Handwriting Practice 5 - 6 Years
Age 4
Able to draw basic lines and shapes
Age 5
Can print letters in the upper and lowercase style
Age 6
Forms letters with accuracy but struggles with reversals
Age 7
Forming letters accurately. Inconsistency with size and shape
What a teacher is expecting to seeโ
These images are from “average” students, not the “best in class.” Use this as a guide of what standards are expected. Your child’s teacher will be looking for the formation of capital letters and lower case letters. They should be starting in the correct direction and finishing in the right place.The UK government advises that only Year 2 and above students should learn to join letters.ย
What to expect at this age in more detail
At the age of 5, your childโs ability to write will still be developing. They should have a tripod writing grip. Sometimes they think faster than their skills can keep up with. That’s why errors occur. Letter reversals are common. These can be the letters R, P, B and the number three. This isn’t something to worry about now. Your child will be focusing on the shape and direction of a letter. They won’t focus on the size of the letter or writing on the line.ย
At the age of six, your child will be forming letters of the alphabet with some accuracy. They may still struggle with how the letters are oriented. Letter and word legibility is still emerging. Writing on special paper will help with letter sizing. Theyโll be able to understand how to write from the left to the right direction. But writing from the top to the bottom of the page is still developing. By now, they should be able to communicate their ideas through writing.
What support your child might get for handwriting at school?
In school, your child is likely to be getting 15 minutes of handwriting practice a day or a total of 1 hour 30 minutes a week.ย
Why handwriting practice mattersโ
The gap in writing ability between a five-year-old and a six-year-old is large in Year 1. This is due to developmental reasons. Cognitively, a child is still learning the alphabet. It will take them longer to write at age 5 than at age 6. They are also learning to use their hands. They need to learn how to use them to control the pencil movements needed for writing. Many enjoy โdoingโ handwriting and are keen to keep practising it. This is something we should be encouraging.ย
What we want to do is to help them before any โbadโ handwriting habits appear.
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Playful Practice: 3 Fun Handwriting Activities for You to Try at Home
Between the ages of 5 to 6 years, handwriting is about practice, practice, practice. Yet, what it shouldn’t be is boring, time consuming or repetitive.
Here are three ideas that you can try at home. All will avoid tablet apps and wipe boards. A child learns best by feeling how to write. These surfaces are too fast to have control when writing. Use pencil and paper.ย
Build a zoo or farm
Take a pack of alphabet cards and ask your child to pick two cards. They then choose which letter to write. To make it more interesting, they can then say an animal starting with this letter. This animal gets added to their made-up zoo or farm.ย This activity focuses on letter formation skills. There is no need to write the animal’s name.
Taller or shorter word questions
Ask a child to think of an everyday item by answering a question related to size. For instance, think of something that’s taller than a wooden spoon but shorter than a door. They are to write their answer as a word.ย
Think of a word starting with a specific letter
Help your child write lists of words. But, give them topics to choose from. Topics can be ocean animals, something in the sky, a body part or a fruit.ย
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Please tick which age group is most relevant.ย
