DD is 5 and this is her handwriting...

[SwingingCatsAround]

... It's shockingly bad.

She was 5 in December. Her reading is much higher level.

I'm not concerned about the mirror letter/spelling, but the construction if the letters.

We're trying to get her better, but she will resist writing at any opportunity, gets cross if we ask her to correct her grip.

She has strong fingers and good fine motor (sews with tapestry needles, can do buttons up etc) she plays with play doh, tongs, tweezers, loves squeezing anything and everything lolol

What else can we do? It won't magically get better will it?

Have a look here https://donnayoung.org/penmanship/cursive-handwriting.htm I got my DC to do some of the sheets from here and their handwriting got a lot better (its free)

I think you're getting a bit of a hard time on these comments @SwingingCatsAround
It's totally normal to want the best for our kids. As an EYFS teacher, if persepective helps, I can honestly say that probably 2/3 of my current cohort have better letter formation than this, 1/3 worse. So whilst everyone above is absolutely correct, in that she is still little, I can also empathise with your concern.
However, the other important thing to remember is that progress is not linear at this age. We have children who show no interest or progress at all in something for months, then all of a sudden it starts to click and they fly. So just because she isn't interested now, doesn't mean it will stay that way.
I would try to avoid putting pressure on at home, as it will create a negative connotation. Instead, try creating meaningful opportunities to practice similar skills. You can write the letters on a window in whiteboard pen and your DD traces over them with her finger to erase them. She doesn't realise she's writing but she's tracing correct letter formation.
Also fancy pens/pencils like the felt tips that change colour when you do the white pen over them or something are popular. Magnetic drawing boards are also fun. And definitely keep doing other fine motor activities with her too as they will help. Also, don't be afraid to approach her teacher about your concerns, hopefully they will help alleviate your worries or give other suggestions to support her.

I feel really sad reading this. She's 5!

You need to give your head a massive wobble OP.

Is she left-handed? Left-handers can be slower to develop handwriting skills, usually because they are trying to a/ copy right handers and b/ every thing is backward.

My left-handed DD (now 19) had some of the worst handwriting in her class, she just got 3 As at A level and went to a top university.

However, I would say that handwriting is legible whichever hand she is using, and she is barely five so has plenty of time to develop. Her brain might be moving too fast for her fingers.

Oh we were told by the school she was behind :'(

I was a reception teacher for many years, and her handwriting is fine for her age. To improve control you can do colouring together, mazes and simple dot to dots

Some come to writing a bit later. I wouldn’t put pressure on but would provide lots of opportunities for writing and nice pens and pencils and be ready to spot the moment where she wants to write. It will improve with time and practice but there’s no point in practicing if it just puts her off.

It's NORMAL

Jesus why are we pressuring our young children?!

Sorry OP, but i just don't believe you.

Many countries don't even start formally teaching reading and writing at this age. You really need to relax and not judge your DD for something that will make no difference as she continues her education.

That is normal. In many other countries they don't try to get children to write until they are seven, because that's when their nervous systems are joined up enough to cope.

She'll learn in time. She isn't ready for neat handwriting yet, and this isn't a problem to be solved. It will solve itself as she grows.

You say ‘It won’t magically get better’. Well, it won’t magically get better but it definitely will get better. She’s not going to be writing like that at age 18 is she?

Agree with others, just let her get on with it. If absolutely will improve. It's useful to keep examples of her writing to compare every few months or so and then you will see the progression. My dd took ages to get the hang of writing and I really worried what her would be like by secondary school. It's absolutely fine by the way!

I think my DS's writing was like this when he was 6. That was during lockdown. He was lazy and he had very little interest in doing school work at home. Some letters were back to front. The tail for the a and u would be underneath the letter rather than by the side. All the words were joined together.
I resorted to writing out the alphabet, upper and lower case, properly to show DS how the letter should look, where to start writing each letter etc and I went on and on about leaving finger spaces between words. I'm sure he had something similar at school but he wasn't in the classroom. It took patience, tears (his and mine), practice and time. His teacher acknowledged the improvement and he got a gold star (or similar).
He has an odd pencil grip which probably didn't help but we didn't correct it. That would have made his writing worse.

She is 5 years old, The issue here is with you and your expectations not her.

Looks absolutely fine to me for five.

I wouldn't force it as a chore.
I would encourage writing shopping lists and cards etc and give them little jobs.

Every kid is different! They all have their own strengths. My daughter is 5 months older than yours and adores to write ALL the time! She loves to read! It's one of her main interests!

Her other class mates not so much interest in writing and sees it as a chore but are better at other things than her!

Does your child have an IPad/tablet?
I find a lot of children are spending a lot of time on these rather than physically colouring in etc.

My DS is almost 7 and his is pretty similar.

Mine didn’t even start school until he was nearly 5.5 (Scotland) and couldn’t write a thing. He’s now in p2 and writes very well. Your dc is fine.

It's not perfect but she's very little and I wouldn't worry about it at the moment. If she's got good fine motor skills then that will help. Just make sure that there's paper, pens, pencils etc at home for whenever she wants to draw, write or mark make. She might enjoy drawing on the pavement with playground chalks.

Tbh, the adult handwriting stood out more for me as so many letters were poorly formed - I always try and model correct letter formation if scribing for a child.

Looks fine to me!

She's only 5 OP. There are plenty of countries where she wouldn't even have started school yet. Just let her learn in peace and don't worry. As long as she's enjoying school that's the main thing. There's plenty of time to develop her handwriting.

As someone who was constantly berated for having awful handwriting throughout school I'd suggest easing off a bit. I managed pretty well academically, certainly better than any of my teachers, so I wouldn't panic.

She doesn’t know how to write letters - as in you start at a certain point and then follow a certain pattern. It reminds me of dc’s writing when the teacher in reception just to,d them ‘to copy the letters/words’ in no other instruction. It was all over the place.

Also looks like she is struggling with doing straight lines/loops.

I agree with you, she needs more practice. But just a few minutes each day is enough.
I encouraged dc1 to follow lines with his finger etc… (lines with sand glued on) then moved onto doing letter (there are a few books/wipe out board around to do that)

Yes of course it will improve. Just leave her to grow and develop at her own pace.
Give her lots of opportunities to draw, paint and practice her fine motor skills by playing with play dough etc. Don't push her to write.