Beginner's Guide to Teaching a Child to Write

Children love to write on whatever they can with whatever they can get their hands on. I don't know how many times that I have had my books drawn in and my walls plastered with a black magic marker. Even though this upsets me at times, I know that it is all a part of their learning to write. I am not saying that they should not be disciplined for it but they are probably telling you that they have mastered the skill of holding a utensil in their hand and that they are ready for you to show them a few tools that will help them to learn how to write in the future or even now.

If your child has already mastered the art of drawing circles, let your child practice drawing straight lines and then squiggly lines. This will prepare your child to draw lines that will form into capital letters and lower case letters. Draw lines in different ways and let your child draw over them until they are able to draw them by themselves without copying over the lines. Writing is something that will need to be practiced just like everything else.

After your child is able to draw lines you can begin to help your child in writing letters. Capital letters are easier for a child to write than lower case letters so you might want to start your child on these first. Begin by letting your child practice with crayons and different things that will make it fun for them. If you have sidewalk chalk and don't mind your concrete being drawn on, allow them to practice outside. The child will need a lot of help at first and you will need to help them by placing your hand over theirs. There are a lot of work books that you can purchase to help you. One thing that might make it easier is to have your child to practice writing on thick lines paper that have dashes in them, you can purchase these at different stores that sales school supplies and they are also what most school teachers use for first graders.