The latest obsession in our house is learning cursive handwriting. My oldest daughter asked to learn how to write in cursive and I was so very excited to show her. Teaching kids how to write in cursive with creative techniques and unique modifications was one of my favorite things to teach as a school based Occupational Therapist.
We’ve shared a few of the very beginnings of cursive lines, loops, and re-tracing marks that are a the foundation to to writing in cursive, and an important area to work on with older kids who might need a little more practice with pencil control and letter formation on in cursive handwriting.
You can see all of our cursive writing ideas by searching “cursive” or clicking here. This cursive lines fine motor art is a powerhouse of fine motor work and cursive handwriting practice. We connected cursive lines, loops, and re-tracing to form the beginning letters (Read more about which cursive letters to start with.) and worked on connecting lines as well…all with a fine motor twist that resulted in gorgeous artwork!
We worked on our cursive handwriting, however this activity would be done with any printed letter formation and number formation, too.
This post contains affiliate links, however we used items that we had around the house as part of our month-long Learning with Free Materials series where we are sharing learning ideas for homeschoolers and school-extension activities using items that are free or mostly free (i.e. CHEAP or you already have in the home), and is part of the 31 Days of Homeschooling Tips as we blog along with other bloggers with learning at home tips and tools.
Cursive Handwriting Activity:
This activity is really so simple and makes such pretty art with a fine motor twist. Start by using fine tip washable markers
to write cursive letters, swirls, loops, and lines on a few sheets of paper towels
. Practice cursive connecting lines by making a long line of cursive letter “e”s or “l”s connected together.
to write cursive letters, swirls, loops, and lines on a few sheets of paper towels. Practice cursive connecting lines by making a long line of cursive letter “e”s or “l”s connected together. Make a long line of “m”s connected to work on the re-trace needed for the bumps of the letters. You’ll want to practice the re-trace of the letter “c” because that part of the letter is used in so many other cursive letters (a, d, g, and q). Practice connecting them together for the up-swoop and smooth lines needed with writing cursive words.
Next, re-trace the loops, swirls, and lines with other colored washable markers for more practice. It’s starting to look colorful and arty already!
Fine motor handwriting with an eye-dropper:
Pull out a dish of water and your favorite dropper
to slowly add droplets of water. Pinching the bulb of the dropper is a great fine motor workout for little hands. Squeezing an eye dropper to grab water and then release droplets requires an open web-space and strengthens the hand muscles.
to slowly add droplets of water. Pinching the bulb of the dropper is a great fine motor workout for little hands. Squeezing an eye dropper to grab water and then release droplets requires an open web-space and strengthens the hand muscles. Dropping water slowly and by the droplet requires a precision and dexterity that works on motor control and further strengthens the intrinsic muscles of the hand.
Try to use the water dropper as a writing utensil to follow along the lines of the cursive letters. This will further strengthen fine motor skills as well as line awareness which is so important in handwriting. Cursive letters will be practiced again and again with repetition by tracing with the dropper and further work on cursive letter formation.
My kids loved that they could add water slowly and make some parts very mixed and other parts more bold by adding less water. Once you’ve added water to your cursive letter lines, let the paper towels dry. The best method we’ve found for drying this art works is by hanging the wet paper towels over a cookie drying rack
which can be placed over a cookie sheet
to catch any drips.
which can be placed over a cookie sheet
to catch any drips.
More cursive handwriting activities you will Love:
Looking for more ideas to help with cursive? You’ll love our 31 day series on How to teach cursive writing.
. These were taped to the wall for overhead activity and a movement task. Adding movement to learning is a great way to get the whole brain involved in building and retaining learned information. 
? A simple bandage and a kiss from mom often times heals a boo boo for a child. When they think of a sick friend or relative, they will get that their card made with 
and embroidery thread that we received from our friends at 
. 
that we could and use it for all of our kitchen experiments. (i.e. I would not use it for cooking actual food!) 
. They are still drying, but we have big plans for these cuties! Be sure to stop back soon to see how we’re using them in all kinds of counting and ordering games. 
