Handwriting for 4 year old

[MotherGoose]

My dd, who turned 4 in March, I have been trying to encourage to write. I don't push, and we have Handwriting without Tears. I want her to learn to hold the pencil correctly, and to form the letters correctly. I know she's young still, but with holding the pencil, she holds her fingers correctly but wants to hold the pencil about halfway up instead of down by the end like you are supposed to. Any thoughts on this?

[JudoMom]

You might want to try these PipSqueak markers (I found them at Walmart). My 4 year old loves them, and he holds them correctly without much effort (he doesn't pick up a regular pencil with a correct grip yet).

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

Have you used the small chalk boards from HWT with little pieces of chalk? That worked for my son. When there is only a tiny piece of chalk to hold on to, they have to hold it correctly, and the chalk boards give them a larger contained space in which to form their letters. And we didn't have to go through oodles of paper. :)

[Mynyel]

HWT has little chalk bits and small crayons and such available. You can use those to help.

 

I wish I had known about HWT when my kids were learning how to write! I only had a vague awareness of it until this board!

[Mommee & Baba]

When doing HWT with my 4 yr old lastyear she had troubles holding the pencil correctly as well. Call me goofy though because our solution was rather simple. Purchase box of #2 pencils when on sale for $0.25/box. Break half of them in half and then sharpen. This worked perfectly for BOTH my 6 and 4yr olds last year. Also the pip squeak markers work perfect because they aren't as thin as a pencil and easier for your child to hold properly.