Seeking Cool Ways to Help Daughter Write Letters

Hello A.,
I do child care in my home and have been successful with the dot to dot method and I usually start with the 3 year olds.

Start with a whole line of dot to dot A's-B's and C's and leave a space under each letter. let the child do the letters by connecting the dots and on the next line try the letter on their own by looking at the dot to dot letter they completed. I praise them for every attempt. I start with 10 minute sessions and expand the time as the child gets better. I have a 5 year old in my care now that can do all ABC's, address, phone number, his whole name and birth date. Which makes me so very happy when they can do things for themselves.
Good luck. B.

Using fingerpaint is always fun. Also making letters out of clay lets them think more of the shape of the letter than just drawing a line. When I was teacking the school had "kits" that parents could use. One thing was a set of plastice letters that the kids rolled a marbled through the letter. The letter was grooved into plastic. Also, they make paper with raised letters so the kids can feel when they have to stop on the line. Using string to form letters is fun. Drawing the letters in the sand.

A.,
Check out the following websites given to me by a nanny friend of mine, hopefully you will find some really cool stuff on there. One of my favorites is dltk-kids.com The others are do2learn.com;ourspecialkids.org/teachercontents;
siteforteachers.com/index;preschoolexpress.com/alphabet;
starfall.com;preschoolprintables.com;kidsdomain.com;
lessonplanspage.com;enchantedlearning.com

Good Luck!
J. F.

You've received lots of great ideas! I taught elementary school and have two more ideas for you. The first one is very simple: let her use a dry erase marker to practice her letters on the bathroom mirror while you are getting ready. You write a model of the letter and she can practice. Kids love this because they get to sit on the counter and write on the mirror...it's great for mom also because it keeps her occupied while you are trying to get ready to leave!
You can also make a gel board so she can touch the letters. It's the same idea as shaving cream or sand, but it portbale so she can practice in the car without the mess. Materials you will need are a heavy duty ziplock bag(I would use gallon size for a 5 year old), see-thru packing tape, a piece of cardboard the size of your bag, DEP hair gel and a set of 5 by 7 notecards. To make the gel board put hair gel into the ziplock bag and tape the bag to the piece of cardboard leaving one of the four sides un-taped. Write the letters she is practicing on note cards with black magic marker. To use she slides a note card under the bag on the side that is not taped and traces the letter through the gel. This is also great for learning spelling words as she progresses in school. I've used gel boards with 5 year olds up to 5th grades...they love them! Hope this helps! Let us know what you try and what she likes the most! Good luck!

A.,
I am a teacher in Akron. I have a ton of students who have entered K and have a hard time writing letters...so let me offer a few suggestions.
Part of it is developmental...if she is a young 5 then it might take her a few months. Also, kids mature as they lose their teeth...keep that in mind. But ideas for practicing letters...
Put a thin layer of salt or sand in a baking pan and have her draw them. Get some pieces of sand paper and stencils and cut the letters of out of sand paper and have her trace them, feel them and put them under her paper and color over them. Kids learn through texture first (that is why babies always put things in their mouth). Practice making letters out of pipe cleaners popsicle sticks etc. Set up a paper with alphabet stickers on it and then have her put a dot on the letter b or a or whatever. You can find some cool letter things if you go to a scrapbooking store-stickers, ellison cut outs, stencils etc. If you are not familiar with Montessori Method then go to your local library and get some books on teaching ideas- they will offer great non traditional pencil paper methods. Remember, as she sees, recognizes, and becomes familiar with the letters, then printing will be the next step but she has to know what they look like before she can print.And remember, scribbling, and trying to form letters, making up letters, writing nonsense and pretending to read it-those are all predevelopmental skills to writing... Good luck.

My daughter just turned four and is in her first year of preschool. She is also learning to write her letters. I've tried to make it more fun by not just sticking to the traditional "trace the letter on paper and then try it on your own." We do that, but I also look at household objects-- toys, windows, appliances that have shapes that look like the letters. Like the clock would be an "O" or the glass block window forms an "H" or my son's train track can become a C if I take one section out. A baseball tee becomes the letter I, we use blocks to look like "Z".

Also, I know the weather is starting to get cooler but we've also worked on letters with chalk on the sidewalk and driveway outside. She tends to do much better being able to get up and run around rather than being stuck at the table with a piece of paper. And if she gets frustrated we quit for a little bit and blow bubbles or play something else and come back to it.

Hope that helps!

A.~

My son just started kindergarten and his teacher has a way to help the kids with writing their letters. She takes a highlighter and writes the letters on the lined paper. The kids then "trace" over the letters a few times, until they get the hang of it, then usually they can write them on their own, just by looking at them. My son's writing has improved tremendously using this format.

Good luck!

We got our daughter the Leapster last year at Christmas and she didn't know all of her letters yet at that time. After getting Letters on the Loose....within a few weeks she knew here letters AND could write them! There is also a Numbers on the Loose, and a princess game that helps with learning to hold the pencil and draw lines etc...

I hope this helps.

M.

My parents always made me write thank you's to far-away grandparents. My grandparents didn't care how I spelled or what letters I didn't write well. It was good practice.
If you try something like this, encourage your daughter to write about something good or fun she did that day etc. You can translate below on any parts that may be confusing, before sending the letters. As she grows you can teach her to address the envelope correctly as well.
Best wishes.

My son's preschool teaches "handwriting without tears" where letters of the alphabet are classified as lines and curves and a combination thereof. Using wooden peices they learn how to form the letters starting with Capitals first since schools expect them to know them. You have a Big line, Big curve and a Little line and Little curve. Letters that start with the same stroke or same place are grouped together. They do not go in alphabetical order. They aso teach them to write with crayons broken in half in order to teach them to "pinch' correctly which will help in holding a pencil. This avoids "fist" gripping.
Hope this helps
S.

Hey there, I really like Kumon workbooks, my three year old is writing uppercase and lowercase letters, our house rules with workbooks are to go one page at a time, follow the directions, and maybe reward her when she gets to the end of each book, we also use Reader Rabbit work books as well. I just started homeschooling my son in Kindergarten, the program I was sent is called Handwriting without tears, lots of options, have patience! J

Hi! A. My daughter who is also 5 and started kindergarten, has had problems and getting very frustrated also. I asked the teacher if she had any ideas to make it easier and I think they will be fun and help her grasp writting easier. I got the note back yesterday so we are going to work on them today. Her suggestions were to get a cookie sheet and shaving cream and have her practice with her fingers, finger paints, sand etc. can work. Write it in BOLDBLACK INK and have her trace over letters with paper on top and she can trace the letters. I am 34 and handwriting has changed alot since I was in school. She'll get it so don't worry I takes time. So much is new to them. Good Luck!!

so funny...I thought my daughter was going to start school this year, but I guess she doesn't turn 5 in time. Anyways, we decided to start teaching her at home...starting with writting her letters.

I got a blank notbook and went through with her crayola markers and made the trainer paper (two solid lines with a dashed line running down the middle - I used up three lines of the notebook paper for this) Each page was a different letter, and everyday is a new letter day. I start her out by writting the capital letter on one line and the lower case letter on the next one down. She traces them when she needs to and I sit right there and work with her when she's having trouble.

We are now up to K. She only has to finish that one page out of the notebook, and all day we talk about words that begin with whatever the letter of the day is. When we find a word that starts with that letter we scream like the "word of the day" on PeeWees playhouse. HAHA. Anyways, she's doing great and it's good to see her develop. We have a hard time with her sometimes, but we just make sure there is a reward for finishing it that she DOES NOT get if she doesn't.

Good luck. My best advice is not to give up. Make it fun for her.

There's so much great advice in the replies. I teach special education and have little new to offer that hasn't already been said here. My students LOVE the shaving cream writing activity and sand/rice poured onto a cookie sheet. I've also used whipped cream and pudding so we can "eat" the letters. This allows me to practice identification as well, by saying, "let's eat the "b" you made". There's also bath finger paints you can try and dry erase boards are lots of fun for kids (use different colored markers). Asking her to "help" you or someone else to write them can be motivating. Give her a model to look at and then have her write it. You "try" to copy her letter.

Good luck. I know this can be frustrating, but with practice she'll get it. Some kids just learn things at a different developmental time than others and although the (we) teachers like all kids to be fairly uniform, it's ok when they aren't! :) Just keep it light and fun so she's not turned off by the whole thing. Attitude is everything!

E.
Part-time special educator
Mother of wonderful 2 1/2 year old daughter

My son is left handed and both my husband and I are right handed. What fun that was teaching him to write!! I found it helpful to buy paper that had the letters already written on them along with space to practice the letters. Have your little one trace the letters, then immediately have them practice them right after. It helped a lot!! There are even erasable pages you can buy...and let her pick out the erasable markers to use!! You can even try holding her hand with the pencil and assist her with the motions.

My kids have an aquadoodle. They love to practice letters on it. The whole alphabet is on the sides of the mat so I point to one and they try it. Magnadoodle is another tool. I write the letter first and they try it. Is she able to recognize all of her letters? If not, that might be why she's frustrated. If she's not recognizing them try flash cards until she's got them all down. Don't worry though, she'll get it. Good Luck!

Hi A., We are in the same boat! My son just started the big K this year too. He has trouble with a few randon letters as well. I second the highlighter method! I sat one night with an elementary "ruled" notepad and wrote a different letter of the alphabet over & over on it's own sheet, w/a highlighter. Each evening when we are doing homework, I have Grey do a sheet. He traces each letter with a pencil. By the time he gets to the bottom of the page, each letter is looking better than the last! Good luck, have fun with it!

here are some of the ideas I tried with my 5 year old. I would get a highlighter and write the letters and he would write over them in pencil, also Walmart carries dry-erase alphabet books. try them I bought one and it really helped us...Good luck

Hi A.,
Ask her something she likes and guide her how to write the name of the things. Buy some guide letter and number for beginners at teacher"s store use it until her hand stable to do her own writing.

M.