I love to share creative handwriting activities. My own kids have varying levels of love when it comes to writing. Currently, my four year old is writing down everything she can think of. She’s still practicing letter formation but is often heard calling from the other room, “how do you spell…?” that she simply must write at that moment. My older kids write when they have to, sometimes a little more legibly than other times. I’ve pulled out a few of these motivating handwriting activities with my own kids! Here are more irresistibly creative ways to encourage handwriting in seriously fun ways.
Read also these strategies for name practice for kindergarten to support underlying skills needed for handwriting at the beginning level.
My own kids love to do all of the activities that I’ve shared for handwriting help, because honestly, the tips and tricks that I’ve shared here are geared more toward the underlying skills needed for handwriting instead of just plain old ways to practice handwriting. Improve those underlying skills in ways that can’t be beat!
Handwriting Activities for Kids Who Hate to Write
I wanted to come up with a collection of unbeatable handwriting activities for kids who hate to write because let’s face it; Kids will complain and resist handwriting practice when they really just hate to practice written work!
Try these activities that I’ve found makes kids see the fun over the challenge to practice handwriting:
Try a few Writing Tray Ideas
Writing Trays add a sensory play component to handwriting. Try these creative writing tray ideas.
Write with glow sticks in a tray of flour.
Write with a cinnamon stick in a tray of sugar.
Write with a straw in a tray of cornmeal.
Write with twigs in a tray of dried beans.
Write in slime with your finger.
The possibilities for writing trays are endless!
Write in a tray of dishsoap with your finger.
Related Read: Try these handwriting accommodation strategies to address a variety of handwriting challenges.
The great thing about using sensory trays in handwriting practice is that they really encourage sensory handwriting experiences. For more sensory handwriting experiences, try these:
Sensory Handwriting Activities for Kids
Turn handwriting from being a chore to being fun with other sensory based writing activities:
Write in shaving cream.
Write on the window.
Write in pudding.
Write on a mess-free sensory bag.
Write on a DIY light box.
Write in fog on a window.
Write on a foam tray for proprioceptive input.
Write with a flashlight at night.
High visual contrast by writing in coffee.
Practice letter formation by tracing over letters:
Place string over letters.
Write with wet chalk on a driveway (It’s high resistance and provides heavy work proprioceptive input!)
Trace letters with a fingertip dipped in pudding.
Trace letters with a cotton-stab dipped in paint.
Trace letters over sandpaper.
Trace letters with a straw dipped in milk dyed with food coloring.
Place Wikki Stix over letters.
Form letters with grass dipped in glue.
Write on foam craft sticks.
Form letters with baked cotton swabs.
Use cooked spaghetti noodles to form letters.
Trace highlighted letters.
Trace letters with a cotton ball dipped in paint.
Work on letter formation with gross motor play:
Draw letters and words on a driveway. Walk toe-to-toe over the letters.
Write with big arm motions.
Write letters with a ribbon stick.
What are your favorite ways to make handwriting less of a chore and more of an irresistible handwriting activity?
