STABILO.CO.UK

PAINT &
DRAW

SCHOOL &
UNIVERSITY

STYLE &
FASHION

OFFICE
& CO

STABILO EASYoriginal: AS SEEN ON TV – HANDY HINTS

HANDWRITING HINTS

Did you Know?

Up to 50% of your school day is spent writing! This means that if you find writing difficult or if what you write is messy, you might be at a disadvantage. But don’t worry - these tips can help you improve!

Little and Often

Just like learning to play a piano or ride a bike, handwriting takes practice. The advice from the National Handwriting Association is:

Practise often, but for small amounts of time

Start with simple tasks like birthday cards and signing artwork

Train your fingers to be more flexible with other activities such as cutting and tearing paper, colouring large

surfaces with finger paints, stringing beads, kneading or modelling clay

Remember...

The key things to learn are:

To be as neat as you can

To write as quickly as possible but still making sure what you write is legible

To take care with size and spacing of letters

Pen Perfection

The type of pen or pencil that you use when writing can have a real impact on your work

Always make sure the pen you use is comfortable to hold

Hold your pen using the Dynamic Tripod Grip holding the pen with the thumb, index finger and middle finger.

This will help you control the movement of the pen by applying the correct amount of force, speed and accuracy

Try not to hold your pen too tightly as this can lead to cramp

See if you can find a pen that’s designed according to which hand you use to write with

Why neat handwriting is important

Children need to understand from an early stage that much of their writing will be read by other people and therefore needs to be accurate, legible and set out in an appropriate way.

Why not try the following exercises with your child to see if it helps motivate them to take pride in their writing:

In your messiest (!) writing write “Why is neat handwriting important?” and ask your child to try and read it. Ask them what would happen if you always wrote like this - how would it affect their understanding?

Talk with your child about the occasions it is important for others to be able to read what you write:

Thank you letters, homework, birthday cards, exams etc

Copy a cartoon strip from your child’s favourite comic - but don’t fill in the speech bubbles! Ask your

child to try and fill in the writing, taking care to keep inside the bubble, and space the words nicely so that the joke can be read.

Ask your child to try the cartoon exercise again, but this time inventing their own comic strip! Again, they should fill in the speech bubbles as carefully as possible so others can understand the story.

The STABILO EASYoriginal is a comfortable rollerball pen that comes in RIGHT and LEFT handed versions!