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Roll and write letter formation


Letter Formation Activities and Tools That Work

If there is one thing for sure, teaching letter formation to kids can be tricky. There’s a lot of reasons why writing letters is tricky for kids. We’ll cover all of the reasons why the letter formation aspect of handwriting can be so difficult below. Be sure to check out all of the letter formation activities here. You’ll find pediatric occupational therapy activities to use in OT interventions, as well as activities to teach letters that use a hands-on and sensory approach to learning letters. You’ll also find resources on letter order, and information on teaching letters based on child development.

Letter Formation

Handwriting, as we know, is an incredibly complex process. There is a lot that goes into handwriting, and letter formation is just one piece of the puzzle.

  1. Letter formation refers to several aspects of writing a letter of the alphabet: placement of the pencil when writing a letter (starting at the correct spot, as in top or bottom of the writing space).
  2. Moving the pencil in the correct direction to make parts of the letter.
  3. Placing the parts of the letter in the appropriate spots (intersecting lines or joined pencil strokes)
  4. Utilizing visual discrimination skills in awareness of letter differences, including upper and lower case letters, and the lines needed for letter formation.

Why is letter formation important?

When letters are not formed correctly, handwriting suffers. You will see handwriting problems when letter formation isn’t a focus. Letter formation problems lead to poor handwriting that is sloppy and hard to read. Let’s break down common poor handwriting issues. We’ll go over how learning proper letter formation can impact legibility.

Writing Letters Incorrectly– A big piece of letter formation is learning correctly from the get-go. When a child learns an incorrect letter formation strategy, that can be hard to correct without practice. You might see kids pick up a pencil and trace letters, but they are segmentally forming the letters. They are marking lines in the incorrect order, pushing the pencil when they should be pulling the pencil, or starting at the bottom rather than the top.

Kids that are handed letter formation worksheets without prompts, cues, models, and correct formation practice, will many times, trace or copy letters using segmented lines that start at incorrect places, and that can be a hard habit to break.

Forming Letters from Bottom to Top– There’s not a letter in the alphabet that starts at the baseline and ends on the top line. When we write, we start at the top and move the pencil to the base line, or below the baseline.

When kids start the letters at the bottom, they will run into legibility and efficiency issues. It’s harder to move the pencil on to the next letter with the bottom-to-top formation. And, when kids then need to keep up in writing tasks, (beginning as soon as first grade as they copy words and sentences from a model), they will lose the legibility piece.

Segmental Letter Formation– Letters are formed with a specific order. Capital A starts at the top line and slants down and to the left. Then, you jump back to the top starting point and slant down and to the right. Then, you jump to the middle line and go across toward the right. Sometimes, children start forming letters segmentally, so that they draw part of the letter, like the first slant of the A and then mark the middle line before marking the second slant.

There is a reason for the specific order of the lines when forming letters. Kids that are handed handwriting worksheets without specific directions for proper letter formation will create their own motor plan for making letters that might not be correct. This can be hard to “break” without practice. Segmental letter formation can lead to sloppy handwriting further down the road and trouble with handwriting efficiency.

Trouble with Diagonal Lines – Many times, you see young students write letters with diagonal lines that are not quite diagonal. Letters like A, K, M, N, R, V, W, X, Y, Z and lowercase letters k, v, w, x, y, z all have diagonal lines. That slanted line is actually one of the later pre-writing strokes to form. So, when you see preschool, pre-K, and kindergarten writing letters, it’s simply too soon developmentally. Sure, some kids will be fine and learn to write letters at this age, but many others will struggle down the road with handwriting, reading, and learning. Here is some important information about pre-writing lines. Notice the age that kids typically develop the ability to form the lines of the pre-writing forms. It’s much later than preschool, pre-K, and even kindergarten!

The problem is that with the fast-paced classroom curriculum, sometimes this early educational periods are the only time that children are truly taught proper letter writing. In most cases, they are simply “reviewing” letter formation in first grade. Kids then have established a poor letter formation without the opportunity to practice when their fine motor skills, hands, and visual motor skills are ready.

Letter formation and occupational therapy

Occupational therapists are often called into screen for or assess a student when they have letter formation issues, along with other aspects of handwriting: poor placement on the lines, an inefficient pencil grasp, visual perceptual skills problems reflected in learning or slow, awkward handwriting.

By working on letter formation, therapists can help kids with therapeutic practice and strategies in OT that address underlying issues like visual perceptual issues, visual motor concerns, fine motor needs, or gross motor, core stabilities issues.

Other common letter formation issues that occupational therapists address:

  • Forming the letter within the borders of the line or given writing space
  • Marking the pencil lines in the right direction (without reversal)
  • Speed of writing (student can’t keep up with age-appropriate writing demands
  • Poor legibility

How to work on letter formation

To work on letter formation, teaching the alphabet in a specific order is key! In fact, teaching kids to write in alphabetical order simply isn’t developmental. Here’s the thing: think about the letters of the alphabet. The specific pencil strokes go in so many different directions! You’ve got letters that start at the top followed by a letter that pulls the pencil in toward the hand, followed by letters that have diagonals and jump/hop moves, changes in direction. If you teach kids to write letters in alphabetical order, kids will use so many different movements.

Why NOT teach letters in an order that makes sense?

Occupational therapists focus on development. We focus on building skills in an order that makes sense according to a child’s typically developing progression. And when there are delays or non-typical development, we know what to work on next. We know where to focus efforts on accommodating for specific skills. We can then help kids achieve age-appropriate goals so that they can be more independent and accomplish tasks that are appropriate for their age.

Order to Teach Letters

Let’s get specific about the best order to teach writing letters. Notice I mentioned “writing letters”. Here’s the thing: letter recognition should be taught in a specific order. Letter sounds should be taught in a specific order. Awareness of upper case and lower case can be taught in a different order.

Some preschools teach a letter of the week approach and teach sounds and awareness in alphabetical order.

Many schools follow a writing curriculum that teaches letters in a specific order determined by that curriculum.

Here is the occupational therapists’ take on the best order to teach letters:

Letter order matters– Teaching letter formation in a specific order based on development is essential for pencil control, motor planning, eye-hand coordination, efficiency (writing speed), and accuracy (placement of letters on the lines). Why does letter order matter? Let’s talk about that…

Teach uppercase letter writing first– This is important: Start with upper case letters when teaching kids to write letters. Now, this might go against what some teachers have been taught. This might be a conversation for debate among educators. But, hear me out; When kids are taught to write upper case letters first, they are learning letters in an order that makes sense developmentally. Here are reasons to teach uppercase letter formation before lowercase letter formation:

  1. Uppercase letters all start at the top line and go to the bottom line. This makes it easier for kids to know where their pencil marks start. There is no middle line to worry about with most upper case letters. There are only a few uppercase letters that contain a middle line component, and it is never the starting point of the pencil when forming that letter. Upper case letters that contain a middle line portion include: A, B, E, F, G, H, K, P, R, S, Y.

2. Another reason to start with uppercase letters is that there is little opportunity to reverse upper case letters. With the lowercase letters, there are (and will be) reversals of letters b, d, g, q, and others. By starting with the uppercase letters, kids can learn the motor plan needed for formation without the error of reversals to contend with.

3. Still another reason to teach upper case letter formation before lower case letters is that many of the uppercase letters transfer to the same lowercase letter in a similar motor plan. The only difference being that the letters are smaller. Uppercase letters that transition to a same or similar motor plan for lowercase letters include: C, K, O, P, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

4. Still one MORE reason to start by teaching formation of uppercase letters before lowercase letters is the starting points. Kids can easily know where to start uppercase letters because there are only two places where the pencil starts for uppercase letters. The pencil mark starts at either the top left corner or the top middle space. Lowercase letters start in seven different starting points (a, b, e, f, i, l, m)

Top left corner starters: B, D, E, F, H, K, L, M, N, P, R, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

Top middle starters: C, G, I, J, O, Q, S

Therapists recommend teaching kids to write the upper case letters before the lowercase letters for developmental reasons, but kids should be taught that there are corresponding upper/lowercase letters. This awareness is necessary, too! We are just talking about actually teaching the letter formation here.

Consider development– Letters have curves, back strokes, hopping lines, diagonals, curves…there is a lot to consider just with letter formation, and not considering letter size and spatial awareness. Asking kids to form diagonal lines before they are ready is simply too difficult. When we consider that children are developmentally able to form strait lines down and horizontal lines across before other diagonals, we set them up for success in handwriting. Here is a free PDF explaining developmental progression of pre-writing strokes. These pre-writing strokes are the very lines and pencil strokes that make up letters.

Teach letters in sets- Taking what we know about pre-writing lines, development of fine motor skills and visual motor skill development, we can use that knowledge to teach children letters in a way that make sense. Start by teaching letters that contain the same pencil strokes, such as all vertical and horizontal lines. Then, move on to letters that contain curved lines, finally, teach letters that contain diagonals. Then, teach formation of lowercase letters. Make the letter formation easy for kids by building off what they practice.

Here is the order that I teach letters in handwriting

This letter order focuses on teaching handwriting based on development. The order is loosely based on Handwriting Without Tears (Learning without Tears) order for teaching letter formation, but I like to break down that list into smaller groups, and build letter formation concepts off previously learned motor planning. The Learning Without Tears program teaches students about frog jump letters, or letters that move the pencil and then jump to a different spot. That is a great visual and verbal cue for students to use. However, I like to focus on developmental strokes as a priority: those vertical and horizontal lines that transfer to different letters.

For example, teaching upper case F before E considers that the child has practiced a motor plan for the parts of a letter F (vertical line down, hop back to top, short line across the top, hop to middle line, short line across the middle. Then, to make the uppercase E, the child needs to replicate that same motor plan but add only a line at the baseline.

This order to teach letters is one that I’ve used throughout my career as a pediatric occupational therapist:

  1. Group together strait line uppercase letters first: L, F, E, H, T, I

With this order, I teach strait line letters that start in the upper left hand corner first, followed by strait line letters that start in the top-middle. This progression transfers nicely to other groups of letters that all start at the top-middle…)

2. Next, teach strait line/curved letters: D, B, P, U, J

These letters contain a curved portion that transitions nicely to the next group of letters. Including J in this group segues into the next group.

3. Third, teach the curved line uppercase letters: C, O, G, Q, S

These letters all start at the top-middle. This allows kids to think about moving their pencil in a push fashion, as they move the pencil in a different direction compared to previous letters. For right-handed writers, the pencil will now move away from the palm. For left-handed writers, the pencil will now move toward the palm. This group transitions nicely to the next set, the diagonals, which challenge pencil strokes by another different motor planning pattern.

4. Fourth, teach diagonal line letters: R, A, K, M, N, V, W, X, Y, Z

Teaching the diagonals last allows for more progression on those developmental strokes that we talked about previously.

Next, teach lowercase letters in this order:

  1. Teach formation of strait line lowercase letters: l, t, i

2. Next, teach formation of letters that are the same as their uppercase letters: c, k, o, p, s, v, u, w, x, z

3. Next, teach formation of strait line/bump lowercase letters: h, n, m, r, b

This set uses strait lines and transitions well to the next group, which are curved line, magic c letters.

4. Fourth, teach formation of curved lowercase letters: a, d, g, q

Teaching this set of letters focuses on the “magic c” that forms the letters. Here, I review letter c and show how it is part of the other letters.

5. Teach formation of the tricky start letters: e, f, j

These letters are commonly used, but start in a tricky place and challenge the movement of the pencil.

6. Finally, teach formation of diagonal lowercase letters: k, y

Lowercase letters are broken down into smaller groups, so that focus can be done on placement on the lines, and spatial awareness. These variants are another reason why starting with uppercase letters first is easier for children to progress. How many different line combinations there are for lowercase letters compared to their uppercase companions!?

There are many different ways that letters could be grouped together effectively in teaching letter formation. The key is to use the terminology that works based on the individual child’s needs and skills and then use it consistently.

Current research on letter formation

Current research shows us the importance of proper letter formation and practicing handwriting skills for carryover and legibility.

This paper on interventions for letter formation covers strategies for those with intellectual challenges. The study looked at the use of direct instruction with visual and verbal modeling for how to write each letter, with feedback and correction during practice.

Important to the teaching and follow-through of letter formation instruction is the awareness of letters. This study addressed how to teach letter knowledge to impact writing skills, specifically the knowledge of the names, sounds, and symbols of the letters of the alphabet or alphabetic knowledge as an essential building block for learning to read and write.

The study used brief, explicit letter formation lessons included strategies such as multi-sensory writing strategies (see below in this article for more ideas).

• using a transparency and marker to trace over the letter as it is identified in enlarged print
from children’s books
• writing the letters on small white boards as the teacher dictates
• producing the letter form with clay, pipe cleaners, wiki sticks

These appropriately brief lessons also allow time for students to participate in additional meaningful literacy and content area experiences.

These multisensory letter formation strategies can include letter formation practice, and alphabet knowledge instruction through the use of multiple distributed instructional cycles. The study describes one letter a week learning is not enough practice and that young children will not sufficiently learn and use the alphabet letters from 1 week-long exposure to each letter or from only one complete cycle through the alphabet.

Rather, children learn letter formation best through frequent exposure and
repetition to the letters.

Finally, the paper describes the use of flexible instruction of letters with extra focus on letters that are problematic for students to learn often due to less frequent exposure or use in oral or written language. Rather than spending equal time on teaching each letter, more time and instruction is spent teaching certain letters or letter groups.

Determining the time and focus needed to teach letters, the following factors should be taken into consideration: Letters that require more time spent on teaching letter formation include:

(1) Letters located at the beginning and end of the alphabet are learned more easily than letters in the middle of the alphabet.

(2) If a letter’s shape or form is distinctive from other letter shapes or
forms, then letter discrimination is easier for young students than when letter forms or shapes share similar distinctive features.

(4) Differential rates of exposure to the letters, such as the letters found in a student’s own name or alphabet letters that occur more frequently in children’s
books and in printed materials in the child’s environment, can also render the acquisition of letter knowledge more or less difficult for young learners

H. (2015). Handwriting in early childhood education: Current research and future implications. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 15(1), 97-118. Engel, C., Lillie, K., Zurawski, S

Cursive letter Formation

When teaching children to write cursive letters, forming lines correctly is important for carryover and legibility. You’ll find many of our cursive handwriting resources in one place under How to teach cursive handwriting. Other important techniques for cursive letter formation include these strategies:

  • Left-handed cursive writing
  • Positioning for cursive handwriting
  • Pre-cursive activities

Cursive Letter order

Teaching cursive letter formation requires a different order to teach letters. Check out this resource for cursive letter order based on pencil control and establishing a motor plan for smooth cursive lines. You can print off a PDF of the cursive letter order, too.

Letter Formation Activities

Here, you’ll find creative ways to teach handwriting and how to write letters in creative ways. These are writing tips to teach letters as part of a handwriting curriculum based on an individualized approach to handwriting. We’ve shared a lot of fun handwriting activities here on the blog. Check out some of our favorites!

Here are more tips for teaching kids to write. This is a good read because we talk about why starting letters at the top is important as well as the developmental benefit of teaching upper case letters before teaching lowercase letters. So often, we see kids learn uppercase and lowercase letters at the same time. In actuality, kids are developmentally capable of learning upper case letters first due to the consistent starting point (upper case letters all start at the top!). Read more about this by clicking the link above.

Handwriting strategies that improve pencil control, specifically changes in direction improve legibility. This quick activity can help kids work on the pencil control needed for writing letters. Printed letters have many direction changes. Controlled pencil strokes can be a big help in legible handwriting.

These fun handwriting activities don’t involve a pencil. For some kids, writing is a hassle and they absolutely HATE to write. Those kiddos will love these writing activities.

Use a timer to work on letter formation, while focusing on specific details such as line accuracy.

Use the tips in our handwriting club to work on letter formation, placement, and accuracy along with the fun of a group.

Multi Sensory Letter Formation

Kids can practice letter formation by sliding a sheet of paper into a plastic gallon-sized bag and having kids write on top of letters with colored dry erase markers. Use a small bit of paper towel to erase the letters in the correct formation for another practice run.

Finger tracing in letter formation

Many of the handwriting activities below offer the opportunity for practicing letter formation using finger tracing. The techniques can be used in sensory bins, in sensory bags, on sandpaper, or on textured surfaces.

Finger tracing is a great strategy for early writers, for teaching pre-writing lines and shapes in preschool and toddler years, and for encouraging carryover of diagonal lines, jumping lines, and curves needed for form letters.

Try a few of these finger tracing techniques to incorporate the tactile system into letter formation:

  • Trace letters in a sensory bin using dry rice, sand, or shaving cream
  • Finger trace letters on sandpaper
  • Finger trace letters using a sensory bag (details to make this tool below)
  • Start with air writing letters
  • Draw a letter on the palm of the child’s hand. The student then needs to finger draw the same letter on the palm of their hand.
  • Finger trace letters on one another’s back
  • Draw letters with glue on paper. Students can finger trace the dry glue letters.

Multi-sensory handwriting strategies use the senses and kinesthetic feedback to help kids form a motor plan to form letters. Multi-sensory writing includes sensory writing trays, writing in shaving cream, forming letters with play dough. And that’s just the beginning.

Try these messy, sensory writing ideas:

  1. We talked above about teaching handwriting in letters groups because kids can build a motor plan for sets of letters. Using markers to work on these similar pencil strokes is a food way to establish this skill and carry over formation of those sets of letters.

2. Fill a low tray such as the lid of a food storage container with dish soap and ask students to write letters using their index finger. This is a great fine motor activity as well as a multi-sensory strategy for writing.

3. Offering a resistive surface provides kinesthetic feedback when learning letters. Use a sheet of sandpaper under paper to work on letter formation of the alphabet, especially when practicing high-frequency letters or letters that are commonly reversed.

4. Slime and Letter Beads- Work on letter formation using slime and letter beads! Kids can find the beads and then practice writing that letter.

5. This fizzy sensory letter activity uses DIY baking soda play dough and a chemical reaction to work on letters that kids will love. Form the letters with dough and then paint them with vinegar in correct formation to practice while enjoying the sensory feedback.

6. Letter cookie cutters are a great way to practice letter formation.

7. Here is an easy writing tray using only colored rice and a colorful background. Kids can work on finger isolation and separation of the sides of the hand by working letters with their index finger.

8. Be sure to check out all of these writing tray ideas, too.

9. Create a sensory memory game that also allows kids to trace letters on the bottom of the tray. It’s a fun way to practice letters with tactile feedback.

10. Take letter learning outdoors with this nature letter formation activity. It’s a hands-on approach to forming letters.

11. Use these approaches to forming lowercase letters.

12. These easy tips to teach kids how to write use fun and easy sensory activities that teach alphabet letter formation.

13. Teach letters with resistive feedback using pushpins and a recycled container.

14. Another hands-on approach with fine motor work is this pegboard letter activity.

15. Cotton Swab Letters– Use cotton swabs with colorful sensory additions to work on letter formation.

16. Teach letters in teletherapy with this interactive occupational therapy slide deck that helps kids with letter formation through gross motor, fine motor, and sensory activities.

17. Use this occupational therapy slide deck to work on strait line letters with kids. Use the slides as an outline for occupational therapy interventions in therapy sessions, while working on letter formation.

18. Our alphabet exercise slide deck offers kids a chance to move with letter-themed gross motor exercises AND work on letter formation by moving the interactive portion of these free Google slide deck. This OT resource is perfect for virtual therapy sessions.

19. This Scribble Day OT slide deck is perfect for a fun occupational therapy teletherapy session. Work through the slides and address letter formation as well as other areas including fine and gross motor activities, motor planning, and more.

20. These monster theme slides are great for occupational therapy sessions because they use a fun theme to work on letter formation as well as other underlying areas that impact handwriting.

21. Use this space theme OT slide deck to work on letter formation using interactive slides that help kids by adding movement in a digital format. Perfect for occupational therapy virtual sessions.

22. Another way to work on the motor planning needed for handwriting is to use various mediums for writing, such as carpet squares. We used small carpet fragments and chalk to write letters.

23. Slime Writing Tray- Kids that like playing with slime will love “writing” in it! Fill a low tray with watered-down slime. We used the eraser end of a pencil to form letters but you could use a fingertip too. It’s a sensory writing activity that kids can’t resist!

24. This handwriting trick uses a foam sheet to work on pencil pressure when writing letters, but it offers a great tactile feedback through the hands that allow kids to build a motor plan when working on letter formation. This is a great way to use sensory input to help kids with learning to write letters.

25. Kids often benefit from a visual cue when it comes to letter formation, especially with letters that are commonly reversed. This DIY letter strip is great because it sits right on the student’s desk and can be close to the writing task, requiring less visual shift, and less opportunities for the student to lose visual attention as a result of visual perceptual or visual motor concerns.

26. Visual spatial relations impact handwriting because letter formation depends on placement between lines, letter sizing, and accuracy of letter formation in a given space. This resource will give you tips and strategies to impact visual spatial skills in a way that makes a huge difference in legibility of written work.

27. These LEGO letter stamps are a fantastically sensory and motor activity that allows kids to focus on letter parts that make up each letter while working on fine motor work in a way that is fun and builds accuracy with letter accuracy and awareness. A GREAT warm-up activity to handwriting!

28. Adding gross motor, motor planning, coordination, bilateral coordination, and crossing midline activities to letter learning is priceless! These letter exercises combine movement with letter awareness and learning. Use these letter exercises as a warm-up or cooldown to therapy sessions. Or, use them as a classroom or home learning brain break activity!

29. This letter puzzle activity builds fine motor skills which is essential for pencil control, hand strength, and dexterity needed for manipulating a pencil so kids can accurately form letters. This activity is a powerful sensory and motor activity designed to help kids with letter formation and accuracy.

30. Another amazing fine motor activity for building pencil control and coordination, this in-hand manipulation bead and puzzle activity allows kids to partner letter formation with fine motor skills.

33. High-Contrast Letter Formation– Use used coffee grounds for a high-contrast writing tray that works on letter formation. This is a great activity for practicing commonly reversed letters.

34. Letter Formation Resistive Surface– Use a recycled material to work on letter formation with a resistive surface, so that kids gain a motor plan for letter formation.

35. Tracing Letters: Letter Formation Handwriting Practice with Chalk– Use sidewalk chalk and outdoor movement activity to work on letter formation with a rainbow writing activity.

36. Here are more sensory writing activities that cover a variety of sensory strategies.

37. Use this color-changing writing activity to work on letter formation.

38. Sensory Letter Formation Practice– Practice letter formation with a mess-free sensory activity that provides feedback while helping kids develop a motor plan for letter formation.

39. Tracing Lines with a DIY Light Box– Tracing letters has it’s time and place! Using a DIY light box and materials found in the home, kids can work on letter formation and accuracy of pencil control.

40. Letter formation manipulatives for the light table– Explore parts of letters with sensory manipulatives.

41. Nature letter formation activity– Get outdoors to work on letter formation and handwriting.

42. These 10 fun ways to teach letter formation are creative ways to work on writing letters, using various strategies including kinesthetic learning, multi-sensory strategies, and visual prompts.

43. Cursive writing doesn’t mean copying the same letter over and over again. Practice cursive writing strokes with this glitter glue multi-sensory writing strategy for teaching the bumps and re-trace needed for cursive letters.

Letter formation with practice

While sensory motor letter formation is a key component, research tells us that therapeutic practive is essential to learning letter formation. This is the way that therapists use skilled interventions to work on letter formation: by offering strategies, accommodations based on individual needs of the child, verbal and physical prompts based on skilled analysis, and a just right challenge to build skills while offerning an oppourtunity to practice writing letters.

Below, you will fine practice activities that can be used to practice letter formation.

  1. Use these motivating handwriting practice activities to work on letter formation using therapeutic practice, so kids get time to write and learn letter formation with trials that build accuracy in letter formation. These activities are designed to be meaningful and motivating.
  2. These Roll and Write Play Dough Mat Writing Prompts combine fine motor work with handwriting. Kids will love these writing prompt sheets that allow them to work on letter formation with therapeutic practice time so that they can carryover the skills they’ve learned. The play dough mat portion offers a great warm up for the hands so they are ready to write and move that pencil.
  3. Practice is essential if letter formation is going to “stick”! These tips for practicing handwriting are fun and list format so it’s easy for kids to write a quick list while practicing essential letter formation skills.

4. Use graph paper to teach spacing and letter placement. Letter formation requires accurate placement within a given area on the page and graph paper helps kids to practice this placement so they can carry the skill over to paper of all types.

5. Practicing letters doesn’t need to be boring. Use a creative writing journal that combines creative letter drawing and formation using materials like yarn, play dough, wikki sticks, etc. Kids can practice writing on the lines. This journal was designed for cursive letter formation but could be used with printed letters as well.

6. Write on the window using regular notebook paper for a movement-based letter writing activity that practices formation and accuracy while focusing on the motor components of the shoulder, forearm, and wrist.

Cursive letter formation

You will find tons of creative writing activities designed around teaching cursive here on this website. Cursive letter formation ideas can use all of the handwriting strategies and tips listed above, but you can focus on the smooth writing strokes, retracing lines, and connecting lines that cursive requires with some out-of-the box activities.

Check out some of the cursive letter formation ideas below:

  1. How to teach cursive handwriting– START HERE for a step-by-step guide to teaching cursive. You’ll find everything you need in one place, or check out the list below…

2. Positioning When Writing in Cursive– Positioning in handwriting is SO important. In fact, positioning is the place to start when it comes to teaching kids to write letters.

3. Cursive Writing Lesson Plan– Work on cursive writing with a planned, set of strategies.

4. Gross Motor Cursive Exercises– Kids can work on bilateral coordination, crossing midline, and motor planning skills so they are able to hold their paper while writing, use smooth writing strokes, and form letters.

5. Pre-Cursive Activities– Handwriting doesn’t need to be boring! Use these fun cursive lines to work on smooth pencil strokes, while introducing loops, curves, and swoops.

6. Cursive Letter Formation: Wave Letters– Cursive letters can be grouped into sets so kids can work on specific letters that contain similar pencil strokes. The “wave” letters are one cursive letter family to start with.

7.  Creative Ways to Practice Cursive

8.  Cursive Writing Self-Assessment

9. Conquering Cursive Letter Connectors

10. Left-handed Cursive Writing Tips and Tricks

11. Cursive Writing Rhythm

12. Cursive Writing Slant

13. How to Teach Cursive Letter Identification

14. Pencil Grasp in Cursive Writing

15. MORE Creative Ways to Practice Cursive Writing

16. How to Teach Cursive Writing Speed

17.  Tips for Teaching Cursive in the Classroom

18. Cursive Pre-Writing Lines Watercolor Resist Activity

19. Cursive Writing Starting Lines

20. Cursive Letter Writing Activity

21.  Diagnosing Cursive Problems with a Cursive Handwriting Assessment Checklist

22.  Cursive Writing Tips and Cursive Certificate of Completion

23. Free Cursive Letter Flashcards

24. Cursive Letter Formation: Bump Letters

25. Cursive Letter Formation: Tree Letters

26. DIY Cursive Activity Beads

27. Cursive Letter Slime

28.  Uppercase Cursive Letter Guide

29. The Research on Cursive Writing

30. Cursive Loop Letter

31. How to Teach Cursive Tow Rope Letter

32. Some cursive letters require re-tracing back over the lines. If those lines are sloppy, the letter can look illegible, Try this strategy for teaching re-trace in forming cursive letters c, d, a, g, o, and q. Using a dry erase marker to work on letter formation can be used with any cursive letter or printed letters too.

Free Letter Formation Worksheets

Want to put the occupational therapy interventions and tips that you’ve read here into practice, so kids learn letters based on development, motor skills, and motivating activities?

Enter your email address below to grab the FREE handwriting resource for handwriting resources to use in working on letter formation with kids. You’ll find uppercase and lowercase letter writing worksheets, as well as a list of extension ideas so you can use these worksheets with sensory activities, and take letter formation from dull and boring rote practice, to meaningful, motivating, and fun!

Add your email below and these free handwriting worksheets will arrive in your inbox shortly!

Colleen Beck, OTR/L is an occupational therapist with 20+ years experience, graduating from the University of Pittsburgh in 2000. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. As the creator, author, and owner of the website and its social media channels, Colleen strives to empower those serving kids of all levels and needs. Want to collaborate? Send an email to [email protected].

Roll & Write - Handwriting Game

A large part of my preschool’s PreK curriculum is emergent and shifts depending on my students’ interests, strengths, and challenges. As I started this school year, I wasn’t sure how handwriting instruction would play out. At the start of the year, we began to work individually with students on writing their names, meeting each child where they are at with various tools, but at the start of the year, I wasn’t sure how or when group lessons would emerge. I did know that when it was time to introduce handwriting, we’d make it fun, and this handwriting game is precisely that.

So let’s back up just a little because before you can have fun with this handwriting game, we have a few questions to answer.

How do you know if your students are ready for handwriting instruction?

Assess through observation.

First and foremost, look at your students’ abilities with fine motor tasks like beading, little lego, playdough, and lacing. Assess their abilities with tools like scissors, crayons, and chalk/chalkboards. Also, look at their interest in letters and pay attention to you when you write words in class. Take note of their ability and interest in writing their names with and without help. Before introducing the Roll & Write handwriting game, I suggest introducing the tools, the mini whiteboards, and markers to see who is and who isn’t interested. For us, everyone was interested, so that, along with my observations, told me it was go time! Never forget it’s ok to try an activity and then realize it’s not time yet. That is just part of the teaching process.

Make it quick and fun.

We aren’t doing worksheets. We are playing a game, but it’s still adult-directed, so I try to keep it short and sweet. I play this game every Monday. As we transition from quiet reading time to our second free choice block, we sit together for about 5 minutes and play.

Ready for the rules of this handwriting game?

How To Play Roll & Write

Gather your materials. Each child will need a mini whiteboard, dry erase, and dry erase eraser ( black felt works excellent). You will need a set for yourself too, and you will also need a dry erase die. My students are all successful with whiteboards, but you may find one of your students needs more friction. If that’s the case, make them a mini chalkboard  ( I have a great DIY for it here) out of a clipboard and give them a piece of chalk. The friction of the blackboard may be exactly what they need to help them form the letters.

Write the letters on the die.

Wait, which letters do you use?

Handwriting is a little different than letter recognition. When I teach letter recognition, I teach upper and lowercase concurrently, but with handwriting, there is good evidence in the literature to start only with uppercase. This isn’t about recognition. It’s about the physical development of fine motor skills. It is easier to make the movements needed for the uppercase letter formation. So we start with uppercase and then move to lowercase letters.

I follow the order suggested by Handwriting Without Tears (F, E, P, B, R, M, N, H, K, L U, V, W, X, Y, Z, C, O, Q, G, S, A, I, T, J) along with their suggested steps for individual letter formation. Learn more about the program here. While I don’t follow the HWT curriculum with fidelity, our school district uses it for Kindergarten, and we try to give our PreK students a gentle introduction to it. In addition to using the HWT order for introduction, we also build letters with blocks, and many other multi-sensory pre-writing activities focused on skill-building. 

The first week we played this game, I wrote F and O on the dice … I know O isn’t until much later in the HWT order, but I’d seen every one of my students make circles with crayons, so I included it, so the die wasn’t just all Fs. Observing your class really is the key to success.

 

 

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Ready to play the handwriting game?

Once your letters are on the die and all the children are sitting on the rug ready to play, show them the letters.

Next, demonstrate how to write the letters that are on the die using your whiteboard, making sure you are verbalizing each step. For the F, it would be “Start at the top. A big line down, froggy jump up, little line, little line.” Then everyone together will write the letter while you narrate the steps.

Repeat for the other letters on the die.

Now it’s time to roll. Whatever letter is pointing up to the sky, everyone writes on their whiteboard. Don’t forget to narrate each step.

Here’s the most important part; the next week, you will introduce the following letter in the order adding it to your die.  I write the new letter on the die more often than the previous weeks’ letters, so my students have more chances to practice the new letter. I usually roll the die 5 or 6 times tops. My goal is to get my students comfy with basic handwriting activities. To introduce basic letter formation and the vocabulary their kindergarten teachers will likely use in their classrooms, not mastery. They are just in PreK. There is no need to push and no need for perfection. We are having fun. If this game is frustrating for your students, they aren’t ready yet. If you have a few ready students, try this handwriting game at a small group time instead.

Using this handwriting game once a week in my PreK class has been amazing, my students love it, they are becoming really confident with writing tools. They are so proud to hold up their whiteboards to show me what they wrote. Don’t forget to keep it short and sweet.

Looking for more simple preschool activities?

 

 

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO FIND INSIDE EVERYDAY PRESCHOOL
:

Over 170 simple preschool activities that use everyday materials. You don’t need to invest a lot of money to teach your child at home.

  • Activities are short, with minimal prep so that you can fit some learning into your busy day.
  • The book is organized into nine categories of learning; literacy, math, science, sensory, art, fine motor, gross motor, social-emotional, and bedtime reading tips.
  • Everyday Preschool activity book was created using various state standards for PreK and has tips for making activities easier or harder to fit your child.
  • An Appendix filled with an extensive booklist links to free printables, song lyrics, nursery rhymes, my favorite playdough recipe, and more.

HERE IS A SNEAK PEEK INSIDE EVERYDAY PRESCHOOL

 

 

Creating and sending a letter - Email Help

Creating a letter
Sending attachments
Possible errors when sending a letter

Creating a letter

To create a new letter, simply press the blue button Write in the upper left corner of the screen. The letter editor window will appear. At the top right, it has buttons Minimize (underline icon) and Close (cross icon).
Function Collapse is useful if you want to see another letter in your mail while writing a letter. The folded letter will turn into a blue box at the bottom of the screen - click on it to bring the letter editor back to the screen.

When you press the button Close Rambler/Mail will offer to save the draft of the letter in order to return to it in the future.

If you try to close a browser tab with the email editor open, the browser will warn you that your changes will not be saved. If you want to return to the unsent email later, close it in Rambler/Mail itself and save it as a draft.

Letter editor has 9 fields0007 To , Cc and Bcc .

In the field To you need to specify the address to which you want to send the letter. Without an address in this field, the letter will not be sent.

Fields Copy and Hidden Copy is optional. By default, they are hidden, you can call them by clicking on the corresponding buttons in the upper right.

  • If you want to send a letter to several addresses, please separate them with a space.
  • If you want to send the written letter to someone else, but without the original recipient knowing about it, enter the address of the secret recipient in Bcc .
  • If you want to send an email to someone in your address book ( Contacts ), start typing the contact's first or last name. The system itself will offer you options from your Contacts. Both individual recipients and groups of contacts will appear in the proposed list (if you want to send a letter to several people at once). You can also select a recipient directly from Contacts by pressing the button in book form next to fields To , Cc and Hidden .

  • If you want to send a letter to the created contact group, go to the section Groups in the address book and mark the ones you need.

After selecting the desired recipients from Contacts, press the button to call contacts again.

In the field Subject write what your letter is about. It can be just a greeting, brief information or something else. The subject of the email will be displayed next to the sender's name in the email list. You can't change the font or color in the subject line, but you can embed emoji.

Write the text of the message in the largest field of the letter editor.

If you have added signature in your mailbox settings , it will automatically appear at the end of the created letter. When writing a letter, you can delete it.

  • Buttons: Send letter ; Attach file ; Save draft; Cancel .

Button Attach file allows you to add files to the letter - images, archives, documents, and so on.

If you haven't finished writing your letter and want to continue later, press Save Draft . The letter will be saved in folder Drafts .

Button Cancel closes the letter editor. All contents of the unsent email will be lost.

When you have finished writing the letter and have entered the recipient, press Send . Rambler / mail will report that The letter is sent to . If you suddenly change your mind, you will have 5 seconds to cancel sending and return back to the letter editor. As soon as the status on the page changes to Letter sent , it will be impossible to cancel the sending.

Sending attachments

You can attach attachments to a letter. For example, photographs, archives, text files, tables, audio and video clips.

To add an attachment to the letter, click the button Attach file at the bottom of the page. A window for selecting files from your computer will open.

The selected files will appear at the bottom of the page after upload.

Next to each file is its type and size . Above is the number of files in the letter and their total size is .

If there are too many attachments and they interfere with writing a letter, press button V next to the total file size.

Important:

  • If you send attachments (.exe files), antispam may not let your email through. Most mail systems prohibit the sending and receiving of executable files, as they are the most commonly sent viruses.
  • If the user's device does not support the format of the files you send, they will not be able to view them.
  • The recipient will not be able to receive a file that is too large if their mail service imposes restrictions on the size of the letter or the mailbox has run out of free space. In this case, the letter will be returned to you with an explanation of why it was not delivered.

Possible errors when sending a letter

Incorrect recipient address

Be sure to check the recipient address before sending the letter. It should not contain errors, extra characters, spaces or Russian letters . If the address is invalid, it will turn red. For example, in the field Copy , the address contains the Russian " e ", so the address turned red.

Do not forget about the correct ending of the address: yandex. en , gmail. com , hotmail. com mail. en etc. Specify them correctly, otherwise your letter will not be delivered or will go to the wrong person.

Your email looks like spam

A Captcha check will appear before sending the email if our anti-spam considers the email suspicious. Check the box I am person and in a few seconds the email will be sent. If Rambler / mail asks to pass verification, this does not always mean that there are problems with your letter. This can happen if you send emails from a network that has a dubious reputation (for example, using a VPN), use link shorteners, or often send a lot of emails that exceed sending limits.

If this situation often arises, and you think that the system has made a mistake, write to us about it via the feedback form, we will definitely figure it out.

According to the Rules of the free email service Rambler / Mail, as well as the Rules for Using the Network, sending unsolicited correspondence is prohibited, and therefore your letters may be rejected, even after entering the captcha.

The sent letter was returned with an error

If the letter sent by you did not reach the addressee, it will be returned to you on behalf of Mail Delivery System from the address [email protected]. This letter will contain a response from the Rambler/mail server indicating the reasons for the non-delivery of the letter. The reason itself is indicated in the technical part at the end of the letter.

The example below indicates that the letter was not delivered to the address [email protected], as it is blocked.

You can read more about the reasons for non-delivery in this article

If you encounter any difficulties when writing or sending a letter and you need help, write to us about it using the feedback form. We will definitely help you figure it all out.

Grouping and ungrouping messages in the Inbox

Outlook for Microsoft 365 Outlook 2021 Outlook 2019 Outlook 2016 Outlook 2013 Outlook 2010 Outlook 2007 More. ..Less

Microsoft Outlook automatically groups items by date. However, you can also manually group items using standard mechanisms or by creating your own custom grouping. While you may be most familiar with the default groups in your inbox, these groups also apply to other mail folders.

The default groups displayed in the Inbox include Today , Yesterday , Last Week , Last Month and Older than . Some standard mechanisms that are available include grouping by category , size , topic , and importance .

If you want to group items by conversation , select menu View , and then select the Show as Conversations check box. For more information about conversations, see View email messages by conversation.

Automatically group or ungroup elements

  1. To add or remove a grouping in an arrangement, in menu View in section Location select Item Advanced .

  2. In the Arrangement Gallery, click the Show in Groups button.

Grouping items manually or creating a custom group

  1. In menu View in the group Current view select Change view and then Save current view as new view .

  2. Enter a name for the new view and click OK .

  3. In menu View in the group Current view select Item View options .

  4. Press button Grouping .

  5. Clear the Automatically group by collating scheme check box.

  6. In the Group items by field, click the field to group.

    If the field you want is not in the Group items by field, click a different set of fields in the Select available fields from field.

  7. Select ascending or descending to sort the group headers.

  8. To display the field by which items are grouped, select the Show field in view check box.

  9. To group by subgroups, click the box in the box then .

  10. Listed Expand and Collapse Defaults click the default value to show the groups in the view.

After the dialog box closes, show or hide the elements in the group by clicking the Expand or Collapse button.

Ungroup elements manually

  1. In menu View in the group Current view select Item View options .

  2. Press button Grouping .

  3. In the Group by field, clear the Automatically group by location check box.

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Automatically group or ungroup items

Grouping elements manually or creating a custom group

  1. On the View menu , point to Arrange by and select Custom .

  2. Press button Grouping .

  3. Clear the Automatically group by collating scheme check box.

  4. In the Group items by box, click the box to group.

    If the field you want is not in the Group items by field, click a different set of fields in the Select available fields from field.

  5. Select ascending or descending to sort the group headers.

  6. To display the field by which items are grouped, select the Show field in view check box.

  7. To group by subgroups, click a box in box Then .

  8. In the Expand and Collapse Defaults list, click the default value to display the groups in the view.

After the dialog box closes, show or hide the elements in the group by clicking the Expand or Collapse button.

Ungroup elements manually

  1. Learn more