I’m a huge hypocrite when it comes to teaching my kids handwriting. I won’t say that I do most of my writing online solely because my handwriting is terrible — but it is, in fact, terrible. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting my kids to have good handwriting, so handwriting practice is part of their homeschool day!
We keep our homeschool supplies to a minimum because we are full-time travelers and do most of our schooling online, but handwriting is one area where supplies are necessary. So in this post I’m going to share with you our go-to tools to improve handwriting.
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Best Supplies for Handwriting Practice
When you homeschool your kids, you’re in charge of their assignments. And when you have a bright, 9-year-old daughter and a blog in need of content…well, you ask her to write a blog post for you! #learning
So I’m going to pass this over to Vanessa, and she’s going to talk about our favorite handwriting tools!
This is Vanessa, and I am writing this for my mom’s blog. While our family travels, my siblings and I do homeschool instead of going to public school. One subject on our School Tracker is handwriting practice.
Having good handwriting is a very important skill for kids to learn. Below are some helpful handwriting tools that can help your children improve their handwriting.
1: Handwriting: Printing (Brighter Child, Grades K-2)
This is the handwriting book that my little brother, Harrison, uses. He used to have not-so-great handwriting but, thanks to the book, he’s starting to improve a lot.
This book is designed for kids in Kindergarten to second grade and is a great choice for beginners because it starts with single letters, then moves on to full words and full sentences.
It’s also only $3.99, so it’s very inexpensive — we’ve actually bought this book twice already!
Here’s another beginner handwriting workbook that we like. We’ve used it for both beginners and older kids, to improve our handwriting.
2: Print Handwriting Workbook for Teens
Next, I would like to mention the handwriting workbook my older brother, Carter, uses. Although he’s not a teen yet (he’s almost 12), it still helps him improve his handwriting skills.
The special part? When you’re using the book, you’re not just tracing words like ‘cat’ or ‘alligator’ — you’re tracing science facts. It helps teens improve their handwriting and at the same time helps them be smarter and enjoy handwriting practice by having them write cool facts.
3: Pencil Grippers for Kids
Another must-have handwriting tool are these pencil grippers for kids. They come in fun shapes and cool colors, and they can help kids learn to hold a pencil correctly.
All you have to do is slip them onto a pencil and show the child where to put their fingers. They really help little ones hold their pencils the right way, which can be difficult and frustrating without them!
Check out all of our homeschool supply recommendations in our Amazon store!
The ones that I linked above also included little animal-shaped grippers, which I think are super cute and fun. We’ve even put them on crayons for my little sister, Melody!
Warning: You’re probably going to need to buy a few extras, as they are easy to get lost.
4: Printable handwriting worksheets
When little ones are learning to write their letters, sometimes they learn names for the lines on the page: skyline, plane line, grass line, and worm line. This helps them to know how to form their letters — where to start and where to end.
We have a free download for this handwriting paper right on this site! Just click here to get it now.
And check out our Holiday Handwriting Printable Packs!
5: Well, duh, pencils
Okay, I probably didn’t need to tell you that you need pencils for handwriting, but believe me when I say you need a LOT of them. At least, if you have four kids in your house like we do. Do yourself a favor and buy a giant box.
With the pencils, grippers, and handwriting worksheets or workbooks, you are good to go! My family uses all of these tools and our handwriting is getting better and better.
Even if my mom’s isn’t. *giggle*