You may not have really ever sat down to think about it, but good handwriting requires many things working together at the same time. Each of these things play an important role in the quality of handwriting your child puts on paper: strength of hands, arms, and core, bilateral coordination (both hands working together), visual perception (how your brain interprets what you see), visual motor (eye-hand) coordination, and fine motor precision (how fine-tuned fingers move together).

Here are some summer activities that DON’T involve pencil and paper that you can do as a family to improve or maintain your child’s handwriting skills:

• Go to the park and use the monkey bars and climbing walls -increases hand, arm, and core strength.

• Paint the side of the house with a bucket of water and a paint brush – increases strength of hands, arms, core and bilateral coordination and visual motor coordination.

• Water play with squirt bottles or water guns using index and middle fingers to squeeze handle – strengthens hands and fine motor precision.

• Soak a sponge full of water and then wring it out in another bucket or an older child could help wash the car – strengthens hands and bilateral coordination.

• Use side walk chalk on the driveway to make pictures, shapes, and/or letters – fine motor precision and feedback to where your hand is in space.

• Pop bubbles with one finger or two hands together– increases fine motor precision and bilateral coordination.

• Play the game “Hot Potato” with a balloon filled with air. See how long you can pass the balloon back and forth without the it falling on the ground. Add more balloons when one balloon is too easy. – Improves visual motor coordination.

• Create with playdough – Increases strength of fingers and fine motor precision.

• Swim freestyle, back stroke, breast stroke or butterfly (with adult supervision, of course!)– increases core, arm, and hand strength, and bilateral coordination.

• Water play in the shallow end with splash balls or a beach ball (again, with adult supervision) - increases visual motor coordination, strength, and fine motor precision.

• Go fishing at a lake, pond, create a pond using a tub, or Bass Pro Shop has a free fishing event Saturday mornings (check your local store): increases bilateral coordination, core strength and visual motor coordination

• Take Karate lessons– increases core and arm strength and bilateral coordination.

• Learn to play a musical instrument – increases visual motor coordination, bilateral coordination, and fine motor precision.

• Woodworking or gardening with an adult either at home or workshops for kids. Some Home Depots offer free workshops for kids on the first Saturday of the month (check your local store)– increases strength, visual motor coordination, bilateral coordination and fine motor precision.

Take advantage of the good summer weather and let your child learn while enjoying the outside!

About the Author

Marybeth Oliva is an occupational therapist at Cook Children's. Occupational therapy focuses on fine motor and functional skills to enhance development, restore function and to prevent disablility from pediatric conditions, illness and injury. At Cook Children's, we understand that no two children are alike. That's why we offer four types of therapy plans, tailored specifically for your child and his or her needs. We want to make every appointment unique for each family. 

Were there monsters under the bed? Did he fall of his bike? No, I just asked him to write his name on a paper for his schoolwork.

I actually kind of feel the same way as him most of the time. Why would I want to sit down and write something that will take me 5x as long and be 1/5 as legible? Some educators agree with us. Many schools are adopting policies where handwriting is emphasized only very early on with a quick shift over to proficiency in keyboarding.

However, just because my 4 year old and I want to throw a temper tantrum any time we're asked to write something doesn't mean that forgoing writing is a good strategy.

Dr. Karin James is a scientist with the University of Indiana. She did an experiment where she presents letters to children; some were asked to trace the letters, some asked to write them on a blank page and some were asked to type them. She then shows the children the same letters while they are inside a machine to measure brain activity. Activity levels in brain areas that adults use to read and write were significantly higher in those children who were asked to write a letter vs. tracing or typing.

There have been many other studies that validate this finding and that show other benefits to learning handwriting:

Studies have shown that good writers have higher levels of activation in brain areas associated with cognition and language than poor writers.

Another study showed that note takers tended to do better on testing of the concepts presented if they were taking notes by hand rather than by computer. Computer note takers also tended to copy down the teacher's message word for word rather than shorten or rephrasing in their own terms which could to contribute to their poorer understanding.

So, what does all this mean? I am constantly tempted to go ahead and have my son learn typing. He is very bright and I know he could type much faster than he could write ... maybe this would lead to less frustration (for him and me). But, this might not be the best thing for him in the long run.

Here's some great examples of ways you can get your early elementary school child to keep writing:

1) Thank you notes for gifts, experiences - Nothing makes grandma and grandpa happier than getting a note from their grandchild about their visit.

2) Story prompts - Give them 1 sentence and let them go. Then help them act out the story they have written.

3) Encourage drawing as well - Fine motor skill development through other avenues can also be helpful.

Let's keep our kids writing as long as we can. It is good for their learning and helps protect them from iPhone thumb.

What strategies do you use to keep your kids writing?