Handwriting dos and don’ts

• Be positive, supporting and encouraging.
• Be a good role model, and let them ‘catch you writing’! Explain what and why you are writing, even if it’s just a shopping list, a birthday card or a note to the teacher.
• Have a writing space, a table or area dedicated to writing activities.
• Make writing fun! Write tongue twisters using alliteration, or funny poems together, taking it in turns to note down what you come up with.
• Let your child work at their own pace, so they’ll build up speed and skill naturally.
• If they bring written work back from school, offer special rewards (stickers, certificates to post on the fridge, etc).

• Pile on the pressure – encourage independent learning by letting your child strengthen their handwriting skill at a pace that suits them.
• Compare against peers – remember all children develop at different times and stages.
• Fret too much over misspellings or poor handwriting – they can’t concentrate on everything at once!

Have a special box for your writing materials, including:

• Pens of all kinds
• Envelopes
• Special letter-writing paper
• Child-safe scissors and stapler (needed for making books)
• Pencils – sparkly, coloured, whatever!
• Files and folders
• Different sizes and colours of paper

Find out how your child learns to write, and try fun writing projects that boost literacy skills with your child.