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How to Teach Cursive Writing

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As homeschool moms, we teach our children so many things to give them the best education possible. Across the board, teaching cursive penmanship is a dying art. Many schools no longer teach cursive. However, it is a valuable skill that helps to build your brain and develop cognitive abilities. Cursive is also helpful for children with dyslexia and is actually easier to produce than manuscript printing. You may be wondering where to begin, though. Here is a complete guide on how to teach your child cursive writing.

Must-do Pre-Writing Activities

Like everything, teaching your child to write requires laying a solid foundation. This is where pre-writing exercises and activities come in. These help strengthen hands, increase pen control, and teach important strokes. Here are some ideas for pre-writing cursive activities:

  • Pen Control Workbook
  • Practice strokes and shapes in sand with your finger or a stick
  • Draw in chalk on the driveway, sidewalk, or chalkboard.
  • Write letters or words in cursive on large sheets of paper, have the child “trace” the letters in dots using a bingo marker
  • Use Wiki Stiks or yarn to create loops, curves, and angled lines

How to Teach Cursive Strokes

Once you have completed enough pre-cursive activities that your child feels confident, it is time to start practicing strokes. Cursive writing is a series of strokes. These make up the basic form of the letters. Practicing strokes, helps children master letter formation before learning any of the letters. It also makes it easier to write fluidly once letter formation begins. The best resource I have found to demonstrate cursive strokes is this video. You can also use a tracing board that has strokes, and shapes on it for practice.

How to Teach Individual Cursive Letters and in What Order

Writing is made up of letters, so it is important to learn and master the letters one by one. Unlike manuscript printing, which is usually taught in alphabetical order, cursive letters are taught in groups. Each group has similar strokes. Generally, the groups progress from easier to more challenging strokes. Teaching the individual letters in this order will make learning cursive easier and more enjoyable.

Here are some additional resources for teaching individual letters:

Practicing Simple Words in Cursive Penmanship

Now, your child is ready to start writing simple words. It is best to start with short words and gradually try longer ones. Remember to look back at the letter order. Choose words with simpler letters when children are first learning to combine letters into words. Use pre-made worksheets with common words or make your own. A cursive template is really useful for this, to get the examples perfect. However, do not expect perfection from your child. Mastering handwriting takes abundant practice and is something that improves with age. Young children, especially, are still building muscle control and hand/eye coordination.

Once your child has mastered short, simple words, it’s time to move on to sentences. Here are some excellent resources to get your child using his new cursive skills in various subjects.

Complete Cursive Writing Curriculum Choices

If you are looking for a ready-made curriculum to teach cursive writing to your child, here are some recommendations. A complete curriculum will offer the ease of having it done already. You should feel free to incorporate resources and items listed above to meet your child’s individual needs and increase interest.

Writing Prompts for Kids

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Writing is an essential skill, and it requires practice. But, how do you get children to write? If you have told a child to “write a story.” more often than not you have been met with resistance. What you need are writing prompts. Take the struggle out of learning to write by using kindergarten writing prompts with your child.

What are Writing Prompts?

Writing prompts are story starters, scenarios, and ideas that inspire writing. These can be short sentences, partial sentences, “what if” statements, or or direct prompts. Each is used to “prompt” the student to write about a certain topic. Some examples include:

  • Tell me about the most exciting day last summer.
  • What if you could fly, how would your life change?
  • I woke up and then suddenly…
  • I once had the biggest surprise ever. (finish the story)

What are the Benefits of Using Writing Prompts?

Story prompts spark imagination and gets their writing juices flowing. They eliminate the anxiety of deciding what to write about. Students can just dive in and start writing. Story prompts are easy to use because they inspire or elicit ideas that the student already has. They also increase critical and creative thinking. Even professional writers use story prompts to prevent writer’s block.

How do I Write a Prompt?

Writing prompts can be fun and easy. You will need to do some creative thinking yourself. First, brainstorm ideas for stories. Think about everyday life experiences that your students could describe. Come up with some fantastical and creative ideas that would make wonderful fairy tails or science fiction type stories. Then consider story starters. Try to have a variety of prompts. Mixing up the style and type of prompt helps to develop stronger writing skills. This also keeps kids interested because the writing prompts are not predictable. Some children may gravitate to one type of prompt or excel in a certain type of writing. Mixing them up allows them to practice all types of writing, but also shine when their preferred style prompt is offered. Create a list of the prompts and keep it somewhere safe.

When to Use Writing Prompts

Writing prompts can be used in a variety of situations. First, you could use them as a daily journal starter. Set aside a certain amount of time each day, for example 20 minutes, for journal writing. Give your child a new prompt each day to complete in his or her journal. These can be rotated with free writing days where students can write about anything they wish.

Writing prompts can also be used in spelling and language arts lessons. The prompts could contain spelling words or be topics that could easily include certain spelling words. You can set a number of how many spelling words to include, or list the words you want worked into the story. The same thing can be done for language arts lessons on grammar. These are more advanced skills, but after some practice with story prompts will be a fun way to practice spelling and grammar. For younger students, especially kindergarten, focus more on idea formation and story telling than spelling and grammar.

Where Can I find Free Kindergarten Writing Prompts?

You could write your own prompts, but sometimes you just don’t have time. Plus, if you are not accustomed to writing prompts, this could be a difficult exercise for you. There are many books available with story prompts already created, however these cost money. You will also have to wait for them to arrive. Here’s a treasury of kindergarten story prompts that are available for instant download:

Tips and Tricks for Teaching Kindergarten Students to Write

  • Make it a habit. Do writing at the same time each day or week.
  • Encourage inventive spelling. Kindergarteners have big ideas but limited spelling skills, encourage them to spell the best they can and focus on the content more.
  • Work on grammar gradually. Like spelling, grammar is a budding skill. Ignore grammatical mistakes in the beginning and then gradually introduce one concept at a time, gently. Keep it simple! Focus on creative thought, not grammatical correctness.
  • Encourage the child to draw a picture to go with the story.
  • Be patient, writing is a skill that takes time to develop.
  • Write together and share your stories.
  • Allow younger or reluctant students to narrate their writing prompts until they feel comfortable with the process. Take it one step at a time.
  • Use story prompts as part of handwriting practice.
  • Need a place with a treasure trove of writing prompts? Try our Interactive Writing Prompts for Kindergarten!