What to do if your child hates handwriting?

[sarawatsonim]

My dd5 (6 in Nov) hates handwriting practice. It's not that it is difficult or she can't, it's that she would rather not do it. She is her own worst enemy when it comes to handwriting. What she could be done in 5 minutes she will drag out for over 1/2 hour sometimes. She talks, makes music with her pencil and will even reminisce about things just to get off topic. It there a more fun way for me to get handwriting in without her actually realizing that is what we are doing. Her printing isn't very good so she needs the practice before her bad habits are too ingrained. Also we are broke right now, so the cheaper the better.;)

 

Thanks,

Sara

[TracyR]

Hmm. Maybe using pudding, shaving cream, hair gel in a bag would encourage her handwriting. I've had to get creative with my kids. Handwriting is NOT their thing. I have girls and if you saw their handwriting it would make you scratch your head and think I have boys. He, he.

 

Most of their issues though is that they don't want to take their time either.

[anotherblessingus]

Handwriting Without Tears has worked wonders with my children. I can't explain why, but they really like it. Their handwriting has improved a lot too!

[ElizabethB]

We had much better success when we switched to a white board. A chalk board should have the same effect, too.

 

You can work on drawing letters in the air first or in sand at the bottom of a large shallow pan if even the whiteboard/chalkboard is a bit intimidating at first.

[Dinsfamily]

A salt box and white board are my go-tos for early writers now. Ds learned how to form his letters in the salt box and practiced on the white board. As far as "real" handwriting practice with pencil and paper, I mix it in with our other subjects. I expect him to write his copywork and spelling dictation (ends up being 4x/week with both subjects) as neatly as possible. I don't mention handwriting in other subjects and scribe for him if there's a lot of writing to do (mainly for our science notebooking). He seems to do better if there's a purpose behind the practice. He is improving quite a bit in both neatness and endurance.