The K5 - elementary education for parents

Fun ways to practice letters and writing:

Summer is a great time to have a little fun with writing. No grades or deadlines.

Play with letters:

Write letters or words in the sand. If you can’t get to the beach, fill a plastic box or cookie sheet with sand, then use your finger or stick to form the letters. Remind your child that all printed letters start at the “top” of the letter.

Get a small chalkboard (NOT a dry erase board) and try this technique from Handwriting Without Tears by Jan Olsen. It’s called the Wet-Dry-Try for capital letters.

This is what you will need:

• A small chalkboard (you can also paint a small board with chalkboard paint)
• Small broken pieces of chalk
• Little pieces of sponge or wadded paper towel
• Wet one piece of sponge and wring it out well

First, using correct letter formation, you write a capital letter on the chalkboard (the easiest letters to start with are L, E, F )

Then your child traces your letter with the wet (damp) sponge

Next your child trace your letter with their finger

Now they use a dry piece of sponge to trace the letter

Finally your child writes the letter using a piece of chalk.

Write letters using your finger on each other’s hands or backs. See if you can guess the letter correctly. You can also do this with shapes and numbers.

Paint letters or words on concrete using water and a paintbrush.

These techniques are all good sensorial ways to learn to form letters.

Word play and creative writting:

Make up written scavenger hunts: “Go to the kitchen and find the next note”. The final note could lead you to a cookie or the sprinkler for some outside fun.

Write stories together. Write the sentence “once upon a time there was a ….” Have your child write in the word. You can write the next lead sentence, or if your child is ready- they can write their own.

Write out directions to an obstacle course

1. Run around the tree
2. Jump over the hose
3. Hula hoop
4. Spin 5 times
5. Kick the ball
6. Hop back to the start

Write an adventure story. Have your child choose a character from magazine pictures. Write a few sentences about this character: it’s name, where the character lives, etc. Next, write a sentence about what happens to this character when he or she goes to the grocery store. That’s chapter one. Any time you need a new idea for an adventure pick out a picture of a new place from a magazine and have the character go there for the next chapter. Over the summer, you can build an entire book.

Summer is also a great time to write letters. Besides members of your child’s family who will be thrilled to get a letter, your kid can also write to people who are of interest: President Obama (or his kids), a favorite baseball player, television star, or anyone else your child is fascinated by. Begin the letter with a picture (drawn or taken by a digital camera) Then the letter can be composed in a few simple lines underneath.

Summer is a wonderful time to discover that writing is fun, personal and appreciated.

Leah is an pediatric O.T. in San Diego, she works in both schools and clinics, typically with children ages 3-11.