Summer Handwriting Helpers!

Summer is a great time to help your child improve his or her handwriting potential for the following school year. Trying a combination of the following suggestions may help your child develop greater skills to be more ready and willing to write!

Good kinesthetic awareness is needed in order for your child to feel his/her hand on the page, know where it is without having to look at it all of the time, and to know how hard to press into the paper when writing.

Kinesthetic activities:

  • Making and/or playing with playdough, putty, clay or a combination of corn starch and water
  • Making cookies or mixing other fun foods together in the kitchen with his/her hands
  • Coloring on thin paper placed on top of sand paper or cement outside
  • Using chalk on a mini chalk board or sidewalk
  • Practice writing or drawing in shaving cream or sand for fun

Good postural stability of the trunk, shoulder, hand and neck muscles are also very important in order for your child to have the ability to sit at a table with good upright posture and fine motor control. The ability to maintain this posture and perform fine motor skills without tiring easily is necessary for good handwriting skills.

Postural activities:

  • Underwater swimming is great for postural endurance!
  • Lying on the floor on the stomach to watch TV, have a snack, read a book, or play games
  • Set up: push ups, sit ups, wheelbarrow walks or crab walks as a game, or to set a record and then try to beat it!
  • Climb on jungle gyms & monkey bars to build upper body and hand strength
  • Enroll in martial arts camps, yoga programs, gymnastics programs or other physical programs that promote strength and endurance as a part of their curriculum

Teach the proper way to hold a pencil, by encouraging your child to use a 3-finger grasp. The tip of the thumb and index finger should be on the pencil and the middle finger should support the pencil from the underside. You can try a variety of pencil grips to see if any particular gripper helps your child keep his/her fingers in this position. You can also try thick pencils, short pencils or mechanical pencils to see what makes your child’s handwriting look the best. The thumb should not be wrapped around the pencil or the other fingers, as this causes difficulty with precision and makes the fingers tire quickly. Now you are ready to encourage your child to work on the activities below. Present these activities in a fun or challenging way to your child, but monitor and respect their frustration and level of resistance.

Eye-hand coordination activities:

  • Dot-to-Dot, tracing, coloring, art or learning-to-draw workbooks (have your child lie on his/her stomach, or seated in a chair with both feet flat on the floor for good postural support)
  • Practice copying three-dimensional block designs (i.e.- parquetry boards) or find a few new challenging puzzles
  • Order the Handwriting Without Tears program materials or workbook for the summer, practicing 5-10 minutes a day to reinforce the proper way to form (print & cursive) letters (www.hwtears.com).
  • Children that have done journal writing this past year in school can continue to journal write over the summer, on fun topics of their choice.

These are fun activities that can help promote your child’s handwriting skills. They can be incorporated into their daily routine for 5-30 minutes at a time, a few times per week.

Feel free to e-mail me through my website @ www.pediatricpotentials.com if you would like more activities or any clarification.  Try to enjoy this time with your child and have fun!

Have a great summer!

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