Handwriting is a tricky skill to master; it requires fine motor skills, focus and good hand-eye coordination.
Children are often interested in patternmaking and this is a wonderful way to begin to practice handwriting.
When you first use the A4 handwriting whiteboard it is a good idea to talk to your child about ‘ascenders’ and ‘descenders’ and maybe even sort these letters on the handwriting lines as shown in this image.
An ascender is the upwards part of the letter that goes beyond the top dotted line on the handwriting board. Ascenders include all capital letters and the lower-case letters – b, d, f, h, i, j, k, l, t. A descender is the opposite of an ascender. This has a downwards part of a letter that goes below the baseline. Descenders – f, g, j, p, q, y.
Once they have mastered these ideas, you can encourage them to practise letter joins – one line joining one letter repeatedly.
