Is Handwriting Important in the Digital Age?
Is Handwriting Important in the Digital Age?
Handwriting is more important than one might think. There are many skills that are involved in handwriting such as hand-eye coordination, muscle memory, posture and pencil grip. Studies show that handwriting skills are directly linked to basic reading and spelling achievement in primary school. It’s a HUGE part of the way our kids learn (taking notes, homework, copying from the board) and are tested in schools.
The Team at Labels4School have created FREE handwriting practice sheets for you to download for free! Click here to take you to Kids Activities to download them. You can even reprint them and practice over and over. Perfect for kids in primary school.
The benefits of good handwriting skills are:
- Improve ability to express themselves in written form
- Increases activity in the brain
- Improved reading and spelling skills
- Development of fine motor skills
- Able to remember information faster
- Higher test scores
- Easily learn letters and shapes
Correct Pencil Grip
The correct grip is thumb and index finger pinching the pencil, resting the pencil on your middle finger known as the tripod grip. This is the better grip as it allows the most movement of the fingers and the least muscle work, which results in better control over the writing tool. Practice makes perfect when developing fine motor skills! Children develop this grasp anywhere between 4 ½ -7 years old- it takes time so don’t force anything.
Tips for Parents
Here are some ideas for handwriting activities.
- Scribble time – lots and lots of scribble time
- Try thick crayons and paintbrushes and pencils to start with
- Scribbling/writing vertically (on an easel)
- Colour in the lines – trace the outline with glitter glue
- Tracing over shapes/letters in the sand
- Develop their core muscles (Good posture is important in handwriting)
- Develop hand-eye coordination (Solve mazes with your finger)
- Draw shapes, do dot-to-dots, draw stick figure men
- Finger painting
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