Handwriting Skills

STABILO EASY Start handwriting top tips

A few easy adjustments can make a big difference. Read our top tips to help your child improve their handwriting.

A guide to writing with a fountain pen

Moving on to writing with a fountain pen can be tricky if you’re used to a rollerball or pencil. Find out how to perfect your fountain pen writing skills.

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STABILO EASYstart Handwriting Top Tips

Is your child’s handwriting all over the place?

Is your child’s handwriting all over the place? If they’re struggling to keep it neat they probably just need a bit more practice to familiarise themselves with the shapes of letters and the flow of words. We’ve got some top tips to help your child improve their handwriting, simply by making a few easy adjustments:

First up, your pen or pencil should be held in the “tripod” grip between the thumb and the first two fingers – this is the same for both left and right handers. Our EASY range has a moulded ergonomic grip to help your child get the hang of it.

Once you’re comfortable, start to make shapes on the paper – we’re using some activity sheets from our Early Writer’s Pack to mimic letter formation. By practicing these shapes, writing letters will come much easier.

It’s important to keep the sizing of handwriting consistent so that it isn’t all up and down on the page. A helpful way to learn this is to highlight alternating lines on your paper and ask your child to keep the main body of each letter within the highlighted section, and the tails of letters in the non-highlighted section. Although this is large lettering, once they get the hang of it they’ll be able to scale it down to normal size.

Next is maintaining consistent spacing between words so they don’t all jumble together. A fun and easy way to do this is to use your index finger in between words. Again, it’s a case of practising until the spacing comes naturally.

Practice makes perfect.

Our STABILO EASYstart range is specifically designed to support children at each stage of the learning to write process.

A guide to writing with a fountain pen

Writing with a fountain pen can be tricky if you’re used to a pencil or ballpoint pen.

Writing with a fountain pen can be tricky if you’re used to a pencil or ballpoint pen. The flow of ink from the fountain pen’s nib means you don’t need to apply as much pressure, but you’ll need to practice to get the angle of the nib right for a smooth glide.

Practicing on these handwriting sheets from the National Handwriting Association is a fantastic way to perfect your fountain pen writing skills, no matter how experienced you are at writing.

Copy out the patterns on the worksheet. This page replicates the movements needed for many letters in the alphabet. Go at your own speed, making sure you complete the movement properly with the nib gliding smoothly.

These diagonal patterns mean you’ll need to angle the pen to keep the nib in the right place. Take care to find the right angle so the nib doesn’t scratch.

The next pattern traces the movement for letters that have a curve. Try to keep the pattern as even as you can so your handwriting will be consistent.

You’ll be a handwriting expert in no time! Why not express your personality with our STABILO fountain pens.