Handwriting in reception

[crw1234]

this may be another pushy mum in reception question - but do you think I should get my DS1 to do some more handwriting practice? He was 5 in December - doing fine at school in general -I have noticed that he isn't forming some of his letters the right way round -he also finds writing quite stressful as I think he aware he is not doing it "right" and he finds most things pretty easy so its a new experience for him - I know its really early days and I don't want to make the stress worse but I also don't want him to get in bad habits and also I have awful handwriting and don't want him to go the same way - and I do think the answer is practice
any suggestions to make it fun/encourage him?

Sand tray and a stick. Shaving foam on a flat surface to write in with a finger.
Using a paintbrush and forming letters and numbers with flowing movements.
Letting him decide which ones he wants to write at least 70% of the time
Finding out how school teaches letter formation and working with them, using similar strategies

Maybe you can do 1 letter every other day. Find out which method the schools uses for writing as some might use cursive from reception.

If his pencil control is not very good then he will still be very frustrated so don't insist. I am not a teacher and I don't know how they develop good pencil control but they said back in the nursery that they do special activities like beading and threading etc.

My son isn't keen on writing letters so I have been encouraging him to draw or do mazes.

He is more likely to write on his Magnadoodle, Aquadraw or steamed up windows than paper. He was using a stick and writing in mud the other day. Is that an option?