Fun ways to practise hand writing

[Carpediem2007]

Hi
My DS is just 5 and finishes reception soon.
I am trying to find fun ways of making him practise his handwriting in the holidays as he is very slow and not keen to write anything at all.

His teacher suggested making a scrap book during the holiday including some short descriptions that he would write about his days, writing shopping lists and post cards as well as spelling simple words too.

Has anyone got some good ideas how to make handwriting fun?

He likes all electronic games and is getting well with numeracy, now enjoys reading more than when he started in September , but hand writing remains his least keen activity.

We are going on holiday for 2 weeks and he will use holiday clubs for the rest of the summer.

I don't want him to feel that he has homework for the holiday but would like to help him practise so he gets more confident and faster as he really struggles with it at the moment. He is expected to write 2-3 lines independently to describe what he did. At home, he will write his name only and even this, he is not too keen on!

I don't want him to hate it and resent it so I am looking for practical meaningful activities that involve writing.

Thank you for your ideas.

DS does enjoy writing shopping lists - most often for the things he wants to buy. ATM he is collecting number plates so sits in the car and writes them down and things from the back of vans. Thats really helped with being faster as if he doesn't get it down quickly it will go.

I also refuse to write notes to invite people to play, so he has to do that.

Have got some good ideas from ds's school, marking place so I can come and add them when I'm not on my phone with battery about to run out!

I am in the same situation. My dd really does not like writing, probably as she isn't good at it and she likes to be good at things! We get her to write on a whiteboard and on the iPad with the special pencil. She likes animals so she is making an animal fact book at the moment. Cutting out pictures from an old book and sticking them in a scrapbook and then Writing a sentence. I model the sentence for her and she copies it into the book. She likes it that I write exactly what she says as it is more 'hers' that way.

Anything where I can get her to write for a real purpose then I do. Replying to an invitation, writing a note to ask daddy to do something for her, shopping list etc.

I'd do lots of things to practise fine motor skills such as lego, threading, dot to dots, drawing etc

I do do all that but I have to do handwriting as dd is dropping behind her classmates. She's just not interested in anything that doesn't involve her being a dog.

Write a dog's name for a dog collar? Make a name sign for a dog house? I am starting to get it

Will look at the iPad pen as he loves our iPad and might like that. Any particular app for writing on iPad for fun, please?

He needs to engage with paper and pen writing, already does Lego, arts and craft, painting, colouring, cutting happily but not writing.
Writing notes for Daddy to do things or for Daddy to buy stuff during shopping trip is a great idea

Four weeks of childcare - I would think they do lots of fine-motor and writing stuff / craft/building - it's pretty much like YR I think, a bit of sport/play and story etc - I think your lad will do lots of pen-control just by doing the childcare club.

if it is letter formation you could try glittery water and big paint brushes.

Otherwise I would try writing notes to him yourself. He could then write some back to you. Things like "What would you like to do today?" etc. You could leave them on the fridge.

I get my reluctant handwriter to write 'please can I go on the computer?' or 'please can I play Minecraft?' etc before I say yes. Another time I ask him to write more e.g. 'I like Minecraft because it's awesome and you can build things.'

Also get him to take people's 'orders' for food, e.g. what pizza toppings they want or how they want their egg cooked.

Depends if you want him to be writing actual sentences or if you just want to improve his handwriting iyswim...

at dc school, in the first year they aren't so bothered about the actual handwriting as strengthening up the muscles used for writing - first using big actions and then getting smaller and smaller until they are writing, as it all helps.

these are the things we've been told to do to help without the need to sit down and just 'do writing'

• get an old big paintbrush and bucket of water and use it to paint the fence. Think of the different writing strokes that you would use so the first time paint it using up and down strokes, next zigzags, next circles, next sloping lines one way then the other and so on.

• they've given ds2 a 'magic wand' in his welcome pack for next year - aka a fancy stick with 4 bits of ribbon on each about a metre long (ds1 uses them at the school for gym too - think of Olympic gymnasts doing their thing on a mat with ribbons on the end of a stick) . this is for whirling around and making shapes - if possible the same sort of writing shapes as for the fence but at the end of the day any sort of wiggling it around to make it make shapes, especially if you can get them to vary them lots will help. both dc like to pick up the 'wand' and whizz it around watching the lines the ribbons make - you just need to make sure they are not standing next to anything that can be broken!

• get big coloured chalks to do drawing and writing outside. again doing shape patterns is as good as writing just to get pen control. admittedly this might be a bit of a washout option this summer!

• get an old newspaper and a big fat felt tip and then use that to write letters or words in big size on the big newspaper pages. Pen needs to be nice and thick so words stand out on the newsprint but they seem to love having control of a massive felt tip (think those old style bingo pens).

• have a competition with mummy/whoever to see who can do the neatest spiral on a sheet of A4 with the most circles on in the spiral (I know they won't be complete circles in a spiral but not sure what to call each almost circle! - whorl maybe?). Or the most zigzags in a line

• draw a maze for himself and then draw the path through it. or draw a detailed roadmap and then in a different colour draw the path through it - could do this on a big newspaper sheet and then he could drive his car along the route once he's done it

• sit on a chair or the bed and then try to make letters in the air with both hands and feet in the air all at the same time

Tray of sand, write letters with a blunt pencil. It's more visual and was recommended to me by my DS2's OT.

Also, 'wave' patterns written on pavement in chalk. Google handwriting patterns and 'model' them so your DC can copy them.

Stabilo S'moove pens and pencils, ergonomically shaped for left or right handers. I got DS2's first ones imported, now they are easily available - the school SenCo was so impressed with them that I had to tell her where I got them from. They really DO make a difference to pencil grip.

Making sausages out of play dough, then forming the letters as if they were being written. Again, a very visual method to get the starting point and direction of the letter set in their heads.

Silly stories, where you write a line, then they write a line, then you read it AS a story at the end of the page - "An elephant went for a walk" "He found a toy car" "he squeezed into the toy car" "the car flew up in the air" "a bird sat on the elephant's trunk" "The bird asked the elephant where he was going" "The elephant said he was going to buy some mice and some custard" "Because custard mice are his favourite" etc.

I have more, will come back tomorrow to post them. Had to do quite a bit with DS2 who USED to be a reluctant writer, due to a muscle problem and just general immaturity due to GDD.

At the end of Y1, his 'writing' was little more than mark-making you would expect from a 3/4yo.

Now at the end of Y3, he is in top set for everything, and though his handwriting is not as neat as the rest of his class, it is perfectly readable, and will catch up in neatness in time, as we still work on it.

Maze books - The Happy Puzzle Company is good for those.

Zip zap has posted a few of the others we used.

Does it have to be fun?!

Is he into Pokemon or Ben 10 or something? If so, ask him to write a short story about his favourite character.

Oh, and a list for Father Christmas usually fires them up to write, too!

Conorsrockers - What's wrong with making it fun for a reluctant writer? It worked with my reluctant writer, and now at 8yo, he's not reluctant, enjoys writing, and has been moved to top set in literacy.

Couthy Mow - I'm only kidding, it's lovely that you put so much effort into making it fun, I'm afraid my kids got old style poetry books and tracing paper .

Another one if you want him to do some real writing is to set up a play shop/zoo/museum/etc and then get him to write labels, prices, make a poster, a map, a guide book etc as appropriate and then he can show you or your dp around or get you to buy things from his shop...

Oh and when you are out and about, pick up leaflets (anything - timetables, local attractions, this week's special offers at tesco, etc) that interest him and then get him to make his own up when he gets home.

Wow lots of great ideas, thank you. Makes me realise that I have not been particularly creative so far. DS wants some BBQ sauce so started by suggesting he put this on Daddy's shopping list as we don't buy this usually . He told to to write it myself (!) but I will persevere. He also write 2 lines in teacher's s thank you card for the end of the year, she was absolutely lovely and dedicated and he really liked her, so we eventually managed this, after haggling on every single word. Odd thing is, he can write, he just does not want to but once he gets going his writing can be quit neat (after a few words to warm up).

I am hesitating to get a iPad pen and some app as he is gadget mad and may like that best but in reality, he is expected to write on paper at school.