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Hands On As We Grow®

Hands on kids activities for hands on moms. Focusing on kids activities perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.

50 Simple & Fun Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers

Literacy & ABCs Popular Preschoolers ABCs Letter Sounds Letters Lowercase Letters Resources 82 Comments

It’s almost time for back to school for preschool and kindergarten kids and these alphabet activities will come in handy!

How do you teach the alphabet to preschoolers?!

As a preschooler, I don’t really think a lot is expected for them to know. Some basics are good though, like colors , shapes ,  numbers and letters.

To refresh my preschooler’s memory of letter recognition in general, as well as knowing the uppercase and lowercase alphabet and getting to know some of the letters sounds, I’ve been collecting ideas for activities that Henry can do to get him back on track of school. (Check some more out my ABC Learning & More Pinterest Board .)

Not to mention it’ll be great to get me back into school mode too!

50 Alphabet activities for preschoolers to learn letter sounds, upper and lowercase letters and recognizing their letters -- all without worksheets.

With any learning activities, it’s very important to not crush your child’s confidence . Build on what they already know and expand slowly. And only go further when they’re excited to learn.

We want our kids to love learning! Not dread it.

So if they’re not excited about an activity, put it away until another day.

The big question then is…

How do you teach alphabets to preschoolers in a fun way?

Here are 50 alphabet activities meant for preschoolers that do just that.

Hands-on activities that have the preschoolers playing and involving their entire body while learning their ABCs.

Without them even realizing that they’re learning to recognize the letters of the alphabet, both the upper and lower case… or their letter sounds.

Let’s get on with it and see how to teach the alphabet to preschoolers in a fun way!

Recognizing Letters of the Alphabet

Identifying the letters of the alphabet can be a fun activity for preschoolers to learn while playing!

Here are  25 Alphabet activities to recognize the letters of the alphabet.

An ABC mat and blocks are useful along with our alphabet activities for preschoolers to recognize the letters of the alphabet.

Additionally, these products are excellent to have on hand when learning letters.

These do include my affiliate link that helps to support Hands On As We Grow® at no additional cost to you if you purchase. We truly appreciate the support, thank you.

writing letters activities

These provide amazing opportunities for letter or alphabet games and activities to do at home!

Learning Uppercase & Lowercase Letters

Lowercase letters tend to be harder for preschoolers to identify as well as match up with their uppercase counterparts.

Here are 9 alphabet activities to help preschoolers distinguish between upper and lower case letters.

A letter hunt is one of the alphabet activities that help preschoolers learn the uppercase and lowercase letters.

Letter Sound Activities

Many of the activities for preschoolers that are listed for recognizing the letters of the alphabet can also be adjusted for learning the sounds of the letters too!  

Here are 16 alphabet activities for preschoolers to work on the sounds of the letters!

Alphabet Activities to learn ABCs at home and the letter sounds.

Fantastic books for learning ABCs:

Supplement these learning activities with books and your preschooler will be singing, reciting, spelling and sounding out the ABCs in no time I bet!

writing letters activities

I’d love to know.

When was your child able to identify some letters of the alphabet?

Henry learned his alphabet really early it seemed. Identifying a few letters when he was 20 months old and knowing almost the entire alphabet when he was just over 2 years old.

George on the other hand has no interest yet at 22 months so it’s not on our radar.

If you have an eager early learner, these beginning learning letter activities are perfect for toddlers!

50 Alphabet activities for preschoolers to learn letter sounds, upper and lowercase letters and recognizing their letters -- all without worksheets.

Onto numbers!  40 number activities for preschoolers too!

About Jamie Reimer

Jamie learned to be a hands on mom by creating activities, crafts and art projects for her three boys to do. Jamie needed the creative outlet that activities provided to get through the early years of parenting with a smile! Follow Jamie on Pinterest and Instagram !

More Hands on Kids Activities to Try

Start learning letters with your toddler! You'll love these 20+ activities that make it simple to have fun and learn together.

Reader Interactions

82 comments.

lasercut says

December 3, 2022 at 12:54 am

smith wesley says

January 26, 2022 at 5:29 pm

thanks alot

SNK Creation says

December 14, 2021 at 4:52 am

Thanks for sharing this valuable content with us this work is appreciable and I have bookmarked your website.

November 1, 2021 at 1:55 pm

Really loved your ideas and links, I’m always on the hunt for things that can help my son with learning……thanks dear for nice sharing……….i appreciate your efforts……….

Amrita Madhur says

October 25, 2021 at 7:26 am

Wonderful ideas! Thanks for sharing these great ways to teach Alphabets to kids

karton bardak says

October 6, 2021 at 5:09 am

They have very sweet and stylish designs, beautiful products.

Alicia says

May 22, 2021 at 1:32 pm

This has been wonderful… they are all brilliant ideas but some resources are hard to access but nevertheless.. it was very learning.. mainly because I develop ideas by studying certain things. ????????????. Very helping

The Read Today says

April 28, 2021 at 8:34 am

Nicely put together everything. I think if one follows everything mentioned in this article, it can never go wrong with the kids. Always wanted to read something about alphabets activities with the sound of the letters

April 11, 2021 at 9:39 am

I think this is an interesting way to teach children before entering school

Agnes Adiani says

February 14, 2021 at 4:30 am

This is a good idea, it can raise children’s enthusiasm for learning. Because children’s development is faster when something they like is there.

Alifyah says

July 5, 2020 at 11:35 pm

Woww, this is the perfect list! It has everything! Thankyou!

Spartan Kids says

November 24, 2019 at 6:24 am

Good Artical

Soma Daire ilanları says

September 28, 2019 at 5:27 am

Great collection! thank you for sharing!

September 9, 2019 at 9:57 am

Amazing tips! Can’t wait to try them out with my youngest. I might start baking the alphabet, sounds like so much fun. Thanks for sharing!

Billie says

September 21, 2020 at 4:58 am

Great list! I’m definitely saving this for future use. This list has literally everything

May 17, 2019 at 7:04 am

He learned the letters by us reading the Dr. Seuss “A, B, C” book to him every night and learned the sounds by a kids’ laptop my parents bought him. My younger son is now 21 months old and I’m getting ready to start working with him, but he does not enjoy reading like my older son does so I have a feeling it is going to be a different ballgame! Thank you for some great ideas!

January 14, 2019 at 10:27 am

it is very important for every begainer .so my brother younger to help teach the ABC’s

November 8, 2018 at 11:38 am

These are great activities to help teach the ABC’s. My daughter is in early child hood education, she will love these ideas.

Jack Irby says

November 16, 2017 at 11:06 am

We have alphabet mats all along our kid’s play area. They also have magnets which to be honest get scattered literally EVERYWHERE. But that’s what kids do, right? They’re learning the ABCs and 123s right now in pre-k and learning so much.

Destiny McDonald says

November 15, 2017 at 9:52 am

They were good ideas ,but needs more visual representation .

bullet force says

October 4, 2017 at 2:30 am

What a fabulous collection!

192.168.0.1 says

Cool alphabet activities! great collection!

Leona Paygar says

September 27, 2017 at 11:18 pm

Thanks, it was rewarding. Hope to get more of this.

February 20, 2017 at 4:01 am

please help us to teach are kid all subject .years 3

Lindsey O'Connell says

September 23, 2016 at 1:17 pm

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these ideas!!! Also, wanted to share a link to a great product. It’s like Elf on a Shelf for LEARNING! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1591009521/my-owl-pal-book-and-toy-let-your-learning-adventur

November 12, 2015 at 1:17 pm

i like but maybe give us how much time can we do that activity

May 26, 2015 at 9:32 pm

Is there an easier version to print?

Devany says

May 7, 2015 at 1:53 pm

These are fantastic! Thank you!

March 2, 2015 at 3:25 am

Thank you for the great materials! Sometimes I teach kids and will definitely use some of those methods, especially Letter Sound Activities!

Jamie Reimer says

March 2, 2015 at 7:05 am

You’re welcome! Have fun!

October 27, 2014 at 10:49 pm

I love these ideas! Thank you for sharing!

Sinea Pies says

October 7, 2014 at 6:32 pm

What a marvelous source of alphabet activities for preschoolers!

October 7, 2014 at 7:54 pm

Thank you :)

September 17, 2014 at 8:38 am

Thanks for sharing great ways to teach ABC Alphabets to kids. Let me share another great way to teach ABC Alphabets to kids.

As you know kids are really crazy about smartphones and tablets, so why not teach them with fun using smartphones.

Yes you can teach kids using smartphone/tablets apps/games.

Let me share you some cool ABC learning games which helps kids to learn ABC here

January 7, 2014 at 6:25 pm

Thanks for linking up Simply Real Moms! We have a great article including the letter builders activity of ours you shared that includes over 13 ways to learn letters without flashcards! Learning through play is the way to go! http://www.simplyrealmoms.com/learnletters

Shavahn says

October 21, 2013 at 3:00 pm

My son knew most of his capital letters at 18 months. I owe it to Star Wars ABC! =)

Thekidsworkbook says

October 19, 2013 at 5:00 pm

Hi. Great new site for kids, Alphabet, Numbers, coloring pages and more, We are updating the site continuously. http://www.thekidsworkbook.com

shaunnaevans says

June 6, 2013 at 12:02 pm

This is a terrific resource! I hope you don’t mind that I linked to it in my Top 10 Ways to Remember the ABCs post today.

June 9, 2013 at 5:25 pm

Thanks Shaunna! You can link me up anytime! :) Thanks for including it!

April 3, 2013 at 7:35 am

What a great roundup, thank you!

I just pinned it :-)

Deb @ Living Montessori Now says

December 6, 2012 at 9:17 pm

What an awesome roundup, Jamie! Thanks so much for including my post! I’ve pinned this. :)

Melissa says

October 23, 2012 at 8:51 pm

Really loved your ideas and links, I’m always on the hunt for things that can help my son with learning. He knew all of his letters by sight until he went to kindergarten and they teach the phonics of the letters first, ugh! So now we are on letter sounds!

Amy Rhodes says

August 17, 2012 at 5:41 pm

So many ideas where do I start? they are great will definitely be using some of these in the coming weeks thank you for the inspiration :) Another one to add to the pins.

Yvonne says

August 16, 2012 at 9:31 am

Love, love, love this collection! My older son also learned his alphabet as well as sounds very early. He had the alphabet down by about 22 months, mastered what sound each letter made by about 24 months. He learned the letters by us reading the Dr. Seuss “A, B, C” book to him every night and learned the sounds by a kids’ laptop my parents bought him. My younger son is now 21 months old and I’m getting ready to start working with him, but he does not enjoy reading like my older son does so I have a feeling it is going to be a different ballgame! Thank you for some great ideas!

August 14, 2012 at 3:55 pm

Great list! So many fun activities. Thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library!

August 10, 2012 at 8:32 am

What a great list of ways to learn. My kids loved our fridge phonics game.

Cerys @ Rainy Day Mum says

August 10, 2012 at 2:17 am

These are brilliant – J is just starting to identify letters he gets the ones in his name (nick name and full name) and also T’s name as well as some of his favourite things as well.

Carolyn @ Pleasantest Thing says

August 9, 2012 at 6:46 pm

Fantastic round-up! We are going to have to try using an ABC mat to play twister!

Eddie - The Usual Mayhem says

August 9, 2012 at 3:42 pm

Wow, what a fantastic collection of ideas! We’re near the end of our alphabet learning now but I’m going to make note of…well, all of these!….and use them for review so we can enjoy them all! Thanks for sharing.

Stacie says

August 7, 2012 at 5:27 pm

Thanks for including me!!

cathie says

August 7, 2012 at 6:56 am

Loved reading through your ideas. Would it be alright to share with my readers on my blog? Check it out at toddlersthroughpreschool.com and let me know. Thanks and keep up the great posting! Cathie

August 7, 2012 at 7:20 am

you can certainly share a link to it with your readers! Thanks for asking!

Michelle says

December 29, 2014 at 9:43 am

Hi, Just wondering if I can ad your site as a link in my blog section of my day care site? I think parents would love to see where I’m getting some of the fabulous ideas I share with their children. Thanks so much for all your efforts!

December 29, 2014 at 7:37 pm

Absolutely! I’d love to have you share hands on : as we grow with your daycare parents!

Asadur Rahman says

January 14, 2019 at 10:32 am

its very important every child

Mackenzie says

August 6, 2012 at 7:36 pm

Jamie! What a fabulous collection! I can’t wait to share it with all my readers! Thanks for all your hard work! :) Mackenzie- Cheerios and Lattes.com

August 7, 2012 at 7:23 am

Thanks so much!

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5 Proven Letter Writing Activities to Boost Your Lessons

I have 5 Proven Letter Writing Activities that boost student engagement and hit the mark with second and third-grade writing standards!

Are you an elementary teacher who wants to teach your students letter writing skills through engaging activities that will promote the love of writing? Yes, producing students that write letters on their own!

The Background

I’ve taught second through fourth grades for the last twenty-some years. Throughout this time, I’ve enjoyed teaching writing the most. So I’m constantly looking for creative ways to foster the love of writing within my students.

I’m sure you feel the same way if you’re reading this post.

Something I’ve learned throughout this time is that students have a voice and want to use it. They need a little support and encouragement in using their writing voice. But once they have it, there’s no limit!

Yes, that’s teacher heaven right there. Every Teacher Everywhere

One way I support and encourage student writing is through Friendly Letter Writing Activities. The following activities are a mixture of whole-class instruction, small group collaboration, and peer discussions.

The activities will skyrocket your student’s desire to write in no time at all.

The search is over. Here’s a new and creative way to boost your writing lessons with an old-school tradition.

A picture of letter writing activities post office.

Friendly Letter Writing Workspace

Before introducing any of the Letter Writing Activities, I set the stage. It’s just a little touch of anticipation that motivates students to participate in writing instruction.

I also suggest setting up a Letter Writing Center with all the bells and whistles. I include a mailbox, stationary, stamps, envelopes, letter writing anchor charts, and graphic organizers. 

Next to the Letter Writing Center are the Letter Writing Read-Aloud Books. I suggest keeping the books close by to offer inspiration when needed.

I look at the Letter Writing Center as the second and third-grade version of the kindergarten playhouse. Don’t you think older kids need a creative space as well? I sure do!

The Student Hook for FREE!

You can check out my FREE Letter Writing Post Office here . After signing up, you’ll have all the materials needed to excite your students and then maintain their enthusiasm for letter writing.

Then, introduce the activity with regular routines and expectations of the Writing Post Office. I hope the first and most crucial expectation will be to use it! 

Yes, that expectation is just a sneaky way to get the students in front of the anchor charts, writing rubric, and checklist needed to support excellent writing.

Now, if you’re a bit “extra,” you may even use the FREE Letter Writing Post Office and create individual desk-sized Post Offices! 

Whole-Class Letter Writing Activities 

To truly improve student writing, there must be an element of direct instruction.

The necessary lessons on writing structures, using your voice, and so much more are essential.

For me, this is a time for whole-class instruction before the students even begin to write.

My whole must-have class activities are note-taking, peer discussions, and color-coding the text.

Note-taking on Letter Writing Features

Next, I provide the necessary background information on friendly letter writing, the students take brief notes in a straightforward graphic organizer. The notes then become a source of reference to support their letter writing in action.

Pre-Writing Peer Discussions

So, I encouraged students to discuss their learning with peers. The more discussion opportunities, the better the writing.

Mind-blowing, right?

As you teach the Friendly Letter Writing Unit, students are provided with small chunk-sized mini-lessons, each with several peer discussion opportunities.

The peer discussions allow students to verbalize their thoughts. Students then gain perspectives of others, receive feedback, and adjust previous thinking.

All of which leads to stronger writing.

An example of peer discussions is discussing the topic of a letter with a peer before committing to the writing.

Students share and build upon each other’s ideas. All topics are thought out, supported, and explained before starting to write. 

Once the student takes the discussion to write, the overall outcome is much more developed.

It’s like giving students a “practice” round before putting in the extra effort to develop the writing.

I had a friend once say, “always take it to the writing stage.”

“Talk it out before you write it out.” M. Qualle

Color-Coding the Text Activity

Finally, my favorite whole-class pre-writing activity is Color-Coding the Text. If you’re not familiar with this, here are the basics.

First, you provide a mentor text to read together. Then as a class, and eventually independently, the students highlight each feature of Letter Writing structure with a different color.

Students love this pre-writing activity because (you know), well, highlighters, of course!

In our situation, Friendly Letter Writing Activities, the students highlight the heading in purple, the greeting in green, the body in yellow, the closing in red, and finally, the signature in blue.

Yes, the students have engaged, plus the finished product is so easy for you to scan for check for understanding quickly.

Can you say, a total win-win?!

printable-letter-writing-activities

Letter Writing Practice Worksheet 

In my opinion, there’s one single Lette worksheet that must be present for students to be successful. That’s the graphic organizer.

You can pick up your FREE letter writing graphic organizer found within the Letter Writing Post Office Kit .

The graphic organizer worksheet is the single most crucial worksheet in the letter writing unit.

Students will need to have the letter-writing structure down to pat to write letters independently. So I believe in scaffolding the graphic organizer.

Plus, I use the graphic organizer at the beginning with heavy support. Over time, I slowly remove the scaffolds to encourage student independence. 

As the students become more efficient with their letter writing skills, the graphic organizer has fewer supports. Eventually, students will not need the graphic organizer. 

writing letters activities

Letter Writing Activities for a Center 

There are numerous fun and engaging Letter Writing Activities for your centers. In this post, I have two that are my go-to for Letter Writing Skills. 

Letter Writing Match-Up Activity

Also, use the Letter Writing Match-Up Activity with pairs of students or with small groups. The goal of the writing activity is to match three puzzle pieces together.

Each set will be one feature of the Letter Writing Structure. Students will need to check the vocabulary term, the definition, and an example together.

Heading matches includes the reader address and date, which then matches with,  2416 First Street, Ceres, CA 95386

The beauty of this activity is that students need to check one another’s work, which is more practice with the letter-writing structure.

Letter Writing Choice Board

The Letter Writing Choice Board is an array of 12 different letter writing prompts. I assign this activity in centers or as Early Finishers Work. With twelve writing prompts, students are busy writing.

I use the Choice Board throughout each month to save me time. (Fin!)

Another benefit of using the choice board is it gives students an actual choice!

Yes, we don’t have to dictate everything! Who knew?

That’s right, allowing students the choice in writing will definitely pay off in the quality of the student writing.

An interesting writing prompt equals quality writing.

digital-letter-writing-activities

Digital Letter Writing Activities

However, Letter Writing Activities are not always pen-to-paper. Oh no, not in the world we live in today. We also have letter writing through email. With 3 million emails sent every second, teaching our young students the letter structure is essential.

Now, I still believe in students learning how the print and write in cursive. So I use a delicate balance of digital and printable resources. If you’re like me and want both the digital and printable Friendly Letter Writing Unit , you can check it out here .

(Here’s a little side note. Did you know you can print the slides in Google Slides? Use 8.5 X 11-inch slides.

Digital Activities

The most ideal Digital Letter Writing Activities found in my Friendly Letter Writing Unit are: 

Also, the listed digital activities are short and quick, which is usually not too overwhelming for young students who may not be proficient at typing yet. (Trust me, fast and simple will save you your sanity.)

In addition, I have a related post, How to Teach Friendly Letter Writing, with 3 Key Elements that you may want to check out.

There you have it. Five Letter Writing Activities to Boost your lessons now. Just like that, once you introduce letter writing using these activities, there’s no stopping them. Letter Writing Activities will hook your students for life!

Also, I offer a course for teachers to transform their students’ writing through letter-writing, called Elevate with Letter Writing. You can check out all the course goodness here .

Sentences, Paragraphs, and Essays: OH, MY! E-Book image.

Are your students struggling and making very little progress in writing? Or maybe they’re unmotivated or a reluctant writer?  If so, I’ve got your back.

Yes…I…Do! 

Let me share my secret sauce when it comes to teaching writing to elementary students. 

It’s the Sentences, Paragraphs, and Essays: OH, MY! E-book.

Click this link to learn more about how the E-Book can transform your students’ chicken scratch, hap-hazard writing into strong, effective, glorious writing!

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Hi, I'm Melissa!

I help elementary writing teachers motivate students through guided instructional resources that students love!

Together we will engage and support young writers in their writing journey.

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22 Pre-Writing Activities for Preschoolers

Help your preschoolers build skills that will help them learn how to write and having fun while doing it!

Elizabeth Mulvahill

Pre-writing activities for preschoolers not only help our youngest learners learn the shape and structure of the letters in the alphabet, but they also serve a number of other functions as well. According to education blogger Lisette, from Where Imagination Grows , pre-writing practice teaches directionality in writing, encourages fine muscle development and coordination, and also helps students process sensory information critical to the writing process.

Here are 22 super fun, easy-to-make activities that your preschoolers will love!

1. Squishy Bags

Resealable plastic bags filled with colorful slime for kids to use for writing practice

Source: Learning4kids

All you need to make these awesome sensory bags is resealable zipper storage bags, flour, water, and food coloring. Kids can use cotton swabs or their fingers to draw shapes, lines, and letters on the bag.

2. Bubble Wrap

A child tracing the letters of his name written on bubble wrap

Source: Coffee Cups and Crayons

What a great way to recycle all that leftover bubble wrap! Simply write letters on sheets of bubble wrap with a Sharpie and let kids pop their way to letter recognition.

3. Play-Doh Snakes

A letter card with yellow playdoh used to fill in the outline

Source: In My World

Kids can’t resist the sensory lure of Play-Doh! For this activity, kids can roll small balls of dough into long snakes and form letters by bending and joining the snakes together.

4. Play-Doh and Drinking Straws

Blue playdoh with the letter P scraped into it. Colorful straw segments stuck into the the outline of the letter and on the table next to it.

Source:   KidActivitiesBlog

Flatten out a medium-size piece of Play-Doh on a flat surface. Then use a sharp object to draw a letter on the flattened area. (Make sure that the letter is large enough to be easily recognizable when filled with straws.) Cut plastic straws into one-inch segments. Let kids “trace” the letters with the colorful straw segments.

5. Dot Markers

A child using a dot marker to fill in a squiggly line

Source: 3 Dinosaurs

Students use dot markers to practice the mechanics of writing and get used to the angles and curves of letters. Click on the link above to download 12 free pages of pre-writing dot marker worksheets.

6. Cotton Swabs and Paint

A child using a q-tip dipped in paint to draw a squiggly blue line

Source: Lessons Learnt Journal

This is a fun activity to help kids work on their fine motor skills and get the hang of the all-important pencil grip.

7. LEGO Blocks

Using lego blocks to create letters on letter cards

Source:   Wildflower Ramblings

Blocks! Young kids can’t get enough of building and creating with them. Put their creative energy to good work with these free printable letter cards.

8. Shaving Cream

A tray of shaving cream with the word "can" written in the middle

Source: Mess for Less

This classic activity is a great starting place for pre-writers. All you need is a tray and a can of shaving cream.

9. Glitter Glue

Strips of paper with straight and curvy lines outlined with glitter glue

Source: Growing Hands-On Kids

Pre-writing lines are important building blocks for any preschooler to master before learning letter formations. Download this glitter glue pre-writing line practice for preschoolers activity.

Activity card for preschoolers to use beads to trace different shaped lines

Source: Artsy Momma

Just like the one above, this activity builds fine motor skills that your young students need to begin writing. Instead of using glitter glue, though, students use inexpensive pony beads (found at any craft store) to follow the lines.

11. Sand Tray

A child using a dowel to write in a tray filled with flour

 Source: Our Little House in the Country

One of the simplest activities to put together for your students to practice pre-writing is a sand tray. Kids can use their fingers or an unsharpened pencil to practice writing. As an alternative to sand, you can fill your tray with salt, flour, cornmeal, or rice.

12. Squeeze Bottle

A child using a squeeze bottle of salt to trace words written on a card

Source:: Playdough to Plato

Fill a plastic squeeze bottle with salt or sugar and let students trace letters on cards.

13. Rainbow Tray

A rainbow colored tray of sand for children to practice writing skills on

 Source: Where Imagination Grows

This resource is so simple to make, and kids love it! Simply tape colored tissue paper in a rainbow pattern to the bottom of a clear plastic tray. Fill it with sand, and as the kids trace lines and letters, the colors below are revealed. The image above shows the tray on top of a light table, which adds another dimension of fun to the activity!

14. Masking Tape

a colorful green letter E taped on a mirror

Source: And Next Comes L

A roll of colored masking tape and a clear surface make this a fun center activity at writing time.

15. Magnet Board

The letter W taped with masking tape onto a metal board

Source: Days with Gray

Tape letters onto a magnet board and let your little ones trace them with magnets. In the example above, the teacher made the letters into roads, and the students drove their car magnets along them.

16. Lacing Cards

A preschooler laces a cord through holes in a lacing card

Source: Teaching Mama

Grasping a string between tiny fingers and threading the end through the holes in a lacing card is great fine motor practice for preschoolers. It also begins to build muscle memory for holding a pencil properly.

17. Buttons

Children placing colorful buttons on predrawn lines to practice writing skills

Source: Learning4Kids

Preschoolers will have so much fun creating patterns, swirls, squiggles, and zig-zags with colorful buttons. And they’ll be building skills while they’re at it!

18. Sticker Line Up

Child placing colorful stickers along a printed line

Source: Busy Toddler

Preschoolers need to use a pinching motion, which builds fine motor skills, to peel sticker dots off the page. Then, they use hand-eye coordination to place each sticker on the drawn line. This activity would be perfect for a writing or free time station.

19. Fingerprint Writing

Child practicing writing letters by dipping fingertip in ink then pressing letters onto poster paper

Source: Happy Toddler Playtime

Some kids may not like to get their fingers this messy, but others will adore it! For this activity, you will need poster paper and a palette of washable ink. Draw letters, shapes, and lines on a clean piece of paper. Then, show kids how to dip their pointer finger onto the ink pad, then follow the lines dot by dot.

20. Clothespin Clipping

A child clips a clothespin onto a number line

Using a clothespin takes a lot of grip strength. This image shows a student using a clothespin to choose the correct answer to a number problem, but any activity that involves clipping will help them build the fine motor skills required for writing.

21. Cutting

A child uses scissors to cut through play dough

Source: Play of the Wild

Cutting and snipping activities with scissors are excellent ways for children to practice fine motor skills and control. Give your students lots of opportunities to practice their cutting skills with paper, string, card stock, even Play-Doh!

22. Scrunching Paper

A child wads up a piece of paper

Source: Gympanzees

Scrunching paper into a ball is great for building hand strength. Let your students use computer paper, newspaper, tissue paper, or wrapping paper. Then play a game of paper ball tag!

What are your favorite pre-writing activities for preschoolers? Share in the comments below.

Plus, check out these amazing sensory table activities..

22 Pre-Writing Activities for Preschoolers

Elizabeth Mulvahill is a Contributing Editor with WeAreTeachers. She has taught elementary, literacy and small group intervention. She currently resides outside of Boulder, Colorado and loves learning new things, hearing people's stories and traveling the globe.

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Top 10 Best Writing Activities for Kindergarteners – 2023 Compilation

writing letters activities

However, most children are naturally curious and hyperactive, which is why it is difficult to engage them in boring classes.

Great Writing Activities For Kindergarten

Here are some amazing activities that we think that your preschoolers will love and enjoy. Make sure to keep them super fun and interactive!

1. Giant Letter Maze

This activity takes very little time and effort to set up. All you need is to place a large sheet of paper on the ground and write the letters on it. The letters do not have to be necessary in order.

2. Dough Your Letters

3. who am i.

The first thing a child must learn is how to write their name. This cool self-introduction activity is a fun way to start teaching your students the basics of writing. The worksheet is designed for kindergarten students to fill in their personal information such as their name, age, and the city they live in.  The worksheet includes a space for the kid to draw their picture and the place where they live. It is a simple and easy writing activity that most preschoolers enjoy doing. You can also ask the students to talk about their favorite color, sports, or book while filling the sheet to make it more engaging and fun. The worksheet, along with more details, is available on Playtolearnpreschool.us and can be printed by parents or teachers. Print as many worksheets as you want for your classroom, and you are good to go! 

4. Pick a Picture, Tell a Tale

5. find your valentine card.

You can download printable picture cards with cool vocabulary words related to Valentine’s day and paste them all around the classroom. Print the response sheets for students and ask them to find the words on the picture cards that start with the letter given in their sheets.

6. Aye, Aye Captain! 

7. let’s do a century  .

The 100th day of the class is a great day to celebrate with the children. It denotes that you have spent 100 days with the kids, laughing and learning amazing things. This Let’s Do A Century writing activity is a great way to celebrate the 100th day of learning for preschoolers and kindergartners. Ask them to write 100 things that they want and 100 things they do not want. The teacher can collect the response sheets at the end of the day. This activity is a great way to see what the students have learned so far while making them practice their vocabulary and writing skills in a fun manner. You can check out more similar ideas for the 100th-day celebration for your class available at TheKindergartenSmorgasBoard.com .

8. Thanksgiving Word Hunt 

9. spring writing fest.

Ask the students to cut the jumbled letters at the bottom of the page and paste them on their sheet after assembling them in the correct order. Now, students must copy and write the same word in front of the pasted letters, or you can ask them to write a sentence with the focus word in it.

10. Reindeer Food Writing Tray 

What supplies are needed for these activities.

Designing fun activities for children can be a bit challenging, but with the right supplies, you can come up with some amazing ideas to engage your students and make them learn some basic writing skills. These activities are quite simple and can be set up in a few easy steps using the right tools.

Most activities that we have compiled include printable worksheets or picture cards that you can download from the given websites. For this, you may need a color printer and paper. 

Similarly, most activities include tasks such as cutting, pasting, and drawing, which is why you might need scissors, glue sticks, and drawing stationery such as color pencils, crayons, and oil pastels.

Some activities might require unique supplies, such as play dough, colorful straws, salt, garland branches, and magnet letters, to make them a little more fun and interesting. However, these things are fairly easy to find and are not very expensive either. 

Conclusion 

Dealing with young children is not an easy job, especially if they are hyperactive and super notorious with a very little attention span. Therefore, we believe that the activities we have compiled are a great way to engage your students in some fun learning and writing activities. 

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Hi, I'm Amanda! Welcome to Education Outside! Im passionate about educating young minds and helping parents/teachers by providing easy and effective teaching resources. Check out all of my teaching resources on my Teachers Pay Teachers store .

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18+ Creative Writing Activities To Make Writing Fun

Make writing less boring with these 12 fun creative writing activities for kids. 

When most children think of writing, they think of lined paper with thousands of words written on it, line by line with the occasional spacing for paragraphs. But writing doesn’t need to be that boring and gloomy. Today we bring you12 creative writing activities to make writing fun and colourful!

How to Make Writing Fun

It is important to show your kids that there’s more to writing than just homework and long essays. Writing can be fun and it doesn’t always involve writing thousands of words in a formal structure. It’s time to stop worrying about sentence structure, grammar and spelling mistakes. Instead, encourage your kids to explore their creativity and write down their thoughts as they come in any format they like. Here are 12 fun creative writing activities that will boost your child’s creativity, imagination and encourage them to write for fun.

18+ Fun Creative Writing Activities

Use story maps.

Story maps are a great way to unleash your child’s imagination. You can either create your own or print out one of these free story map templates . To create your own story map, you’ll first need a location. This could be anywhere, a planet , an island , the woods or even your hometown. Don’t worry, you don’t actually need to leave your home to enjoy this activity. 

Next draw out a simple map of the location. The map must have a starting point and an endpoint. Here is an example of our treasure island story map:

Island Story Map Example

You can see that we marked the starting point with a star. And the end point with a red cross. Once this is done, you need to put loads of obstacles, challenges and interesting things on the map for your child to explore and engage with in their imagination. This could be a giant octopus monster, a lava lake, a cunning princess or even some secret symbols or lettering. 

Once you have completed creating your action-packed story map (or printed out one of our free templates) – It’s time for the real adventure to begin. Give the map to your child and together you can pretend that you have landed in a whole new location. 

Start from your bedroom (or your imaginary pirate ship) and make your way through the obstacles to find the secret treasure located in a mysterious cave (or the shed in your backyard). As you go through the map, think about the characters you might encounter, items you might find and even challenges you could face.

After your little adventure, your child will be inspired and ready to write about the adventure they just experienced! Go ahead and check out these free story map templates to get you started:

Create Some Paper Finger Puppets

Puppets and toys are a great way to stimulate imaginative play. In particular, creating your own paper finger puppets is a brilliant creative activity to boost your child’s imagination and make story-telling more fun. When creating your own finger puppets, your child can create any character they like. If they love football , try creating some famous football players, and if they love Harry Potter , get them to create some wizard themed characters. Whatever your child’s interest, combine it with story-telling, and make storytime extra fun.

make paper finger puppets tutorial

To get you started, you can download our free paper finger puppet templates by signing up to Imagine Forest:

free printable paper finger puppets template

Create your own paper characters, props and background. Then let the role-playing begin!

Would You Rather Game

Kids love playing games. The Would You Rather game is a great way to boost logical thinking and communication skills. Print out our free Would You Rather game cards pack, to get a mix of funny, gross and Disney themed questions. Then get at least three players in a team to begin the game. The purpose of the game is to convince the whole team that your answer to the question is the best one and to get other players to agree with you. This game is guaranteed to get your kids laughing and thinking logically about the answers they pick. 

would-you-rather-questions-printable

Telephone Pictionary Game

Another brilliant creative writing activity is the Telephone Pictionary Game . The basic idea behind this game is to write a story collaboratively with your team using drawings and phrases. Together as team members take turns to write/draw something down. They’ll be improving skills such as creativity, teamwork and communication skills. And when the game is over, they’ll have a really funny story to read!

Telephone Pictionary

Create Some Shape Poetry

Poetry is a quick and short writing activity to get kids engaged in creative writing. But writing a typical haiku or limerick can get boring over time. To add a little more excitement gets your kids to write poems in the shape of something. For example, your child could write a poem about cats , in the shape of a cat:

Cat Shape Poem Example

Not only are these poems great to read, but they also make wonderful pieces of artwork. For more inspirations, check out our Alice in Wonderland inspired shape poetry .

Finish The Story Game

The finish the story game is the simplest creative writing activity in our list. In a team of at least 2 players, each player takes turns completing a story. Start off with a random story starter and then each player takes turns to continue this story. Which way will the story go? No-one knows. And that’s the real beauty of this game. Let your child explore their imagination and come up with wild ideas to keep the story interesting. And by the end of the game, you’ll have a really unique and funny story to read. 

Use Image Prompts

Image prompts are a great source of inspiration. And can be used in a number of ways to encourage your child to write. For instance, you can ask your child to write a quick snappy slogan for a random image or photograph. Alternatively, you could play a whole game centred around a single image, such as the Round Robin Tournament game explained in our post on storytelling games using image prompts .

Story Cubes To Inspire

Inspiration is key in making writing fun for kids. That’s where story cubes come in handy. You either buy ready-made story cubes or make your own story cubes at home. If you’re interested in making your own story cubes, check out these 9 free story cube templates for ideas. Once you have a bunch of story cubes, you can simply roll them like dice and then challenge your kids to write a story based on the images they get. For game ideas using story cubes, check out this post on how to use story cubes . 

story cube images story

Create A Comic Strip

If your kids hate writing but love drawing, then comic strips are a great creative activity to sneak in some minor writing with huge levels of imagination. Pick a topic, any topic you like. This could be related to your child’s interest and then ask them to create a short comic strip about that topic. For example, if you child loves dinosaurs, ask them to create their own comic strip about dinosaurs. For more inspiration and ideas, check out this post on how to create your own comic strip and comic books at home. 

Comic Strip Example

Make Your Own Pop-up Book

Another fun way to get your kids to write more is by creating your own pop-book books. Pop-up books seem really complicated to create, but in reality, they are really easy to make at home. All you need is some paper, scissors and glue. Check out this super easy tutorial on how to create your own pop-book at home for quick step-by-step instructions. Similar to comic strips, pop-up books are a great way of combining drawing with writing to get your kids writing more in a quick and fun way. 

easy pop-up book tutorial for kids

Create Mini Booklets

Turn your child’s story into a real book! You can buy blank books from Amazon or create your own mini paper book, using this easy mini notebook tutorial . With this tutorial you can create a fully customisable book, with your own cover, back page and you can even draw your own illustrations inside! This is a really fun and cute way to gets your kids writing in their spare time.

How to Make a Mini Paper Notebook Tutorial

Write A Letter With a Fun Twist

Forgot ordinary boring letters! Check out our Paper craft animal envelopes to encourage your kids to write letters to their friends, family, heroes, aliens, anyone they like! Inside the child can write any message they like, such as “how were your holidays…” or “We’re having a party this weekend…” And on the outside they can create any animal or creature they like as envelopes. 

DIY Animal Envelopes tutorial

Describe a Monster

Ask your child to draw their own monster or character and describe it. – What are its strengths, and weaknesses, where does it live, what does it like doing and so on? This creative writing activity is quick, simple and full of imagination! And you could even take this a step further by creating your own monster flip books !

How to create a Monster Flip Book

Use Story Starters

Use story starters to inspire reluctant writers. These can be simple sentences, such as “It was Timmy’s first day at school and he was excited…” and your child can continue writing the rest of the story. Or you could use photos and your child’s drawings to inspire story-writing by asking the child to describe what’s happening in this image. Take a look at this post on 60+ first-line prompts to inspire you or you could view our mega list of over 300 writing prompts for kids .

Create Your Own Greeting Cards

Get your child to create their own Christmas cards , greeting cards or get well cards to send to someone they know. They can write their own personal message inside and draw a picture on the outside. Quick activities like this are a great way to sneak in some writing with some arts and crafts. 

step-5-pop-up-christmas-tree-card-tutorial-for-kids-imagine-forest

Create Your Own Newspaper

Ask your child to write their own newspaper article or create their own newspaper about the daily events that happen at home or at school. Remember the use of the 5 W’s and 1 H when writing newspaper articles. Our newspaper challenge online activity is great for creating fun newspaper articles.

imagine forest newspaper writing activity

Make A Shopping List

Get the kids involved in the weekly grocery shopping! Ask them to write the shopping list with drawings. If the grocery shopping list is too boring, then get them to create a wish list of items they dream of owning or even a list of goals they want to accomplish. You can buy some really pretty shopping list pads from Amazon , which could be a great way to encourage your kids to get writing!

Re-tell some fairytales

Fairytales have been around for centuries and by now they need a modern twist. Challenge your child to update an old classic. And you could even use this free ‘Retell a fairy tale pack ’ to help you. Re-telling a fairytale is a lot easier than creating a whole new one – Simply ask your child to change one or two key elements in the story and see how it changes the entire fairytale. For example, what if Cinderella was the villain? Alternatively, you could go wacky and add a whole new character to a classic fairytale, such as Spiderman making an appearance in Jack and the Beanstalk. The possibilities really are endless!

Write Your Own Movie Script

Ask your child to write their own short movie script, they can create a cast list and give all the different characters different things to say. You can find a free script and cast list template here ! Think about the conversation between the characters, what problems would they encounter, who is the villain in this story? We also think these free finger puppets printable could be great for story-telling.

writing letters activities

Hand-written Blogs

Ask your child to keep a simple hand-written blog about their hobbies and interests. This can be done in a journal or notebook. Ask them the following questions: What do they like doing in their spare time and why do they enjoy this. Maybe ask them to provide instructions on how someone else can also be good at this hobby. They can update their hand-written blog everyday with new tips and interesting pieces of information on their hobby.

Wanted Posters

Create a ‘Wanted’ poster for famous villains in storybooks, such as Miss Trunchbull from Matilda or Cinderella’s Stepmother. You can find a free blank template here . Alternatively try out the Most Wanted online activity on Imagine Forest, to create your own wanted posters online:

most wanted online writing game

Storyboarding

Writing a whole story down can be cumbersome. That’s why storyboarding can make a really good creative writing activity. Instead of asking a child to write a whole story down, get them to think about the key events in the story and plan it out using a storyboard template . Planning their story out beforehand could even encourage your child to write a complete story down afterwards. The first step is always planning out what you are going to write, and this could give your child the confidence to keep going. 

Storyboard Template Completed

Know anymore fun writing activities for kids? Tell us your ideas below.

Top 10 Writing Activities to Make Writing Fun!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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15 FUN Handwriting Activities For Preschoolers (2023)

Is handwriting a skill that you should be teaching your child.

ABSOLUTELY!

In today’s world, kids are used to touch screens and typing their letters instead of focusing on handwriting skills.

I believe handwriting is crucial because it improves children’s:

Typing and using technology is our new normal BUT handwriting is STILL essential to teach our kids.

Handwriting can be tricky to teach because kids need to combine the skills of holding a pencil correctly and creating the correct letter formation.

Quick Links: 15 Handwriting Activities for Preschoolers

Worksheet activities (7 activities), non-worksheet activities (8 activities), common mistakes, how can you make learning handwriting fun but simple, so your child is interested in practicing.

I recommend doing these THREE things!

From personal experience, I know it can be hard to think of helpful activities to do with your child that won’t bore them after a few minutes.

Luckily, I have developed a list of (15) FUN Handwriting Activities YOU can implement today!

But, before we get started talking about the fun activities that you can do, it is essential to note the first step in handwriting is showing your child how to hold a pencil correctly.

Pencil Grasp Development

Before kids start practicing letter development, they have to understand how to hold a pencil correctly.

Believe it or not, at 3 months, your baby is working on skills to be able to grasp objects that will be able to help them later on when learning how to grasp a pencil! 

When your son or daughter is in kindergarten, they use a dynamic tripod grasp which is most similar to what adults use.

Want to learn more about what the dynamic tripod grasp is and what it looks like?

Take a look at this Pencil Grip Site to get some more information!

Handwriting Worksheet Activities (7 total)

The best way to develop proper handwriting skills is for your child to get a pencil in their hand and practice writing on a piece of paper!

Now, it’s not very fun to practice writing on a blank piece of paper.

To get your child interested in practicing their skills, you have to make it exciting for them to want to do it.

Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers have an ENDLESS amount of activities to choose from. Here are some of the favorites that I have come across that worked for us!

Activity #1: Box It Up

Activities #1 through #5 are all from the shop, Super God Not Super Mom .

These worksheets caught my eye because of the images, colors, and games. I knew my daughter would be excited to do these worksheets.

I gave her the choice of which one she wanted to do first, and she chose Box It Up.

Box It Up writing activity

This worksheet focuses on having children write an uppercase letter in the box without going outside of the lines.

Writing inside the lines is one of the hardest things for kids to do when learning how to write.

Personally, this was one of my favorites because my daughter struggles with making her letters the correct size.

Activity #2: Rainbow Roll

Add some color into learning how to write by using letting your preschooler use colored pencils !

Even adding something as simple as dice into an activity worked like a charm! 

Get one piece of dice out and have them roll it.

Depending on what color they choose first, they will trace the letter in that color as many times that it shows on the dice.

Raindbow Roll Writing Activty

You will repeat this process until the worksheet is completed!

Want to add some math into this activity?

Get two pieces of dice out and work with your child on how to add the two numbers together to see how many times they should trace each letter!

Activity #3: Spin The Letter Wheel

Spin The Letter Wheel is another engaging worksheet because you need a paperclip or a spinner from a board game to do this activity.

We used a spinner, and it worked great for us!

Take a look at how we did this worksheet in action by watching this video.

Activity #4: Lovely Lines

This is a more traditional worksheet, which you need to do with kids, so they do understand how to write correctly.

Lovely Lines Writing Activity

Kids get so enthralled into the game aspect of the worksheet that they may not form their letters correctly because they want to see what will happen next!

It’s important to incorporate both types of worksheets into your teaching methods.

The Lovely Lines activity focuses on proper letter development and spacing.

Activity #5: Final Four

The final four worksheet wraps up the series for this bundle!

It’s a quick review of all the lessons that you previously did to see their progress!

Final Four Writing Activity

Activity #6: Pen Control and Tracing

Who wants to spend endless amounts on worksheets and workbooks? 

I sure don’t!

This is one reason my preschooler loves using this Pen Control and Tracing Book ; it is a dry erase book that allows you to do these activities over and over.

Amazon's Price

*One tip that I would give is to wipe off the workbook when your child is done with it because the dry erase marker doesn’t entirely come off if you let it sit there for a week without using it again.*

Here’s a look at some of the activities inside this workbook!

Activity #7: Reading and Math Jumbo Workbook

Out of all the worksheets that I have mentioned, the Reading and Math Jumbo Workbook is my favorite.

The workbook is HUGE, so it has handwriting, reading, and math activities!

Want to see what’s inside of this workbook? Take a look at this video to see if this would be something you would be interested in getting for your child! 

Non-Worksheet Activities (8 total)

If you ask your preschooler what they would rather play with pencils or cookie sprinkles what do you think they’d choose?

COOKIE SPRINKLES!!

Worksheet activities are critical to proper handwriting development, but you shouldn’t do them every day.

Here are some fun activities that you can do on your off days!

Activity #8: Salt Tray Writing

The best part about salt trays is that you can use ingredients that you most likely have at home!

I love baking, so I have so many different sprinkles for cookies stored away, so that’s what we decided to use first.

Sugar Tray Pre Writing Activity

If you don’t have one of these trays, I recommend them!

They have been used so much with all of the art projects or play-doh activities that we have done!

You do need to use a whole container of sprinkles on your tray, cookie sheet , etc. for it to work the best.

Depending on your child’s writing ability, you can add a paper underneath the salt/sugar, so when they begin to make the letter, they can look for lines to trace it correctly.

We also tried just using sugar, and that worked well too!

The thing to remember about this activity is that your child’s writing won’t be perfect because they are using their fingers and not a pencil, so make sure to encourage them to try their hardest and most of all have fun!

Activity #9: Chalk Board Writing

The first thing that we did to update our house when we first moved in was put a chalkboard on one of the walls of our playroom!

Best.Decision.Ever.

Chalk board writing activity

It’s super easy to do this! All you need is chalk paint . You need to put on a few coats for it to work and look the best!

writing letters activities

Check Price

My kids love using the chalkboard, so whenever I incorporate learning with it, I know it’ll be a hit.

I drew a set of lines that I wanted her to draw the letters within, and I did the first letter to demonstrate to her how to do it correctly!

Activity #10: Play-Doh Letters

Every child I have met and taught LOVES Play-Doh .

There are several ways that you can use Play-Doh for pre-writing activities.

1. Individual letters

If your child is younger, this is the best activity for them.

I downloaded some for FREE using this website: Individual Letter Play-Doh Mat .

When I was showing my daughter how to do this, I had her roll the play-doh into a snake-like formation to create the letters.

Letter H Pre Writing Play Dough Activity

2. Sight Words

If you have a school-aged child, this sight word activity is perfect for them.

I downloaded these for FREE using the following site: Sight Word Play-Doh Mat .

Play Doh Sight Word Pre Writing Activity

This is an enticing way to get your kids excited about reviewing or learning sight words.

RELATED ARTICLE : 7 Easy Ways To Teach Sight Words To Preschoolers .

Activity #11: shaving cream fun.

Want to win the best parent of the day award?

Tell your kids that they are allowed to play with shaving cream today!

Shaving cream pre writing activity

You can have them practice writing uppercase/lowercase letters, writing their name and sight words if they are starting to learn how to read as well.

Again, this tray has been a lifesaver for me with all of the activities that I do with my kids because it keeps everything inside the tray and it doesn’t get on my kitchen table or desk!

Activity #12: Painting with Q-Tips/Do-A-Dots

I have never met a kid that didn’t like to paint! And using different tools to paint ups the ante even more!

To do this activity, you’ll need:

Q Tip Pre Writing Activity

Starting to work on forming the letters in an engaging way will get your child interested in handwriting!

Activity #13: Magic Board Writing

Does anyone feel like they struggle to get their child to do any school-related work?

As a parent, I feel like we will struggle with this daily when it comes time to do homework after school.

When she’s not in the mood to do a worksheet, I try to use our Magic Board or My First Crayola TouchPad.

I like both of these boards because I can demonstrate how to make the letter, erase my work then she can try!

Magic Board Pre Writing Activity

She’s instantly is engaged! Well, at least for a few minutes. 🙂

Activity #14: Glitter Glue Letters!

Out of all the non-worksheet activities that I have listed, this was my daughter’s favorite!

Glitter glue is so fun to play with, but you have to make sure you buy the right brand, or it’s too hard for kids to get the glitter glue out.

We had great success using Elmer’s brand of glitter glue!

With this activity, you can have them practice making shapes, lines, numbers, first/last name, and of the course the alphabet.

Glitter Glue Pre Writing Activty

All I did was write her name on a blank sheet of paper, and she used the glitter glue to outline the letters the best she could!

Activity #15: Bead Writing

This activity can be done in a few different ways!

A. Toddlers/Preschoolers

If you have a younger child just beginning to work on their handwriting skills, you can make letters out of Play-doh cut-outs.

You can make the letters for them; then they can place the beads on the play-doh to form the letter!

Toddler Play-Doh Letter Activity

B. Preschoolers

You can either draw a letter on a piece of paper or find a print out of a traceable letter that you want them to work on, and they can place the beads on the letter.

Bead letter pre writing activty

C. Preschool and older

Older kids will enjoy attempting to create the letters on their own! Again, this tray saves the day from a gigantic mess!

6 Common Mistakes Parents Frequently Encounter.

Did anyone else’s parents keep some of their work from when they were little?

Well, mine did, and YIKES my handwriting was a mess when I was little. 

Handwriting is tough for kids because many small details go into making a letter.

Here are 6 common mistakes you may see from your child when they are learning how to write

1. Forming letters

2. Making letters the right size

3. Holding the pencil correctly

4. Keeping the paper steady with one hand while writing with the other

5. Spacing letters and words

6. Maintaining proper arm position when writing

Ugh, that’s a lot.

Kids handwriting will not be perfect. Keep practicing and encouraging them to try their best!

If you notice some of the issues common mistakes in your child’s handwriting, try some of the activities that are specific to the problem.

For example, my daughter has trouble with the sizing and spacing of her letters.

Activity #1 Box It Up and Activity #4 Lovely Lines mentioned above worked on those skills.

My recommendation is to start handwriting practice early! In kindergarten, kids are expected to be able to write their first and last name, so it’s never too early to start preparing them. 

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Learning how to write is a life skill that your child will use when they are writing you cute notes, writing letters to Santa, and writing essays in school.

Handwriting is important to our everyday lives, but it can be challenging for some kids to create legible letters.

Thankfully, by checking out my list of (15) handwriting activities, you and your child will be off to a great start to their handwriting journey!

If you decide to do one of these activities at home with your child, I’d love to hear how it went!

What are some of the writing activities that you do at home with your child that have been successful? Please share them with us by leaving a comment below. 

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Teaching Expertise

30 Fun Handwriting Activities and Ideas for All Ages

handwriting activities

April 11, 2022 //  by  Jill Webb

We all have students or clients with handwriting challenges and we all know that it can be a struggle to engage some students in handwriting instruction. However, handwriting doesn't need to be tedious to have fun! We can keep a high expectation for students and also have fun!

Below are 30 creative handwriting ideas - from handwriting legibility to simple daily handwriting strategies! Add all or some of them to your handwriting toolbox.

1. Letter Formation Activities

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Use these creative writing tray ideas! A fun handwriting activity that is also sensory-based and engages visual-motor skills. Create a foam tray or bags filled with sand, gel, or shaving cream and have students practice writing letters or words.

Learn more: Gradeschool Giggles

2. Trace It, Try It App

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There are many aspects to handwriting. One of them is letter formation and knowing what path to follow. This interactive application helps students to recognize the starting point for each letter and its correct formation.

Learn more: This Reading Mama

3. Cursive Handwriting Activity

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If you want to create excellent handwriting in the cursive form, students need practice. This activity for handwriting skills is a simple dice game . It's a fun way to get students practicing and it can be done with a partner or independently.

Learn more: Free Homeschool Ideas

4. Sensory Writing Tray

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This sensory tray activity also deals with fine motor skills. Students use beans to create letters or words in rice. The beans are small and force students to use their "writing muscles" without them even knowing it.

Learn more: Fantastic Fun and Learning

5. Rewiring the Brain Handbook Activities

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If you have children with handwriting struggles, this handbook will help. It gives you ideas that are not age-based, but ability-based that will help improve common handwriting skills in 20 minutes a day.

Learn more: Integrated Learning Strategies

6. Cursive Practice

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This is an activity for correct letter formation of cursive letters. This cursive handwriting journal allows students multiple ways of practice - from writing isolated letters to using the letters in words/sentences. It also includes a checklist for students to self-check their work to make sure they are completing the task thoroughly.

Learn more: The Sprinkle Topped Teacher

7. Game Using Pencil Grips

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This is a fun letter formation activity that also includes using pencil grips. Students can practice using different grips while they play "Minute to Win It!". Students are first allowed to practice the correct letter formation, then they have 60 seconds to correctly write the letter as many times as they can. The activity also helps with endurance in handwriting.

Learn more: Mrs. Will Kindergarten

8. Writing Wizard App

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This app helps with the development of handwriting skills. It has a variety of ways for students to practice learning to write; including letters formations with starting points and writing letters correctly within words.

Learn more: L'Escapadou

9. Letter Formation for Pre-School

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While many younger students may not be using a writing pencil just yet, they still need to begin their handwriting development. This activity is more like play for preschool-age students where they learn about letter formation by using blocks or other toys to "trace" letter shapes. It also helps with grip strength.

Learn more: Normal Life Mom

10. Rainbow Roll Letter Writing

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This handwriting printable is a simple yet fun activity for letter formation. Students get to use dice and colors to practice their letter writing. You can also adapt this "rainbow writing" for older students by having them write spelling words.

Learn more: ABCDee Learning

11. Following Paths

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Help students form letters by first practicing how to follow a path. They can trace different shapes or paths - zig-zags, waves, etc - to help them prepare to form letters. You can also put these in a clear sleeve and have students first trace with their pointer finger, and then with a dry erase.

Learn more: Kids Activities

12. Daily Handwriting Skills

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This book includes daily handwriting warm-up exercises. If you don't have time to plan a handwriting lesson each day, this book is already scaffolded and includes quick practice for each day of the week.

13. Spacing

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For students who struggle with spacing between letters or words, this site provides activities to help! For example, you can use finger spacing that is visualized by stamping fingers or using graph paper to neatly write and space properly.

Learn more: Kids Play Smarter

14. Adaptive Paper

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An essential addition to your handwriting curriculum is the use of adaptive writing paper. Depending on the need of the student, you can have various types of paper to help support students in handwriting. The shaded paper is good for students who need to understand letter placement and sizing on the lines or for handwriting accommodation strategies.

Learn more: OT Enrichment

15. Handwriting and Play

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This site includes fun games for handwriting practice ideas that are incorporated into a game board . You can play tic-tac-toe with letter formation or for older students adapt games like Scrabble or Bananagrams to include writing practice.

Learn more: Miss Jaime OT

16. Chalkboard Letters

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You can use a strategy called, "Wet, Dry, Try". You first use a wet sponge to shape the letter on the board, then the student uses a piece of wet chalk (it makes it easier to write) and traces it, and finally, once the student understands the correct letter formation, they write it independently.

Learn more: Understood

17. Intro to Cursive App

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When writing in cursive, many students struggle with letter formation mistakes. There is an app to help with this that scaffolds lessons for learning appropriate cursive formation. Students will first work on the formation of independent letters, then they can practice writing them when they are in the initial, middle, or end of a word.

Learn more: Higher Ground Education Inc.

18. Forming Letters

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This simple piece of paper is a great component of handwriting lessons and helps to guide students to correct letter formation for lower and upper case letters. First, it models the starting point and letter formation path. Then it gives the starting point with a trace line, then just the starting point, and finally only lines.

Learn more: DIY Homeschooler

19. Letter Sorting

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Help improve handwriting by having students practice sorting letters by attributes. This allows students to master the differences in letterforms - capital letters, lower case, tail letters, etc - and will prepare them for proper handwriting.

Learn more: Learning at the Primary Pond

20. Pencil Paths

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This simple skill helps students to improve their motor skills and pencil use. It lets them work on following lines, which is important for beginners as they progress into letter formation and need to follow more difficult paths.

Learn more: Therapy Fun Zone

21. Sensory Letters

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These letters are great for sensory handwriting experiences. You can use them for learning letters of the alphabet or practicing correct letter formation and aids in memory for letter formation too. Great for both print and cursive too!

Learn more: Rainy Day Mum

22. Tactile Letters

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These are great for tactile learners! They have bumps on them that help students "feel" the letter path. You can also make a homemade version of these using plastic magnetic letters and a hot glue gun. Or if you don't have magnets, use card stock and create hot glue gun letters by creating bumps with the glue.

23. Handwriting Tips

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The link provides tips and information to help support your students' handwriting skill-building. It includes tips like paper positioning and is focused on helping older students improve handwriting. It offers a free guidebook.

Learn more: The Happy Handwriter

24. Hand Strength

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Building hand strength is important in writing. Students must be able to grip the writing utensil appropriately, use pressure, and have stamina. While these activities are not directly about handwriting, they are important in helping to build the hand strength needed for handwriting - plus they are fun and easy!

Learn more: The Inspired Treehouse

25. Writing Utensils

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Help engage students with handwriting issues by using this fun and easy activity! It helps with handwriting and addresses pencil pressure by allowing students to feel the pressure they need by writing in different mediums (a crayon needs more pressure, while a marker needs less).

Learn more: Oh Hey Let's Play

26. Pencil Grasp Stages

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This is great for understanding pencil grasp in handwriting. It explains the level of development with pencil grasp and how to use developmental motor planning to create lessons that will help support students with control in handwriting.

Learn more: Days With Grey

27. Distal Finger Control

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This includes a variety of distal finger control exercises. All of the exercises are fun for students, but easy for educators or parents to access as they use items you can easily find around the house, like using nuts and bolts to gain distal control pinching clothespins.

Learn more: OT Plan

28. Clever Cat Trick

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One of my favorite handwriting activities is teaching about Clever Cat! It is such a simple visual to help remind students of the formation of letters and their awareness of handwriting. It also helps keep attention during handwriting tasks because they can "check-in" with Clever and with the accuracy of letter placement on lines.

Learn more: Oh Kei by Keiko

29. Board Games

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This site gives several ideas on how to use a board game to work on handwriting. It includes ideas for different levels - from beginning writers who need to work on things like palmer arches strength to actual letter writing for older kids.

Learn more: Woo Therapy

30. Pencil Grasp Trick

This activity for handwriting addresses pencil grip, which can impact letter formation. The video will teach you a pencil grasp trick that you can use with students, which is a game-changer for some students who struggle with handwriting.

Learn more: Jess - My OT & Me

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Fine motor math

Fine Motor Skills and Math Development

Handwriting

So, what exactly is handwriting, explore popular topics.

What do all these words mean?

Looking for handwriting tips, handwriting strategies, tools for addressing handwriting needs, or activities to improve handwriting? Here we’re covering how to address handwriting issues through play and multisensory learning.

Handwriting activities that make handwriting practice fun.

Activities to Improve Handwriting

This is the space to use fun ways to improve handwriting in new writers and children who are not yet writing AND kids who need to correct handwriting problems. This is your one-stop shop for all handwriting activities and writing tips and tools! 

Handwriting challenges come in so many different forms! From the child who holds their pencil inefficiently, to the student who was never taught the correct letter formation and now struggles with legible written work, to letter reversals, to poor line awareness and spatial awareness …handwriting is complicated!

Whether you are an occupational therapist working with clients with handwriting challenges, parents of a child struggling with handwriting, or an educator who is struggling to address poor skills…there is something for you. 

Handwriting activities kids will love to do to work on legibility of writing.

Read on for pencil grasp activities, ideas to help with spacing, letter size, and line awareness. We’ve got cursive resources, and sensory handwriting activities here. Looking for something else? Let me know what kind of handwriting tools you need!

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This is a space where we share tips, tricks, and fun ways to improve handwriting in new writers and children who are not yet writing with a pencil. Scroll down to find the tools you need to address handwriting issues, big and small! 

But first, here is a fantastic tool that explains everything you need to know about handwriting. There are so many skills kids need for handwriting .

So many therapists, teachers, and parents have downloaded this resource and added it to their handwriting toolbox. When you enter your email, you’ll receive a series of 6 emails based on the underlying areas that make up handwriting. These emails include topics that really play into legibility of written work, like letter formation, line awareness, spatial awareness, and other areas. The email series is a true resource for anyone who works with kids on handwriting. 

Get the free handwriting printable pack and email series here .

Starting at the beginning is essential. These three resources are a great starting point for understanding skills needed for handwriting:

Creative Handwriting Activities

You don’t always need a pencil to work on handwriting ! Working on skills like line use, spacing between letters and words, letter size, and paper orientation can involve fun and creative writing activities…without a pencil!    Here are some ideas your kids will LOVE:   

Easy activities to improve handwriting and ways to help kids work on legibility in handwriting using 30 quick fixes

  If you are looking for easy ways to work on handwriting skills , try our 30 day series.  

Letter Formation Activities in Handwriting

Use these creative movement and hands-on learning activities to work on letter formation, writing on lines, and spacing between words and letters.  Click around to see all of the ideas with Occupational Therapist recommended tips in each post.  Stay tuned, because more activities will be added to this page! motor activities sorted by category.

Working on pencil control in handwriting? Why not start a handwriting club for kids? Kids can work on handwriting skills in a fun way. Here’s  how to start a handwriting club  kids will WANT to join!

Letter reversals tips and help for letter reversals in handwriting

  Understand what’s happening behind letter reversals and get some tips and tricks, too.    

Toys to help kids with handwriting issues such as visual perception problems.

Toys to Improve Visual Perception-  In this resource, you’ll find fun toys that act as handwriting tools to improve handwriting skills. Kids will love playing with these toys that build underlying handwriting skills.

Spatial Awareness in Handwriting – Spacing between letters and words is an essential piece of the handwriting puzzle. Adding more white space between words helps with overall legibility, especially when visual perceptual skills or visual motor integration abilities impact sizing, line use, or letter formation.

writing letters activities

Teach Carryover of Grasp Patterns with Molded Crayon s – Working with small pencils or small crayons improves pencil grasp but also hand strength. Use this molded crayon activity to work on carryover of grasp patterns in written work.

How to Start a Handwriting Club – A handwriting club is a great way to incorporate social skills into handwriting. Kids that write together have fun and build skills together! Use a handwriting club as a way to work on handwriting carryover or small group handwriting practice.

How to Teach a Better Pencil Grasp with Molded Crayons – Small molded crayons are a great tool for building hand strength and endurance in handwriting. Have you ever worked with a child that complained of hand fatigue when writing? Building endurance in fine motor skills begins with play.

The Handwriting Book – This comprehensive handwriting resource was created by pediatric occupational therapists and physical therapists. Use this book as a tool for working on a variety of handwriting skills.

Handwriting Accommodation Strategies – Activities to improve handwriting only go so far. Sometimes accommodations are needed in the classroom or home for a functional handwriting status. Try these tips and strategies.

 Letter formation handwriting activity for kids to work on pencil control and change in direction.

Letter Formation Direction Change in Handwriting- When forming letters, there are many pencil direction changes that impact letter formation. Part of this refers to pencil control, but another consideration is the push and pull of the pencil within the hand. Try this strategy to improve handwriting through a multisensory writing activity.

Core Strength Impacts Handwriting – Did you know that addressing core strength and posture is a valuable strategy that impacts handwriting legibility? This resource covers how and why this happens. Let’s dive into core strength and handwriting.

Handwriting Problems and Strategies to Help – There are many handwriting issues that are common to see in the classroom, clinic, or home. These handwriting red flags can be addressed with simple strategies, tools, and practice. Try incorporating these ideas into practice.

Writing Trays and Handwriting – Writing trays are a fantastic activity to improve handwriting skills. In fact, when used correctly, writing trays offer multisensory letter formation practice that helps to establish a motor plan for letter formation.

Letter Formation Direction Change in Handwriting – When forming letters, there are many pencil direction changes that impact letter formation. Part of this refers to pencil control, but another consideration is the push and pull of the pencil within the hand. Try this strategy to improve handwriting through a multisensory writing activity.

writing letters activities

Bold Lines Handwriting Trick for Line Awareness – using a highlighter or a marker is a great way to work on line awareness and help children write on lines. They marker lines add a bold line that allows for a clear writing line and can be a great way to ensure proper letter size for letters that hit the middle line (a, c, e, g, i, j, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, u, v, w, x, y, z).

Extended Wrist Fine Motor Activity – An extended wrist is needed in handwriting, to enable a functional grasp. When children write with a flexed wrist, they are not exhibiting wrist stability and then use the forearm to move the pencil rather than distal muscle features. A neutral or extended wrist allows for proper positioning of the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles to manipulate the pencil while writing.

Additionally, an extended wrist while writing pulls the thumb, middle finger, and pointer finger into a tripod grasp naturally, using tenodesis, due to the musculature of the forearm and hand.

Tenodesis grasp and release occurs as a result of tendons in the forearm and fingers that travel over multiple joints. As a result, the tendons act as a big pulley system allowing the extension of the wrist to pull the fingers into flexion. Tenodesis grasp and release can be used to benefit a grasp on the pencil when writing.

Handwriting On-the-Go Practice Clipboard – Working on handwriting doesn’t need to be boring or happen only at a table. This DIY clipboard activity doubles as a slant board that allows for proper positioning of the wrist and fingers in a functional pencil grasp.

Children can use this handwriting practice clipboard as their personal “desk” to write and move that pencil while out and about, in the car, or in places where a desk may not work out physically.

Natural Handwriting Activities for Summer – Just like the “Summer slide” that happens with math or reading, a summer slide can occur with handwriting! The nice thing is that often times, children are still moving, playing, and building muscle skills during natural summer play experiences.

But, with this resource, you can help kids continue to work on handwriting skills in fun, meaningful, and motivating writing experiences during the Summer months. Activities like writing letters, making a Summer bucket list, writing notes, and making shopping lists are ways to work on letter formation in ways that don’t seem like writing practice.

Motor Planning and Handwriting – When children learn to write, and they practice letter formation, they are establishing a motor plan, or muscle memory for letter formation. This is a powerful tool for functional handwriting, because if we all had to look up each letter’s formation when we write, it would definitely not be functional in the way of writing speed! This resource describes more in detail about the motor planning piece of handwriting skills.

Line Awareness Writing Activities

Writing on the lines can make handwriting go from sloppy to legible. Here you will find resources to help kids write on the lines when copying written work from both a near point and far point such as a the board. These line awareness activities are strategies to improve legibility by addressing writing lines in handwriting.  

writing letters activities

Color Mixing Rainbow Writing Letter Formation Activity – You may have seen rainbow writing activities for young elementary aged children to practice spelling words. However, this rainbow writing activity uses markers and a color-changing multisensory activity to work on pencil control and line awareness. When kids trace over the lines they can see where their marker moves off the lines.

Line Awareness Handout – This free handout covers all things line awareness. Access this handwriting worksheet in our free Handwriting Tips and Tricks series, and use the handout to recommend tactics to work on line awareness.

 Pencil Grasp Exercise

Line and Spatial Awareness with Graph Paper – Graph paper is a great way to work on spatial awareness, letter sizing, and line awareness. Writing each letter within the boxes enables children to focus on the spatial restraints of lines on a paper. This is a great way to build the perceptual skills to keep a pencil within a writing space such as baselines and middle or top lines when writing.

Cursive Writing Lines Art – This activity was done using cursive letters, but you could work on formation of printed handwriting as well. Make creative art that builds letter formation and line awareness as well. Children can trace over the lines, build fine motor skills, and carryover of line awareness with this fun activity.

Pre-Writing Lines with Leaves – Building line awareness and the directionality of lines is a pre-writing concept that begins with recognizing shapes and then copying those shapes to connect the lines. This carries over to formation of letters and placement on lines within a writing space. This is a fantastic pre-writing activity that uses leaves and multi-sensory learning that will “stick”!

Pre-Writing Lines Fine Motor Activity – Continue the pre-writing lines skills with this resistive fine motor activity that builds a muscle memory of pre-writing lines shapes and forms. This is a great way to build skills in spatial and line awareness.

Tips and Tricks for Writing and Coloring Within Lines – These tips and tricks can be used to help kids with spatial awareness and line awareness in coloring as well as handwriting.

Pre-Writing Handwriting Lines – This pre-writing lines activity gets kids forming lines in a given space, a great activity that transfers to handwriting and forming letters in a space on lines.

Creative Ways to Work on Line Awareness – These line awareness activities and information go into more detail on the implications of line use in handwriting, tips to improve writing lines, and carryover skills.

Sky Ground Writing Method – The sky and ground method of line awareness helps children to visualize the top and bottom line spaces for movement of the pencil to form letters. This DIY writing line paper can be made with just two markers.

writing letters activities

Trouble with Margins – Margin awareness is a visual perceptual concept involved in handwriting that isn’t always addressed until you see writing moving across the page, or trouble with writing lists. This activity can help with organization on the page.

How to help with carryover of handwriting skills

Pencil Grasp Activities

Pencil grasp plays a role in handwriting, especially when considering a functional pencil grasp. For more information and tools to promote a functional pencil grasp, be sure to join the Pencil Grasp Challenge .

The activities below help to promote a functional grasp by improving the fine motor skills needed for hand strength, open thumb web space, separation of the sides of the hand, and endurance when writing which all play a role in a functional grasp in handwriting.

write with a small pencil for a better grasp

Small Pencil Trick for Helping with Pencil Grasp – Using a small pencil like a golf pencil promotes a more functional pencil grasp because the positioning needed to grasp and move the pencil requires more precise motor movements and pulls the thumb into an open web space. Don’t have a golf pencil? Use the tips in this blog post.

Thumb IP Joint Flexion Pencil Grasp Trick – This pencil grasp trick promotes awareness of an open thumb web space by opening the space between the thumb and the pointer finger and adding rotation to the thumb MP joint into opposition so the pencil is grasped. The precision motor movements of thumb IP flexion allow for precision of grasp. This is a fun activity kids will love!

Thumb Opposition – Thumb opposition allows for precision of grasp and a refined ability to manipulate a pencil when writing. Opposition activities like this one allow for eye-hand coordination development, as well as bilateral coordination, and strengthening of the arch or intrinsic muscles which are necessary for fine motor tasks like writing with endurance.

letter game with spoons

Magnetic Spoons and Handwriting Game – This fine motor activity works on eye-hand coordination and grasp skills, both of which are needed for handwriting!

Mechanical Pencil for Writing Too Dark or Too Light – This activity for handwriting addresses pencil pressure. When kids write too hard that they break the pencil point, addressing proprioception through the pencil is needed. Drawing awareness to this can help and using a mechanical pencil is a great way to work on pencil pressure in writing.

Easy DIY Slant Board and WHY Use a Slant Board? A slant board is a handwriting tool that kids can use to work on accuracy and pencil grasp. This resource explains why using a slant board is important.

fine motor rainbow

Fine Motor Play Dough Intrinsic Muscle Strength – This intrinsic hand strength activity is a fun way to work on the fine motor skills needed for pencil grasp and endurance when writing.

Pencil Control Exercises – Pencil control is an essential part of handwriting skills that impact letter formation, neatness of letters, and placement on lines or given writing spaces. Use these pencil control exercises to build hand strength and visual motor skills.

Rainbow Hundreds Chart – This rainbow fine motor activity is a great way to work on precision in pencil grasp.

Distal finger control exercises

Handwriting Quick Check Self-Assessment List – Use this handwriting self-assessment to check for handwriting skills with writing tasks.

Coban Wrap Pencil Grip – Coban is a therapy tool that many occupational therpaists have in their therapy bag! Use coban to create a DIY pencil grip that molds to the child’s fingertips.

Distal Finger Control Exercises – These distal control exercises promote precision and movement of the pencil in small spaces, using movements needed for writing letters of the alphabet.

Spatial Awareness & Line Awareness Activity Without Handwriting – This spatial awareness activity is a handwriting activity that helps kids to work on bilateral coordination needed to write and hold the paper with their assisting hand. It’s also a great way to work on pencil control, motor planning, and eye-hand coordination, skills needed for handwriting and letter formation!

handwriting and tangrams

Omitting Letters and Words when Copying – Sometimes kids have trouble with copying written material and omitting letters or words when they copy. This can be a visual perceptual skill that results in errors. This resource covers letter omission in handwriting.

Handwriting and Visual Perception with Tangrams – Working with tangrams is a visual perception activity that helps with spatial awareness and the visual discrimination skills needed in handwriting. Try these tangram activities to help.

A Complete Guide to Handwriting – This blog post includes many links to handwriting activities and resources.

 Paper position when writing

Paper Position Desk Paper Positioner – Positioning paper is a big part of handwriting. This resource includes information on how the paper should be positioned and how to add a visual prompt to promote better paper positioning when writing.

writing letters activities

DIY Desk Fidget Tool – Use this DIY desk fidget toy to help with attention during handwriting tasks.

Use a Timer to Help with Letter Formation – Forming letters a problem? Try this timer activity to work on letter formation, speed of handwriting, and accuracy of letter placement on the lines in written work.

Executive Functioning Skills and Handwriting – Executive functioning skills are a part of everything we do, even handwriting! This blog post covers the executive functions needed for letter formation, copying skills, visual attention, and organization on a page.

Pencil Grip idea

Sensory Letter Formation – This sensory writing activity works on letter formation but allows covers easy tips for handwriting skills. This post includes information on why it’s important to teach lower case letters before upper case letters and how to form letters starting at the top.

Homemade Pencil Grip – Did you know a homemade pencil grip is as easy as using balloons? This pencil grip draws the distal fingers to the tips of the pencil and is good for kids that need a visual and physical cue to hold the pencil at the end.

Benefits of Stickers in Occupational Therapy – There are many benefits to playing with stickers and handwriting skills are part of that especially when you take into consideration all of the fine motor skills that impact a functional pencil grasp.

Toys for spatial awareness

Toys and Games for Reluctant Writers – Sometimes kids are reluctant writers because they HATE to write or because writing is HARD. These activities and ideas for reluctant writers many handwriting fun and meaningful…and motivating!

The Benefits of Coloring – There are many benefits to coloring that impact handwriting like hand strength and controlled motor movements of the hands.

Gift Ideas for Spatial Awareness – These toys and tools are fun games to work on spatial awareness in handwriting.

toys for visual tracking

31 Days of Occupational Therapy with Free or Inexpensive Treatment Materials – So much about the tools that therapists use can be from everyday functional items or materials found around the home. Others are recycled items that are used to improve functional skills or the underlying skills that impact handwriting and pencil grasp.

Toys and Tools to Improve Visual Tracking – Visual tracking skills are needed for reading and writing. These games and toys help to improve visual tracking skills in written work.

Letter formation activity with sandpaper

Pencil Pressure Simple Handwriting Trick – Pencil pressure is a common handwriting problem for many children. Use this easy activity using a foam sheet to work on the proprioceptive skills needed for appropriate pencil pressure.

Sandpaper Letter Formation Trick – One handwriting activity is using sandpaper to work on letter formation and building the muscle memory skills needed for forming letters with automaticity. This activity for letter formation is great for new writers or fixing letter formation mistakes.

Boxes and Dots Handwriting Method – Writing with appropriate letter size can impact formation and legibility. This box and dot method can help with forming letters correctly, as well as addressing letter reversals.

writing letters activities

Easy Trick for Tripod Pencil Grasp – This pencil grasp trick involves hiding a small object in the palm of the hand to work on separation of the sides of the hand and tripod grasp in handwriting.

What is Visual Spacing – Spatial awareness in handwriting is an important part of legibility. Use this button spacing tool to work on spacing between letters and words for better legibility.

Visual Tracking Tips and Tools – This visual tracking tips and tools address the visual processing skills needed for writing, copying material from a near point, copying words or sentences from a distant point like a chalkboard, and the visual shift, visual memory, and visual tracking skills needed to know where the writer left off.

writing letters activities

Handwriting Puzzles Spacing Awareness Activity – These spacing puzzles are a fun way to work on the visual perceptual skills needed for writing words and letters with spacing so that kids can read their own handwriting. This is a great self-check activity for kids.

Easy Trick for Helping with Letter Formation and Sloppy Writing – This activity for handwriting skills works on letter formation and re-trace of pencil lines when writing. Kids can self-check their handwriting with this fun self-assessment activity and then carryover the letter formation skills.

Transfer Paper for Spacing, Line Awareness, Letter Formation, Pencil Pressure – Did you know you can use transfer paper for a fun handwriting activity that works on letter formation and handwriting skills.

pouring and scooping with beads

Hand Dominance and Fine Motor with Scooping and Pouring – This handwriting activity addresses bilateral coordination skills and crossing midline needed for holding and positioning paper when writing with a pencil.

Visual Scanning Fine Motor Fidget Toy – This visual scanning activity is a great way to work on the visual skills needed for handwriting and copying written material.

Functional Play Ideas with Every Day Toys – Use toys found around the home to work on handwriting skills, fine motor skills, visual perceptual skills, and visual motor skills.

Letter formation trick

DIY Letter Strip Desk Ruler – Make a letter strip for the desktop that can go right into a pencil box or inside the desk. This DIY letter strip helps with letter formation and visual memory skills needed for helping kids copy letters and write letters in their assignments.

Letter Construction Method for Accurate Letter Formation – This letter construction activity works on proper letter formation and sequencing of letter formation so that kids start letters at the top and move to correct formation of parts. The visual cues are great for kids.

Desk Positioning and Posture While Writing – These desk posture tips cover the correct positioning needed for writing when sitting at a desk.

Letter Pencil Box Travel Kit

DIY Dry Erase Board Handwriting Travel Kit – Make this DIY dry erase board to work on handwriting while in a car or on the go. It’s a pencil box activity that kids will love!

Building Letters Worksheets – Use cotton swabs as a sensory handwriting activity for working on forming letters. This is a fun way to work on letter writing with kids!

Hot Glue Letters & Words – Multisensory handwriting activities like this hot glue gun letters help with forming letters with a crayon rubbing activity. This is a great activity for bilateral coordination and fine motor skills, too.

Letter Formation in a Foam Tray

Letter Formation Resistive Surface – Use this activity for handwriting skills using a resistive surface with an item you probably already have in your home.

Letter Formation with Push Pins in a Can – Work on letter formation using push pins in a lid for a resistive surface that promotes a tripod grasp.

Lego Letters – Build letters using LEGO pieces that help with tripod grasp, hand strength, bilateral coordination, and visual motor skills.

play dough handwriting warm up activity

Handwriting Warm Up Exercises – These handwriting warm-up exercises are a great way to build hand strength and get the hands warmed up for a writing task.

Handwriting on Foam Craft Sticks – Writing on foam sheets adds a proprioceptive resistance feedback for letter formation. This writing activity can help with teaching kids letter formation in proper sequence.

Nature Letters – Work on forming letters with sticks, leaves, and petals. This is a fun letter formation activity that incorporates visual discrimination, figure ground skills, and other visual perceptual skills.

Visual Processing Checklist

Visual Processing Checklist for Handwriting – Visual processing is a huge piece of handwriting. Consider all of the visual processing skills needed to copy and write letters and words: visual discrimination, figure ground, visual closure, visual attention, visual memory, eye-hand coordination, visual motor integration, and more!

Handwriting Accommodations for the Classroom – Use these suggestions for helping children with handwriting in the classroom.

Pencil Grasp with an Egg Carton – This handwriting activity uses just an egg carton to build the intrinsic muscle strength needed for a tripod grasp.

Upper Case Letters First

This massive resource on letter formation covers everything you need to know about the development of handwriting skills, including why you should teach upper case letters first in handwriting instruction, why proper formation is important, and why letters should start at the top. You’ll also gain access to a free letter formation worksheets designed to promote handwriting skills.

Then head to this article on Lower Case Letter Formation for specific strategies related to writing lowercase letters.

Next, read this resource on letter reversals and discover strategies to help with writing letters backwards, and the development of letter reversals, including when letter reversals are normal for new writers.

Try these motor planning in handwriting activities including a carpet square activity to use the benefits of resistive writing surfaces in helping kids to learn to form letters.

Cursive Handwriting Activities

Cursive handwriting is a form of written work that works well for many students, especially those who struggle with pencil control, fine motor skills, and the formation of letters. Cursive letters are much smoother and have a natural flow. Use the handwriting activities below to work on learning cursive writing.

Cursive handwriting ideas and tips from an Occupational Therapist.

How to Teach Letter “c” in Cursive – Teaching cursive letter c is a building block for forming other cursive letters based on the motor plan to turn the cursive c into other letters including: cursive a, d, g, o, and q.

Textured Cursive Lines – Cursive letters flow and these handwriting activities use textured lines to build a motor plan for combining cursive letters. This is a fun multisensory writing activity.

Holding the Paper in Cursive Writing – Positioning the paper is essential for cursive writing slant and formation. This resource covers paper positioning for lefties and righties.

Cursive Pencil Grasp – Does cursive require a different pencil grasp? No…but cursive writing requires new and different pencil movements which can impact pencil grasp! Read more to find out what I mean.

Cursive Lines Art – Use art to work on cursive letter lines.

31 Days of Cursive – Use this resource and activity list for fun and hands-on approaches to teaching cursive handwriting.

Cursive Handwriting Journal – Print this cursive handwriting journal to work on letter formation of cursive letters using multi sensory writing with several different textured writing activities.

Fizzy Dough Cursive Letters – Textured sensory writing is fun with this play dough letters. These cursive letters are sensory and fun! This activity uses the sense of touch with tactile exploratory input with fizzy, sensory letter formation.  

Sensory Processing and Handwriting

Getting the senses involved in handwriting can be so beneficial to learning the motor plan of letter formation.  Try these sensory ideas for improved handwriting using all of the senses.

sensory handwriting activities for kids to learn how to write letters and numbers

Sensory Letter Formation  Work on letter formation using dish soap in this tactile and olfactory letter learning and writing activity.  

Sensory Bottle with Letters – You can use whatever materials you have available to make a sensory bottle for self-regulation AND letter identification and handwriting, too.

Glitter Glue Tracing Letters – This cursive writing activity can be done with printed letters too. Use glitter glue for a tactile experience that builds a motor plan and muscle memory for letter formation.

Sensory Letter Bin – Make a sensory bin using materials you have in the home…then add letters for a handwriting experience kids won’t forget!

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Tripod Grasp Activities for Kids

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Spacing activities in handwriting

Try these DIY Spacing tool crafts. Kids can make them and feel proud to use them in handwriting:

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Free Handout: Activities to Improve Handwriting

Want to develop handwriting skills and need specific activities designed to support the progression of underlying skills? 

Grab a copy of our free handwriting handout: Motor Activities to Improve Handwriting! Use this handout to educate parents, teachers, and other therapists about underlying skill areas needed for handwriting. Go through the handouts and select the activities that will support the individual you are working with and address handwriting skills through specific therapeutic play tasks and occupational therapy activities.

This handout is also available as a resource in  The OT Toolbox Member’s Club . Members can access the printable handout by logging in and then heading to our  Educational Handouts section . There, members can click on the button and immediately access the handwriting handout without entering their email address. Grab this resource along with hundreds of other materials and therapy support tools.  

FREE GUIDE: Activities to Improve Handwriting

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What a awesome page you have. thank you for so many wonderful ideas to share with the little one. God bless.

Thanks so much! We're having fun doing all of these activities with our kids and happy to share!

am working with my small grandchildren and these are awesome ideas we'll be using soon! <3 thanks you for sharing

We dropped ping pong ball (can find ones with eye balls at Halloween @ dollar store) onto egg cartons.. I buy 5 dozen at a time so they have a larger area. They stand on a chair and drop them over the back side. have fun!

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An Introduction to Letter Writing

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Letter writing can be fun, help children learn to compose written text, and provide handwriting practice — and letters are valuable keepsakes. This article contains activities to help children ages 5–9 put pen to paper and make someone's day with a handwritten letter.

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Letter writing is an essential skill. Despite the prevalence of emails and text messages, everyone has to write letters at some point. Letters of complaint, job applications, thank you letters, letters requesting changes or making suggestions — the list goes on and on. Encouraging children to write letters from an early age will improve their communication, social and handwriting skills, and teach them what they need to know about writing and structuring letters.

Within schools

Letter writing can be included in a school's curriculum. Visits to museums or farms prompt thank you letters, for example contacting schools in other countries and exchanging letters links into geography. Writing imaginary letters to historical people can encourage understanding of a historical period or topic. Writing letters encourages good social skills, learning to say thank you and asking for information politely.

Letter writing has many purposes, including the following:

In this article:

What’s so special about receiving a handwritten letter?

Quite apart from curriculum requirements, being asked to write letters is a task that will appeal to children. The sheer fun of sending and receiving letters appeals to every child. There is something special about putting letters into the post box and then having letters delivered by the postman… the brightly colored stamps, seeing your name on the envelope and knowing that inside is a long awaited letter from a friend or member of the family. It shows someone cares and has taken the time to sit down and think about you.

Handwritten letters have a charm of their own. You can take time to think about what you want to say. You can keep letters to read again and again. You can admire the handwriting; share dreams and thoughts. Responding by letter is very different to the immediacy of a text message or an email.

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Activity 1: Warming up to letter writting

Use the above themes to encourage the children to discuss letter-writing. Ask the children to put their hands up if they have ever received a personal letter. Ask for one or more volunteers to talk about how they felt to receive the letter. Here are some initial questions that may help:

And some questions for whole class or group discussions:

Ask the class to interview each other to find out each individual's experiences of writing and sending letters. This can be recorded in a chart.

Activity 2: Introducing letter writing

Collect a supply of different types of letters — both formal and informal. Ask the children to sort them out into two groups. Which were written to friends? Which are formal letters from businesses? Which features or characteristics distinguish formal from informal?

Having done that ask the children to look for differences between the two groups. This allows a discussion to take place about the different types of letter. Draw up a chart for each group covering:

This will allow the children to find out for themselves the differences between formal and informal letters.

This could be followed by a discussion of the type of letters the children or their families write. How many occasions can they think of which would deserve a letter to be written? For example:

In each case the children should decide what type of letter would be most appropriate in each case — formal or informal? Draw up a chart for each group.

Activity 3: Formal letters

These are sometimes known as business letters. They are written in a strictly formal style. Such letters are always written on an A4 (8" x 11") sheet of paper. They can be folded three times so that the address to which the letter is being sent can appear in the window of a business envelope. The layout is always the same.

Typical layout of a formal letter

Typical layout of a formal letter

Activity 4: Informal letters

These are letters to friends and relations, or people you know well. Structure:

Typical layout of an informal letter

Sample Informal Letter

Tips for writing good letters

Activity 5: Letter of inquiry and letters providing information

Suitable for school, children ages 7-9

These are formal letters and messages need to be precise and detailed, covering all the required information. Two types of letters can be undertaken — a letter requesting information; and a reply providing it.

Out in the Milky Way, there is an alien curious about Earth. He writes a letter asking for information about liquids and gases. These do not exist on his planet and he finds it hard to understand what they are.

Write a letter explaining what liquids and gases are. How do they work? What examples could be included? What would be confusing about them? This could link to your science curriculum and could act as a revision exercise giving an opportunity for a discussion about gases and liquids.

The following day, give the children a thank you letter from the alien!

You could link up with another class in the school. One class could write letters of inquiry. These would be delivered to the second class for answering.

Activity 6: Thank you letters

Suitable for school, children ages 5-7 and 7-9

Thank you letters are very important and can be used in lots of ways: thanking organisations for helping, thanking people for helping you, thanking someone for a lovely time. They make a good follow up exercise after receiving presents or going on a visit.

Your class has just been out on a school visit to a farm. Write a thank you letter to the farmer. You will need to say thank you and how much you enjoyed the visit. Give some examples of what you enjoyed best about the day? Was it feeding the lambs? Pond dipping? Seeing the young animals?

Activity 7: Letters of invitation

Everyone likes receiving invitations. Receiving a hand written letter asking you to a party or a special event makes you feel very special.

Discuss what type of event might create a need to write letters of invitation. There are plenty of examples — birthday parties, Christmas parties, a visit to a beach with friends; going out to a farm or to the cinema, a wedding or when a new baby is christened; or simply inviting a friend to stay overnight at your house.

Choose a special event and write a letter inviting a friend. What do you need to include in the letter so that they have all the necessary information? You need to be clear on the date and the time, as well as the location. Your friend would be very upset if he or she went to the wrong place. Does he or she need to bring anything with them? Does he or she need to be collected at a set time? Will outdoor clothing be needed if the weather is bad? How will your friend reach the location of the event? Should a parent bring them or will you provide transport?

Remember to ask them to reply saying yes or no. Give a date by which you must have their reply. This is important if food and drink are being provided, or if you need to know exactly how many people are coming.

Activity 8: Letters of complaint

Suitable for school or home, children ages 5-7 and 7-9

When might a letter of complaint be sent? It might be when someone has done something wrong. Sometimes people write letters to organisations or the newspapers to complain about litter or poor service.

Just imagine what Mr. Bear must have been thinking at the end of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. A naughty girl had broken into his home, eaten his porridge; broken a chair and then gone to sleep on his child's bed. Then she had run away without even saying sorry when the bears came back.

Write a letter of complaint from Mr. Bear to the parents of Goldilocks. What would he say? He would need to get his complaint across very strongly. There would be a list of Goldilocks' misdeeds. He would ask for an apology. Would he ask for payment for the broken chair? Would he ask for action to be taken against Goldilocks? Discuss the various possibilities with the children. What might he ask? Would it be a formal or informal letter?

Activity 9: Letters to Santa

Every year children write letters to Santa Claus, asking for special toys at Christmas time. But how many children think about Santa Claus himself? What is his life like? What are the problems of living amid all that snow and ice?

This is an exercise that could involve two classes within a school. Both classes should prepare for the task by listening to some unusual letters. J R Tolkein wrote a lovely book entitled Letters from Father Christmas. Every December a letter would appear telling wonderful tales of life at the North Pole — how the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place; how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Santa Claus's house.

Children in the younger class should write letters to Santa. They should ask about life at the North Pole. What do they think it is like? What sort of characters live there? How does Santa Claus occupy his time for the rest of the year? Consider how they would feel living in a land of snow and ice all year round? Would they want a holiday somewhere warmer?

Once the letters are written, gather them up and take them to an older group of children. Give each child a letter and ask them to write a reply. This would give them the opportunity to use their imagination and create imaginative responses, possibly little stories about life at the North Pole. They could also add in their own ideas. But care should be taken to make sure that all the questions in the original letters are answered.

Finally, take the answers back to the original class for reading and discussing.

Activity 10: Letters to newspapers and magazines

These are letters that aim to pass on an opinion or a message. Examples can be easily obtained from local newspapers or from children's magazines such as DK Find Out or Aquila. They are written slightly differently to normal letters and are always addressed Dear Sir, or Dear — (name of magazine).

These are letters that are directed at a wide audience — anyone who happens to read it. The sender never gets a direct letter back through the post. Sometimes people are so interested in a letter, which has appeared in a magazine that they want to express their opinions. So they then write a letter to the magazine giving their comments.

So what might go into a letter to a newspaper or magazine? It might be a request — could you provide more stories about skate boarding, or nature? It might be a way of thanking people for providing help. Sometimes letters to local newspapers are used to thank people who helped find a lost dog or help after an accident; but who did not leave their names. By writing to the paper, the sender hopes that the message will reach the people concerned. Sometimes such letters are used to express opinions such as on climate change, treatment of animals, poor services, not enough buses, and human rights.

Letters of this kind need to be very precise. Arguments should be clearly made. Requests for action should be clearly indicated. From reading the letter, everyone should know exactly what the sender is asking.

A major issue is recycling and energy conservation. Everyone is trying to reduce the amount of energy we use. Look at all the reasons why energy conservation is so important. Then, write a letter to a paper or magazine saying why you believe we should avoid wasting energy. Give examples of how energy can be saved? What measures should we take in our homes or schools? Could anything more be done?

My Child magazine. (2007). Letter Writing Resource Pack. London, U.K. Author. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://www.mychild.co.uk/docs/walw/Letter_writing_Resource_Pack.pdf.

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Quite helpful

This is quite helpful for students.

Teaching my third grade students tomorrow found it very helpful specialy the activities.Thanks.

Very helpful

this helped me understand an informational letter

Great basic format. It is a strong foundation to start. The layout gives a structure that students can use as a template.

Some useful ideas, but I'm concerned that the layout of the formal letter is incorrect - the date should be underneath the address on the top right of the page, and a letter beginning Dear Sir/Madam should end in Yours faithfully, not Yours sincerely! Sorry for pointing it out, but I hope it helps!

this is really helpful. thanks

It is very helpful for our students, but I think we need more examples and also how could these letters be evaluated in class.

really wonderful activities are suggested to improve letter writing.

I'm teaching my 7 year old daughter the art of personal letter writing. I found this information very useful! Thank You!!

very!!!!!!!!!helpful

You can give more topics for kids to write at home

I don't think you should write your name in the top right hand corner of the letter regardless of whether it is formal or informal. You should only write your address and the date there but not your name. Am I wrong?

Yes. You're right.

very useful site

This is quite useful but needs more examples

Thank you this was very helpful! Teaching this to my third graders tomorrow!

A great read as I am looking for various language to use in writing thank-you notes to parents for Christmas gifts. Our whole sharing month in December revolved around distinguishing between a need and a want. The thank-you with a purpose will be awesome as an example of an informal thank-you letter. As a follow up, we will write a formal thank-you to our parent council for their efforts in generating funds for our school. (Christmas raffle baskets with a theme)

quite helpful

These came in handy as I prepare mu pupils to write letters. Thanks a million for this information.

I had my ELLs create an invitation using your lesson. After choosing the event, we brainstormed together, using a concept map, what would need to be included. Then I made like a story map for them to fill in with the required info. For my lower ELLs, I used frames: Please come to my ____ on ____ at ____. They referenced the vocabulary we brainstormed and that I had written on a chart. After drafting, we did peer edits, from a specific check list, and revised and edited for specific errors based on peer edit. It went really well and studets enjoyed decorating their invitations as well!

Two books for children i have found very useful are Dear Greenpeace ( Walker Books) and The Jolly Postman or other peoples letters ( Puffin Books) there amazing for this topic for ks1

this is quite helpful for students..

I LOVE the letters to santa lesson! I am student teaching and third grade right now and trying to figure out how to pull this off. For example, should they write the letters to Santa or should they answer the letters. I am pretty sure a lot of them believe in Santa still...Anyway, love this idea and will use it in the future if not this year!

i am looking for a decent and friendly handwriting scheme/style to use from Reception through to Year 6. Currently we have Berol and it doesn't seem to be favoured by many. desperate for some feedback and guidance

I'm a 3rd grade teacher and have done this activity for many years. Teaching in a K-5 school, I've teamed with a 5th grade teacher to answer the letters. I've done it 2 ways: 1) the students write to Santa asking for something, but they have to PERSUADE Santa that they deserve the present they are asking for (use evidence of what you did to earn the present. 2) My students are "buddies" to a class of Kinders. They ask their buddies what to name a present they would like. The 3rd grader asks the buddy about their behavior/good deeds, etc, then writes the letter on behalf of the buddy (and reads it aloud along with the response.) The 5th graders writing the responses are instructed to respond to the letters as one of Santa's elves. They make up a name (Snowflake, Jiggly, Dreamboat, etc, so 3rd grader doesn't know that a 5th grader is writing) and then commend the writer for their hard work/good deeds BUT they cannot guarantee a present. The 5th grade teacher encourages them to make up contingencies (that's a popular request, we're running low on stock, I'm not sure we have that yet, etc) so that the writers' evidence/behavior is acknowledged, but 3rd's aren't set up for disappointment. The letters are delivered by a mysterious knock, with a plain envelope laying in front of the door, but no delivery person in sight. Jewish students write letters to their parents requesting Hanukkah gifts, using the same evidence criteria. I've done this project 15+ years, and every year this project is a big hit, as students read and re-read their responses to their classmates. (Third graders also become proofreaders when they find writing mistakes by the elves. I respond that the elves need to have more writing lessons.)

Thank you for the awesome resource..

teaching this unit tomorrow, this was helpful

letters are important, a skill sadly lacking these days

What about 'grading' a thank you letter?

Its better to include more examples of types of letters.

I teach English Lnguage Learners and they will love this unit. A good (and funny) book to use with this unit is "I Wanna Iguana" by Karen Kaufman Orloff. Thanks!

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If you want to teach your child the alphabet in a fun way, you’re in the right place. In this post I’ll talk you through activities for all the letters of the alphabet. We’ll dive into letter sounds, uppercase letters vs. lowercase letters and exactly how and when you should be teaching your child alphabet letters. And then I’ll give you plenty of preschool activities with letters to make fun alphabet learning happen.

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TEACHING THE ALPHABET TO PRESCHOOLERS IN A FUN WAY

The thing about these little preschool aged people is that they won’t do what we want them to do nearly as well as they’ll do what they want to do.

So we really want the buy in from them upfront.

We want them to be so excited about learning that they’re asking to do it and we want to avoid all situations of making them sit there and learn. 

If that feels impossible to you right now I just want you to know that so many moms in my community were in the exact same place and have emailed me to say that their children are now coming to them and asking them for learning time. 

I have created the most comprehensive system I have ever seen for teaching your child the alphabet. It’s designed for moms by a kindergarten teacher and it truly gives you everything you need for a letter sounds, letter names, and letter writing— with tips from a teacher for every single letter.

I’ll talk to you through lots of other hands-on activities in this post to that I want to make you aware that this called mine every sources exist. 

Y ou can learn more about the Ultimate Alphabet Learning Kit here.  

WONDERING HOW TO MAKE LEARNING THE ALPHABET FUN?

When we’re teaching our preschoolers anything there are a few things we can do to set them up for success.

Our 3 and 4 year olds learn best when they are:

Anytime you’re planning an activity to do with your child, take a minute to zoom out and think about how you can make it more fun and engaging for them.

Think about your child’s interests.

And think about they way your child likes to learn.

There are often so many easy ways to make an activity more engaging.

Can you make it more hands-on? Or include something sensory like play dough?

If you’re using something like matching cards, you can dump those right into a sensory bin to make the activity more fun.

I also love to hide matching cards (think: letters & pictures that represent beginning sounds) around the house and turn it into a hunt. My preschooler really loves finding things.

I believe you can turn whatever concept you want to teach them into a fun activity.

This goes for letters, but also really for anything else you want them to learn.

HOW TO TEACH THE ALPHABET

There are 3 specific things your child needs to know about each letter of the alphabet.

writing letters activities

3 Must-Know Letter Skills

That last one, writing, is the hardest and often comes last because it’s totally dependent on your child’s fine motor skills.

Your child can start learning letter names and letter sounds at 3. But the teeny tiny muscles in their hands won’t be developed enough for them to write letters, and that’s perfectly fine.

I’ll talk more about how to build them up to be successful with writing in just a bit.

Let’s start where I want you to start with your child — letter names and letter sounds.

writing letters activities

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LETTER NAME ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOLERS

We want your child to be able to look at the letter and instantly know the name of that letter and the most common sound that letter makes.

It’s going to take a lot of work to get to that point for all 26 letters of the alphabet.

We want to start exposing our children to letters as early in their life as possible and just make this a continuous part of our daily routine until they enter kindergarten. 

Letter learning doesn’t stop in kindergarten, it just becomes much more complicated and I’ll have to write another post dedicated to that.

Quick pass: you are not behind if you did not start at three going to start where you are and move forward from here together.

Just put a teacher in your corner now and use the tools that I have created to guide you through this entire process and you will absolutely be successful. 

preschooler writing letters of the alphabet

How can you help your child practice these letter identification skills skills? 

You want your child to to see the symbol and hear the name as often as possible.

The best first step for teaching your child letters is to simply expose them to letters as often as possible in their natural environment. There are letters everywhere – on boxes, signs, food packages, etc. 

Look around your home and see where you can find letters. Start pointing these letters out to your child and encourage them to let you know when they see letters too! 

Even if they don’t know what the letter’s name is, knowing that it is a letter is a great first step – and a great opportunity for you to tell them the letter’s name

Tip: Identify letters that you find naturally in your environment. If you’ve got a cereal box on the table, that’s a great chance to point out the letters.

Grab your Free Preschool Activity Pack

writing letters activities

UPPERCASE LETTERS VS. LOWERCASE LETTERS

Be sure to always expose your child to both uppercase and lowercase letters.

They need to know BOTH.

Sometimes parents feel like their child “knows their letters” when they know the names of all the uppercase letters.

That’s a great first step but your child absolutely needs to know the names of the lowercase letters too.

And by the way, a child hasn’t truly mastered letters until they know their sounds too, but more on that in a minute.

LETTER NAME ACTIVITIES IN THE ULTIMATE ALPHABET LEARNING KIT

There are so many helpful resources and games in the Ultimate Alphabet Learning Kit to help your child learn letter identification (a.k.a. letter names).

Some of these activities include letter posters, search and finds and color the dog’s letter path.

Letter Identification activities in the Ultimate Alphabet Learning Kit

Y ou can see all the activities in the Ultimate Alphabet Learning Kit here.

MORE FUN LETTER IDENTIFICATION ACTIVITIES

Here are some more fun alphabet games for learning lower case letters and upper case letters.

LETTER SOUND ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOLERS

If you are like most preschool moms without a background in education, you are likely wondering…

Why do letter sounds matter so much?

Back in my day (and likely yours too) we learned to identify letters and order them alphabetically long before we learned their sound. In fact, I don’t ever remember being explicitly taught that letters make sounds.

Most children of my generation also learned to read with the whole language approach.

A.K.A. we learned to memorize words.

These days there have been some upgrades in literacy education. First and foremost being phonics .

This means that your child will learn to read, at school or with you, by using letter sounds.

There will be some words they will have to memorize because they don’t follow phonetic rules. These are called sight works, for example the word the. 

But for the most part, your child will decode or sound out unknown words using letter sounds, until eventually all words become sight words like they are for you and me.

This decoding skill is vital. And it all begins with learning letter sounds.

How can I help my child learn letter sounds?

When we talk about learning letter sounds, we often practice these skills by focusing on beginning sound words. 

Eventually, your child will be able to hear and manipulate middle and ending sounds too but beginning sounds are always the easiest and best place to start.

Instead of saying to your child something like “a is for apple”, it is best to say “a is for ah like in apple”.

Help them hear those sounds.

Our goal is for your child to look at the picture, say the word, and isolate the beginning sound.

It will take some practice for them to be able to do this independently since it is a multi-step, complex skill.

But this is a foundational phonics skill that will come up again and again for them throughout early literacy, so that practice is worth it.

capital alphabet letters for preschool activities

As you’re teaching your child letter names, let them know that each letter makes a special sound. 

Practice hearing letter sounds as you speak with your child. Help your child to hear letter sounds by slowing down a word and accentuating each sound in the word. 

Occasionally, stop and tell your child about the letter sounds you hear. For example, if you see a dog you can say “I hear the /d/ sound in dog. Do you hear it? /d/-og.” 

In time you’ll see them start to do the same thing.

Letter Sound I-Spy

My preschooler and I like to play letter sound I Spy   

To put a letter sound twist on I spy simply being with “I Spy with my little eye something that begins with the /b/ sound.”

Substitute any letter sound. 

Then have your child find the object or picture that begins with that sound.

You can simplify this by putting out three objects with different beginning sounds to choose from like a ball, cup, and hat.

Just be sure to say the letter sound instead of “something that begins with b”. 

Preschool activities designed by a teacher to help your child learn letters

Letter Name and Letter Sound Match

As often as possible, give your child the opportunity to match letters to their letter sounds.

You can use magnet letters and physical objects (likely toys) around your house or you can use picture cards like the ones I created for you in the Ultimate Alphabet Learning Kit .

The goal is for your child to say a letter’s sound aloud (while looking at the actual letter), hear that sound, and then say the names of the objects/pictures to choose which one begins with the same sound.

Warning: Do not give your child all 26 letters at once!

Start with maybe 3.

When they’ve got those down, add in a 4th.

Once they’ve mastered those 4, maybe recycle one out and add in a new one.

We don’t want to overwhelm our kiddos and make them frustrated. We want them to feel the success and build up that learning confidence.

LETTER SOUND ACTIVITIES IN THE ULTIMATE ALPHABET LEARNING KIT

Just like with letter names, are so many helpful resources and games in the Ultimate Alphabet Learning Kit to help your child learn letter sounds.

Some of these activities include letter puzzles, letter sound match and reading practice. There’s even an alphabet book for each letter that will help your child practice early reading skills.

Letter Sound Activities in the Ultimate Alphabet Learning Kit

Should I teach letter names and letter sounds at the same time?

Teach letter names and sounds together.

This is the best way to help your child internalize the meaning of each letter and the connection between the symbol they see and the sound that it makes.

Learning letters and sounds together will help your child immensely when they start to use those letter sounds to decode or sound words out.

And while you’re teaching a letter’s name and sound, practice writing it too.

Don’t put a lot of pressure on the writing part, because again, that just relies so heavily on your child’s fine motor skills, but give them a chance to practice for sure.

read and write words with letter blocks

LETTER FORMATION A.K.A. LETTER WRITING ACTIVITIES

For most of our preschoolers this is the hardest letter skill to master and there is a very good reason for that. 

Writing is both a thinking skill and a physical skill. 

The child needs to know in their mind what the letter looks like and then they need to physically with their hand write that letter down. 

And writing for preschoolers in general is so hard because they’re still forming their fine motor skills – which are all of the teeny tiny muscles in their small little hands that they use for writing.

So if your child can identify the letters but is struggling to write them down, I encourage you to circle back to practice fine motor skills and really help your child build those up. 

The stronger your child’s fine motor skills are, the easier it will be for them to write. 

LETTER WRITING ACTIVITIES IN THE ULTIMATE ALPHABET LEARNING KIT

Of course, there are plenty of teacher designed letter writing activities inside the Ultimate Alphabet Learning Kit.

There’s letter tracing, letter coloring and a play dough mat to help your child learn how to form each letter.

Letter writing activities in the Ultimate Alphabet Learning Kit

I like to put the letter tracing pages inside a page protector and have my preschooler use a dry erase marker to write on them. That way we can erase and practice again and again.

You can see all the activities in the Ultimate Alphabet Learning Kit here.

Is there a specific order I should use to choose letters for these preschool alphabet activities?

Most moms naturally fall into abc order when they’re going through the entire alphabet for letter of the week activities.

However, the order of the alphabet song isn’t really best.

Instead, I encourage you to decide on an order with a strategy in mind. Here are some suggestions:

First, you could start with the letters in your child’s name.

Starting with the letters of their name is a great way to begin because children are excited about their names, and these letters will be highly motivating for them to learn.

However , if your child’s name has really tricky letters or a tricky beginning letter (like Xavier perhaps), you might want to veer from learning name letters first.

It is 100% up to you if you want to introduce name letters first. Either way, the following suggestions will help you instead of name order or after name order.

Another choice is to start with easy sounds & commonly used letters.

Letters m, f, s, p, t, c are more commonly used and easier sounds to learn than q, x, and z, for example.

(These are the first letters that I used in my lesson plans as a teacher.)

And option 3 is easier sounds & easier formation order .

With this strategy, you’d start by focusing on letters that have easy sounds but are also easier to write.

Letters t, b, and f are more both fairly easy sounds and easy to learn to write for example.

Keep those easier sounds first, let your child master how to learn a letter and sound and then move on to progressively more difficult letters.

Aside from that, there is not a black and white clear answer on exactly what order letters should be taught. Some of it will just be up to you.

FUN ALPHABET ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOLERS

Now that you know the 3 important letter skills you should be working on, here is a list of alphabet activities for parents to do at home . These are my favorite activities for teaching a preschooler letter recognition, letter sounds, and writing letters.

MAGNETIC LETTERS

magnetic letters on a refrigerator

Magnet letters are great for uppercase lowercase match and really any letter identification skill.

You can use magnet letters like these and have your child match them on your refrigerator or a cookie sheet.

If you have a child who loves hunting and finding things like I do, you could also hide magnetic letters around the house and have your child find them, bring them to you, and tell you that letter’s name or sound.

LETTER CARDS

You could also use letter cards in place of magnet letters. Just write the uppercase and lowercase letters on index cards or print them and cut them out. Then mix them up and practice matching.

Free Gift ABC picture cards

Psst… If you want these cute printed letter cards, I send some great ones out as a surprise gift when you sign up to join my email list .

Match only 5 or 6 letters at a time. Matching all 26 letters at the same time will be difficult and overwhelming, especially at first. Limiting the amount of letters will set your child up for success.

ALPHABET SOUP

alphabet soup

This is a great one for alphabet recognition.

Simply take some large letters (magnets, puzzle pieces, cut outs, whatever you have) and put them in a bowl or pot or some kind of large containers.

Then, give your child a big spoon. I like to use an old plastic serving spoon that I don’t really use anymore for cooking.

Your child uses the big spoon to scoop out the individual letters one at a time.

When they scoop it out they can say the name or sound or match it to a picture that represents its sound or even just the lowercase version of the letters. Whatever feels right for your child!

LETTER CRAFTS

Here are some of my favorite creative ways to practice letter skills as crafts.

Alphabet Crowns from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

letter hat crafts with letter sounds

What a fun alphabet activity to practice letter recognition and letter sounds!

Printable letter crafts for preschoolers from Preschool Play & Learn

printable letter craft templates

These are a great option if you want to use alphabet printables as a starting point. And perfect if you’re looking for letter of the week crafts!

Personalized Name Crayons from Upcycle My Stuff

personalized name crayons

I thought this was a creative and playful way to help your child practice their name letters.

Plus it’s a great way to use up all those broken crayons that I know you have laying around!

DIY Painted Rock Magnets from Made with Happy

letter painted rocks

Painting is so fun for our preschoolers and this is a great way to incorporate letter learning!

DIFFERENT WAYS TO MAKE LETTER LEARNING FUN

Here are a few more kids activities that I know will be so much fun for learning letter skills.

Alphabet Sensory Bins from Catholic Icing

alphabet sensory bin

I love using sensory bins to get children excited to learn. This is a great tutorial for using an alphabet base and letter sound fillers for a fun preschool activity with letters.

Alphabet Sticker Matching from Glitter on a Dime

preschool child doing the activity letter sticker match

This would also be great for matching lowercase and capital letters!

NOW IT’S TIME TO LEARN LETTERS

You are full of great ideas and awesome alphabet activities, plus you have insights from an early childhood educator on exactly how to teach your child.

So now it’s time to get to work!

Here’s what you should do next:

First grab your copy of the free Preschool at Home Starter Kit so you’ll have some great teacher created tools to get you started.

Next, consider if you want to hit the easy button with the Ultimate Alphabet Learning Kit . You definitely need to check it out here before you make a decision.

Then just choose an activity from this post and get started! Happy letter learning!

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