Handwriting Teaching Resources
Explore free handwriting worksheets, classroom alphabet posters, and more activities for kids that have been teacher-created for teachers. There's even a handwriting worksheet generator to help students improve their handwriting!
Whether you're working on handwriting practice with your kindergarten class or teaching cursive writing to 3rd grade students, we've got you covered with teacher resources that have undergone the Teach Starter teacher team's rigorous review process.
New to teaching kids to write by hand? The teachers on our team have had to teach a brand-new grade level after years away, so we’ve put together a quick guide!
What Are the 3 Stages of Handwriting Development?
Teaching students to print in legible handwriting starts well before they're putting pencil to paper to spell out their names. There's a lot of handwriting practice along the way!
The process typically takes the form of three distinct stages:
- Pre-Handwriting Patterns — This stage of handwriting involves creating shapes with the pencil and learning the different directional pushes and pulls required to form letters. Students may practice tracing different types of lines and shapes to prepare them for letter formation.
- Single Letter Formation — Next, students progress to forming individual letters. You'll want to teach students to form groups or families of letters that have similar shapes and directional pushes and pulls. Once they've gotten one concept down, you can move on to forming other letters that are formed differently. In this stage, students learn both the formation of lowercase and uppercase letters.
- Joined Handwriting — This final stage of handwriting puts it all together — literally! In this stage, students will begin forming words on the page with their pencils and will soon write full sentences (and later paragraphs!).
How Can Kids Improve Their Handwriting?
Perhaps you're past the stage of teaching handwriting, but you have students who are lagging behind their peers and need a little help to create legible print? We've got you covered there too!
Here are a few tips from our teacher team to help kids improve their handwriting in your class:
- Find fun ways to practice handwriting. This is a skill students will need for the rest of their lives, but that doesn't mean it has to be boring. Even something as simple as having students practice writing jokes can make the experience more fun and engaging.
- Work on motor skill development. Good handwriting is tied to fine motor skills, and sometimes a student needs to practice manipulating more objects to build up those hand muscles.
- Change up the instrument. Does your student need to use a different kind of pencil or a pencil that is a different size? Do they need a grip added to their pencil? Sometimes a change in the writing instrument can make a big difference in the writing itself.
Worry that your student is falling behind? Check in with your school's special education provider. It may help to have the students evaluated by an occupational therapist to determine if further intervention is needed.
