Today's Target: Letter Formation

Once children are consistently Mark Making it is time to encourage the correct letter formations. There are many resources to help this but ultimately it is practice that makes perfect - the key is to keep the practicing fun.

Our four year old has been product testing the My First Wipe Clean a-z letters over the half term holiday and has thoroughly enjoyed himself (and yes he is appearing to be left handed).

How to hold a pencil?

We have been trying to encourage our five year old to hold his pencil properly with the correct triangular grip but he prefers to hold it with his middle finger and thumb rather than his index finger.

So what have we tried?

In the Reception class they were told to use "tweeting" fingers to hold their pencil - so "tweet" like a bird with the index and thumb and then pick up the pencil - the novelty wore off! He recently came home with a paper aeroplane and worked out that it was the same fingers he needed to hold the pencil with so that might be another good exercise for children needing to encourage their index finger and thumb to work together.

We have tried triangular pencils but because his grip is only slightly off this doesn't help, ditto the triangular grip. The grippy pencil grip looked promising to start with - it did make him hold the pencil correctly but he found it awkward to position by himself each time he needed to pick up the pencil. Lastly, we tried the tri-go grip this has three clear spaces for the fingers and he could position is fingers independently and most importantly it did improve his grip.

What works best now? Telling him if I see him holding his pen incorrectly I will tell Miss B he needs to have more handwriting practice!

How have you encouraged your children to correct their grip?

Writing Thank You Letters

Hopefully everyone will have had a lovely Christmas and everyone will have received lots of presents. Now we are in the new year in many families thoughts turn to writing thank you letters. I can remember sitting as a child handwriting my missives to the friends and family who had given us presents and now it is me trying to persuade my reluctant writers to carry on the tradition.

With the advent of computers into family life it is sometimes easier to get our eldest to type his messages as until recently writing was not something that he enjoyed. Typing a letter onto a computer is less personal if it is just the name and present details that are changed and it doesn't show the child's developing handwriting (although we did leave in the creative spellings!) but it does get the job done.

Having done our letters and felt proud that they are all in envelopes ready to post I then stumbled across this link on Filth Wizardry about a website where you can generate a font of your child's handwriting. You download a printable template for your child to write each letter of the alphabet (plus the common punctuation marks), scan it in and upload the image and wait for your font which you can then use in all of your documents. As I said - we haven't tried it yet but there are some great examples on the Filth Wizardry post so you can see how it works. I think we will try this for the birthday thank you letters later in the year - so watch this space!

Personal Customer Service

One of the things I like about owning a small business is that when you get a request from a customer - for example "If there is any chance of any of the order being yellow, great. It is my little boy's favourite colour! Any incentive to write is good!" as the note accompanying an order for triangular pencil grips we can usually fulfil our customers wishes.

Triangular Pencils

Littlesheep Learning has just taken delivery of some new slim triangular pencils alongside our popular jumbo triangular pencils. We started stocking the jumbo triangular pencils as a replacement for the Berol Handhugger Pencils which unfortunately have been discontinued by the manufacturer and are pleased that they have been as popular among our customers.

Several customers with older children who still require a triangular pencil commented on the thickness of the jumbo triangular pencils which led us to look at other options and we are now pleased to stock the slim triangular pencils. These slim triangular pencils are preferred by the Handwriting Interest Group and are ideal for writing and drawing activities - they have a standard thickness break-resistant HB lead.

Writing Difficulties

Many children with writing difficulties have dyslexia and / or dyspraxia (developmental coordination difficulties) − these conditions often occur together and affect all aspects of a child's life, both in school and outside. It is vital therefore, that schools and early years settings are able to identify difficulties in this important area and put in place appropriate interventions where necessary.

Some things to look out for are children who difficulties with:

• throwing and catching
• dance/music and movement
• manipulating small objects (building bricks, jigsaws)
• getting dressed/undressed
• using cutlery / scissors
• handwriting
• organising themselves and their work
• sequencing
• laterality (knowing left from right)
• following multiple instructions

Children with motor coordination difficulties may also have poor posture and limited body awareness, moving awkwardly and seeming clumsy; this can be especially noticeable after a growth spurt. They may also tire more easily than other children.
For children who find writing difficult the following things should be thought about:

• the sitting position: ideally both feet on the floor with the table and chair at an appropriate height
• the possibility of using a sloping writing surface
• anchoring the paper / book to the table to avoid slipping
• providing a 'cushion' to write on can be a help, for example, an old magazine, used paper stapled together
• the writing implement − try triangular pencils or different pencil grips, for example standard triangular pencil grips, Tri-go grips or Grippy grips
• avoid the use of a hard-tipped pencil or pen
• providing opportunities for practising handwriting patterns and letter formation in alternative mediums for example sand, cornflour gloop or playdough
• providing lines to keep writing straight
• limiting the amount of writing required − think of other ways information can be recorded including making use of computers

The formation of letters is a very specific area of skill development and providing opportunities for practising, without making it a chore is important. Precision teaching is a good example of distributed practice and may include exercises such as a one-minute daily exercise to see how many b and d words the child can successfully write. This type of exercise provides the child with instant feedback and always focuses on success. Progress can be easily monitored by keeping a daily count or by using a weekly probe sheet.
Practising holoalphabet sentences, for example 'the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog' or 'the five boxing wizards jumped quickly' are useful, as these contain the 26 letters of the alphabet and make it easy to monitor progress on letter formations.

Other ways of encorporating writing are drawing / painting patterns (a wet paintbrush on dry concrete slabs) and encouraging incidental writing for example writing names in birthday cards, writing shopping lists, keeping a diary, writing out recipes. It is important that these activities are fun, and always praising the child for effort.

Letters to Father Christmas

Most children will be wanting to tell Father Christmas what they would like for Christmas and historically children will be writing letters to him and putting them up the chimney / posting them to the North Pole. The prospect of writing this important letter is a challenge for toddlers and children with fine motor difficulties so here are some ideas to make it easier for them and you.

1. Write the letter for your child and get them to decorate it by sprinkling glitter, sticking on Christmassy stickers and doodling borders, they could also add their own name.


2. Write the letter for your child to copy / trace


3. Let your child type their letter (I believe you can even email Santa these days!)


4. Get your child to 'cut and stick' their letter, help them select the things from Christmas catalogues and stick them to create a picture list.

Harry Potter Magical Activities

With the release of both the Harry Potter book and film in the last few weeks children everywhere have gone Harry Potter crazy. As it’s the school holidays, children may be reluctant to practice ‘school’ skills so here are some magical activity ideas that help your children practice the important skills of writing, spelling, and reading without realising it.

Write out your Potions Spells
Have you been paying attention in potions - does making up fancy potions appeal to you? Roll paper into scrolls and write out spells using ink pens, some children may like use quills / fountain pens to practice calligraphy, for others just starting to write use a beginners ink pen.

Mix up Potions
Make your very own potion cocktails by mixing up your favourite fruit juices - our favourite is orange and pineapple. You can use measuring cups to practice measuring and counting skills.

Or practice colour mixing by making potions using water coloured with food colourings.

Magical Secret Writing
Put some lemon juice into a cup and write a secret message by painting with the juice onto paper. When the writing is dry it will vanish until it is gently warmed over a radiator, by a lamp or with a hair drier.

Or write your secret message with a white wax crayon / candle. To discover the message paint over with water based ink and the message will appear.

Secret Codes
You don't need to study ancient runes like Hermione to be able to write in codes, make up your own secret codes.

The easiest secret codes are replacing letters with numbers so a=1, b=2, c=3 etc or moving the whole alphabet on a letter so that a=b, b=c, c=d etc or you could reverse the alphabet so a=z, b=y, c=x etc.

Or you could make up your own 'rune' symbols for each letter.

Magical Creatures
Invent your own magical creatures; take a strip of paper and fold it into three segments. Draw a head on the first segment and fold it over so that it is hidden, swap it with a friend and then draw a body, swap again and add legs. Can you think of some names for your new creatures.

Magical Model Making
Use old cardboard boxes to make a model of Hogwarts Castle or the Hogwarts Express.

Being a Hogwart's Student
Lastly, don't forget to dress up as a witch or wizard.

Go for a walk and find a wand that 'chooses' you, will you find a stick from an oak tree, a willow tree or something else. Have fun identifying the trees on your walk. Practice your 'swish and flick' techniques for good gross motor movement.

Write from the Start

We are pleased to announce that we are now stocking the Write from the Start handwriting programme. This writing programme is based on holistic principles and offers a different approach to learning to write, by developing the muscles of the hand - so that children gain the necessary control to produce letter forms - alongside the perceptual skills required to orientate and organize letter and words.

The programme is effective for mainstream children aged 4-6 years, children with developmental co-ordination disorders and older children with mild to moderate learning difficulties. It contains over 400 carefuly graded exercises and activities develop hand-eye co-ordination, form constancy, spatial organization, figure-ground discrimination, orientation and laterality. The package consists of two workbooks and a handbook.

Encouraging Writing

One thing I am often asked is how to practice writing with a child who isn't very keen? The answer is to keep it FUN!

So here are some of my favourite ways to get children practicing writing / drawing skills without using a pencil and paper!

• use a chalk board
• use a whiteboard
• paint with water onto a wall / path
• chalk onto a wall / path
• finger painting
• use an Aquadraw
• use a Magna Doodle
• writing in 'gloop' (cornflour and water)
• writing in playdough
• writing in sand / mud using fingers or a stick

Let me know any other fun ways you persuade your children to write!

Handwriting Aids

This is the second part of a series of posts looking at the question of how to help children with hand writing. The first post looked at letter formation and this one will highlight some of the equipment than can assist the development of the correct triangular hold of the writing implement.

One of the simplest aids are triangular pens and pencils, for example, the Handhugger Pencil. These triangular HB pencils are popular in schools and nurseries and have a strong lead for younger writers. They are ideal for all early writing and drawing activities because the chunky triangular shape enables children to hold the pencil easily. Handhugger pencil's are also great for those with fine motor difficulties and helping children to use the correct grip.

The Handhugger range includes pencils, pens (black) and (blue), colouring pencils and colouring pens so are ideal for all preschool and primary children to develop their writing and drawing skills.

The next group of writing aids are pencil grips. At Littlesheep Learning we sell three types of pencil grip; the Triangular pencil grip, the Tri-Go pencil grip and the Grippy pencil grip. These grips fit on to standard pencils or ballpoint pens and makes them easier to hold in the correct triangular grip. Ideal for children with fine motor or handwriting difficulties.

Different people find different aids best for them. Some people prefer a triangular pencil and other prefer on of the pencil grips, to help you select the type of grip most suited to you or your child at Littlesheep Learning we sell a special value Triangular Writing Set. The Triangular Writing Set includes: 1 Triangular Pencil Grip, 1 Grippy Pencil Grip, 1 Tri-Go Pencil Grip and 1 Handhugger Pencil.

Letter Formations

People are often asking me about how to help their children with their handwriting so I thought I would write a series of posts on that topic.

Firstly I thought we should look at the correct letter formations. Different settings use slightly different standard formation so if your child is attending nursery or school it is worth checking with their teacher or key worker how they are teaching the letter formations.

A sample alphabet with formation arrows is shown here:

This is a cursive formation (in preparation for 'joined up' writing) therefore there are flicks on the letters, these may be omitted by younger children (in particular the ones on the o, the v and the w). Other letters that may often formed differently are f, k, t and y.

For letter formation teaching aids check out the Rol 'n' Write alphabet and sandpaper letters at Littlesheep Learning.

Sandpaper Letters and Dice!

I've added two new products today...

One big...
Sandpaper Letters
These sandpaper letters are great for sensory learning... I will be stocking capital letters and numbers soon so you can add to the collection if this method works for your child.

And one small...
Dice
I've started selling dice as requested by a customer (see suggest something and I'll probably stock it!), she was looking for a dice to play a game with her daughter where they threw a dice and then counted the same number of conkers - a great fun activity for learning counting / number to quantity skills.

Rol 'n' Write

We are now stocking the Rol 'n' Write alphabet and numbers. I first came across these when working with a child with autism who had additional gross and fine motor difficulties, he found learning letter formations extremely difficult and we used these as part of a multisensory programme to help reinforce the skills needed for writing in a fun way.

These plastic 'cards' have a path which a ball bearing follows to demonstrate the correct formation. Choose any letter or number, place the ball on the starting point – as indicated by the arrow – and watch it roll along the groove, tracking the correct formation. The ball even retraces its own path for letters such as ‘d’ or ‘p’.