How to Teach Good Handwriting

Co-authored by Courtney Copriviza and Christopher M. Osborne, PhD

Last Updated: December 7, 2023 Fact Checked

Even in a world of computers and smartphones, handwriting is an essential skill on its own merits. It’s also a learning tool that improves overall academic success.^{[1]
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Research source} Teaching handwriting can be challenging but also very rewarding, so we’ve provided a complete list of helpful advice for all stages of writing instruction. So encourage your students to pick up their pencils and have some fun with you!

Things You Should Know

Introduce letters in related groups, use tracing and guide paper, and work on slant, size, and spacing as students’ skills develop.
Build young learners’ fine motor skills, then slowly introduce things like writing position, pencil grip, and line- and curve-drawing activities.
Hold frequent (daily) but relatively short (15-30 minute) sessions, and continue to maintain a positive and encouraging attitude.

1

Introduce ideal paper and pencil positioning.

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Adapt to your students’ skills and don’t expect perfection. Preschoolers likely won’t have the motor skills or patience to master these positions, for example, so meet them where they are and slowly introduce the particulars of ideal paper and pencil positioning:^{[2]
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- Paper position. When writing, the paper should ideally be placed at a 45-degree angle towards the dominant writing hand.
- Pencil position. Holding a pencil in the “tripod” grip (with the first two fingers and thumb) is ideal for writing, but you may have to use thick, “chunky” pencils and pencil grips to help younger learners master this pencil position.

2

Practice drawing straight and curved lines.

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Focus on letter-like shapes before introducing actual letters. Instead of jumping straight into writing individual letters, get your students used to the pencil moves used in writing. Provide worksheets or blank paper and have them practice a series of the lines, curves, etc. that you demonstrate to them.^{[3]
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- Start with straight lines of varying lengths, both “up and down” and “side to side.”
- Move on to diagonal lines, such as forward and backward slashes.
- Introduce curve and tunnel shapes in all directions as the next step.
- Finish by drawing patterns that join together the straight lines, diagonal lines, and curved lines you’ve introduced.
- Make these sessions part of a fun activity, especially for younger learners. For instance, have them pretend that an upside down u-shape is a cave and have them come up with a story about what (or who) is inside.

3

Introduce letters in similar groups.

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Don’t overwhelm students by introducing the alphabet at once. Instead, introduce letter groups that share common writing motions, such as clockwise or counterclockwise movements. There’s no single agreed-upon way to group letters, but here’s one popular option:^{[4]
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- a, c, d, g, q, e, o, f, s: These share a counterclockwise writing motion. You might split these into two groups to simplify the introduction.
- b, h, m, n, p, r: These letters share a clockwise motion.
- i, j, k, l, t: These letters have a vertical line as a central feature.
- u, v, w, x, y, z: This is a bit of a “catch-all” category for the remaining letters.

4

Practice tracing letters as they’re introduced.

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Tracing teaches the pencil motions needed for each new letter. Even if your students are good at handling a pencil, consider having them start by tracing the new letter with their index finger first—this helps them really focus on the motions involved. Then have them pick up their pencils and do tracing worksheets.^{[5]
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- Keep an eye out to make sure they’re tracing in the correct order—for instance, starting “s” from the top rather than the bottom.
- There are many letter tracing worksheets available on the internet. Print out some of these worksheets for them to use, or make your own.

5

Practice writing letters on guide paper.

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The guide lines help introduce consistency in letter size and slanting. Guide paper has two horizontal, parallel, solid lines running from one side of the paper to the other, with a dotted line that is in the middle of the two lines. Consider using guide paper worksheets that have the selected letter (like “f”) on the left edge and then plenty of lined space for them to practice on.^{[6]
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- For now, focus primarily on letter formation, not size, spacing, or slant. At this point, you just want the students to be able to form the letter properly. When you see an error or issue, help the learner figure out what they missed.

6

Emphasize letter shapes before size and slanting.

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Keep using guide paper to help develop size and slant consistency. At first, students may have a hard time mastering elements like letter size and slanting. However, as their motor skills and “muscle memory” develop, you can put a greater priority on these elements.^{[7]
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- One way to teach uniform slanting is by drawing a vertical line through the center of each letter. When you finish drawing these lines, they should all be parallel to each other. If they’re still learning how to make the slant uniform, some lines will be parallel, while some may slant in opposite directions.
- If the learner is struggling, don’t lose your patience. Simply explain to them how the lines should look, and demonstrate it yourself. Then, let them practice again.

7

Work on spacing when writing words.

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Spacing is more important once students start putting letters together. You can introduce the concept of proper spacing when your learners are writing rows of letters on their guide paper. However, wait to make it a priority until they’re putting multiple letters and, eventually, words together.^{[8]
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- Students can use their pinky fingers or a popsicle stick to show how much space should be between each word. The spacing between letters is a bit more tricky to measure, so consistency should be the priority.
- Remember that practice makes perfect! The more they practice the better they will get. At the same time, though, continue to keep the lessons relatively short, especially with younger learners, so they don’t lose focus.

8

Introduce ideal seating position incrementally.

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Be flexible with young learners regarding their writing position. Until at least age 5, encourage students to explore pre-writing and writing activities while standing, sitting, or lying down. Once your students are capable of sitting still for 15-30 minutes, teach them to sit with their feet flat on the floor and their backs straight in their chairs.^{[9]
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- Sitting properly may seem like an old-fashioned idea, but it is actually very important for creating the ideal writing environment.^{[10]
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  Expert Source
  
  Courtney Copriviza
  Elementary School Teacher
  
  Expert Interview. 18 June 2021.}

9

Give daily lessons that run 15-30 minutes.

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Daily repetition is important, but avoid overwhelming your students. Writing may come easy for you, but remember that it’s hard work when you’re first introduced to it. While daily practice really helps to develop writing skills, long sessions will cause frustration and a lack of focus, especially among young learners. That’s why holding daily teaching/practice sessions that last about 15-30 minutes works well for writing instruction.^{[11]
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- You might, for example, hold a daily 30-minute session that’s primarily instruction for the first half and primarily practice time for the second half.
- If you notice one of your learners becoming frustrated, have them take a break and do an alternate activity for a few minutes.

10

Encourage hands-on play to improve motor skills.

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Get young learners used to manipulating items with their hands. Well before preschoolers are ready to write with pencil and paper, they can build an essential skill for handwriting—grabbing, holding, and manipulating objects. Encourage fun activities like playing in sand and mud, using playground equipment, and building with blocks, and eventually more writing-similar things like finger-painting and drawing with chalk.^{[12]
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- Drawing on a vertical chalkboard/whiteboard or painting on an upright easel helps develop the wrist control needed to manipulate a pencil on paper.
- Even once they are ready to work on handwriting—typically around age 5—kids continue to benefit from hands-on playtime!

11

Provide sensory feedback while you teach.

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Engaging multiple senses aids both comprehension and confidence. Part of this sensory feedback happens through your students’ activities—things like feeling the chalk in their hands rubbing along the chalkboard. But you also provide sensory feedback by creating fun sound effects while drawing lines or shapes, creating mnemonic devices (like a “wiggly worm” for letter “w”), and offering lots of positive encouragement and praise.^{[13]
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- The types of sensory feedback you offer will vary based on the age and skill level of your learners, but always be ready to provide lots of positive verbal feedback in any case.
- Praising your student with a “good job” or encouraging them with a “you got this” can go a long way!

12

Encourage students to solve their mistakes.

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Catch poor habits or errors early, then help problem-solve them. Look over your students’ work often to catch any mistakes they are making. If mistakes aren’t dealt with early on, they’ll become ingrained habits that are harder to change. However, instead of just telling a learner that something is wrong, help them to identify the issue and address it themselves:^{[14]
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- You might say something like: “Hmm, your tunnel shapes look a little different over on this side of the paper. What would you say is happening to them?”
- If they correctly answer that the shapes are getting smaller and smaller, you might try something like: “You know, I noticed that the first tunnels you drew are about the same size as your fingertip. Can you think of a way to use your fingertip to help draw your tunnels all the same size?”

13

Remind students to write whenever they can.

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Writing notes and stories and lists helps maintain their skills. In a world of touchscreens, keypads, and voice controls, young people in particular can go surprisingly long stretches without writing! Encourage students to “go retro” at least a few times per day and do some pencil-to-paper writing. Daily writing helps them to develop and maintain their muscle memory.^{[15]
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- If you’re a classroom teacher, for example, you might have your students keep a notebook journal and set aside time each day for them to write entries.

Expert Q&A

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Question

How can you help children to improve their handwriting?

Courtney Copriviza
Elementary School Teacher
Courtney Copriviza is an Elementary School Teacher based in Maui, HI. Courtney specializes in elementary education, classroom management, and social and emotional development. She holds a BA in Communication with a minor in Urban Education and an MA in Teaching from Santa Clara University. Courtney has also taught high school in Madrid, Spain. She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi International Honors Society in Education.

Courtney Copriviza

Elementary School Teacher

Expert Answer

See to it that children hold the pencil correctly and sit in a proper position while writing. They should not rush through their writing.

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Question

What is the correct way to sit while writing?

Courtney Copriviza
Elementary School Teacher
Courtney Copriviza is an Elementary School Teacher based in Maui, HI. Courtney specializes in elementary education, classroom management, and social and emotional development. She holds a BA in Communication with a minor in Urban Education and an MA in Teaching from Santa Clara University. Courtney has also taught high school in Madrid, Spain. She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi International Honors Society in Education.

Courtney Copriviza

Elementary School Teacher

Expert Answer

Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Sit erect and write on a desk.

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I am trying to teach my granddaughter who lives in another state. I sent ruled paper and pencils and tracing paper. What else should I be doing?

Community Answer

I would try Skype as well, or some other live-view device, because your granddaughter should have someone to model herself after.

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Tips

If you’re teaching cursive handwriting, introduce it once your students are confident with print writing. Here are some cursive-specific tips:
- Introduce lowercase letters first. In general, learners find lowercase letters easier to write than uppercase.^{[16]
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- Group the letters together based on how they’re formed. For lowercase: a, d, g, q, c; i, u, w, t; e, l, h, k, b, f, j; n, m, v, x; p, r, s, o, y, z. For uppercase: A, C, O, U; V, W, X, Y, Z; P, R, B, H, K; N, M, J, F, T; I, D, L, G, S; E, Q.^{[17]
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- Teach letter connections once students get a handle on individual letters. Start with simpler connections, like two lowercase “l”s. Save unusual connections, like those for b, o, v, and w, for last.^{[18]
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  Reading Rockets
  Online resource supported by PBS providing research-based strategies for assisting children to become confident readers
  
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