as well but looking at your original post.. I think you shouldn’t worry at all.
Also kids are taught differently these days I think so my personal experience is that I probably had much better hand writing at age 6 but 6 year olds I feel these days are much more articulate and seem more imaginative.

Most 4 year olds would not be able to spell that well for starters

If you continue to be concerned, then you might want to consider dysgraphia. My DD was diagnosed at the end of year 1, when we went to see an ed psych about something else. She was diagnosed because of the massive gap between her handwriting ability and pretty much everything else.

I wasn't convinced that she really had it and wouldn't catch up, because she had missed a lot of school in the covid years. But a few years on and I'm confident that she has dysgraphia, as does DH.

Lots of practice means that she can form letters properly, but she still finds handwriting really hard and her handwriting lacks punctuation and spaces. She types quite a lot of her work at school and you wouldn't think the same child had produced her typed work as her handwritten work. Of all of the various specific learning disorders, dysgraphia seems to me the easiest to deal with because typing covers most situations.

Please don’t worry, it looks like my sons writing through later years of primary school, he now has a masters from Oxford and is starting a PhD. His writing hasn’t improved much tbh, but he does everything on a computer and so no one cares!
We spent a lot of time stressing him and us about it, and I now wish I had spent that time just enjoying him.

Your daughter's handwriting is clear and eligible and she's obviously made a start on developing it. But if you're worried, it's important to remember that handwriting is a motor skill, which can be hampered by lack of practice, illness and stress among other things. I have a distinct memory of being in class at about her age and getting confused about 'b' and 'd' and which way round they went. I was at that stage well ahead with reading and could chatter nine to the dozen. The moment passed, but I'll never forget the sense of panic I felt about 'b' and 'd!'

If your daughter has been off school for months because of illness, she won't have had many opportunities to work on her writing. Who gives a poorly child handwriting practice after all? But poorly children read and are read to and that may well be why her reading has come on so well in spite of her illness. Where she is now is probably a reflection of temporary circumstances, which will be ameliorated once she's back at school; in the meantime, she's grasped the basics of writing and is ahead in other areas. I shouldn't worry too much.

I love that she made that list for you!
She will develop more when she returns to school, I'd keep praising and encourage writing. You have such a lovely little girl. Try not to worry.

I think some people aimed lower in ages as most posts like this I've seen are normally more, 'how old do you think my child is' with picture on par with van Gough and they then say 'my child is 3 months old' (I'm being dramatic, but you get the idea).

My husband’s writing is illegible. He’s vastly vastly more successful than me with my beautiful handwriting.

Sounds like you’re focusing on the right thing, her health.

I would say about 5/6

From the style of the figures, Four. {Crosses for hands} -but that could be a bear?