Over the years, I have learned many different ways to introduce handwriting skills other than physically writing. Play-based and multi-sensory interventions are my go-to approaches when addressing students’ challenges. When we take a play-based approach to learning, it helps with engagement and developing a love for learning.
Play-based interventions are so important in addressing foundational skills before even picking up a pencil. Kids’ primary occupations are play, education, and social participation. As therapists, we like to address all areas of occupation to promote overall positive mental health. How cool is it that we can work on education through play-based activities?
What is this multi-sensory approach all about? We try to engage other senses rather than just focusing on our vision and motor output to build stronger body-brain connections. It is using different sensations like touch, movement, smells, songs, and chants to not only improve engagement but also to build stronger neural pathways, which increases retention of skills.
One of the many aspects of writing is the actual motor output required to write letters. When students struggle in this area, we typically see underlying challenges of visual perception, where the brain is not always accurately interpreting what the eyes are seeing. Many areas within the realm of visual perception can be affected- visual memory, spatial relations, figure-ground, just to name a few. Motor control and precision are other areas that are required for functional handwriting. Writing requires the ability to smoothly start and stop movements, adjust pressure, shift directions, and coordinate small muscles in the hand and fingers. When these foundational skills are difficult, handwriting can be a really exhausting and a frustrating task for students. Addressing these foundational skills through play using a multi-sensory approach can really help reach students at their level, decreasing the frustration and increasing their engagement in the writing process.
When the goal/objective is to write letters/sentences (formation, spacing, sizing, line orientation, and pencil grasp), use these various strategies to work toward those skills.
Letter Formation:
🖍 Form letters in sand
🖍 Form letters on a boogie board/magna doodle
🖍 Form letters with Play-Doh
🖍 Form letters with wikki stix
🖍 Form letters in/on a sensory bin or bag
🖍 Form letters with a paint brush
🖍 Create letters with objects (cars, blocks, etc.)
🖍 Form letters using dry-erase (use plastic sheets to put paper in)
🖍 Use small stickers as a starting point to form letters (green for go)
🖍 Make a green dot to start letters. Green for go! Check out this video: Green Dot Activity
🖍 Have a phrase when writing a letter. “Make a C first, up like an airplane, down and bump”.
Can you guess what letter I created?
🖍 Use smelly markers when writing
🖍 Make letters out of your body
🖍 Light Table- Check out these activities on teacherpayteahcers: Light Up Table Activity
🖍 Use vibration pens when writing letters
🖍 Use various writing tools (markers vs. pencils vs. soft leaded pencils)
🖍 Focus on a given set of letters vs all (i.e., small/tall/fall)
🖍 Hide letters in a sensory bin to find first, then write
Spacing between letters or words:
🖍 Have fun with stickers (theme by season). Place a sticker between each word. Check out this video: Word Spacing Activity
🖍 Use small objects (theme by season). i.e., use heart erasers during February to place between each word. Check out this video: Word Spacing Activity
🖍 Use a pencil/pen/marker as a space bar, move to place after each word. Check out this video: Word Spacing Activity
🖍 Wikki Stix fun. Ball up wikki stix and then place one after each word. Check out this video: Word Spacing Activity
🖍 Make a space man- Check out these activities on teacherpayteahcers: Space Man Activities
🖍 Use theraputty to make “spaghetti and meatballs”. Meatballs for word spacing and spaghetti for letter spacing
Sizing:
🖍 Use wikki stix to create borders for sizing
🖍 Use letter boxes to make them specific to small, tall, or falling letters
🖍 Highlight the area for writing within (use a smelly marker)
🖍 Visuals on paper: sky- top line; grass- middle; dirt- below line
🖍 Use body movements before/after writing the letter
○ tall- stand tall; small- squat; fall-reach down and touch the floor
○ tall- clap up high; small- clap in the middle; fall- clap down low
🖍 Letter sorting activities of tall, small, fall letters
Line Orientation:
🖍 Use wikki stix, smoosh on the baseline of worksheets, papers, to focus on awareness of the line. Check out this video: Line Orientation Activity
🖍 Place stickers on the baseline, see how many you can get without going under or leaving a space
🖍 Play with wikki stix! Place them vertically so they just touch the baseline. Create waves or curves. Make the bottom curve touch the baseline. Pre-mark where you want the curve to touch and where the curve does not need to touch the bottom line.
🖍 Make parking spaces for letters (wheels/base stay on the parking line)
🖍 Using a laminated line as the baseline, build letters out of wiki stix, play-doh or pipecleaners addressing where the letter touches (fall letters drop below the line)
Pencil grasp:
🖍 Find objects in theraputty (theme by season)
🖍 Beading. I.e, make a bracelet or necklace.
🖍 Lacing
🖍 Use short pencils when writing
🖍 Playing games with tweezers.
🖍 Coloring with short or broken crayons.
🖍 Play with wikki stix. Check out this video: Wikki Stix Activity
🖍 Create a sticker puzzle. Check out this video: Sticker Activity
These activities are just a few of many, many ways you can work on handwriting without picking up a pencil. Bringing a play-based approach to an often non-preferred task can make a whirlwind of differences when teaching these skills. Plus, it is fun!! What creativity can you bring to your therapeutic interventions?
Casey Kingsley COTA/L and Vicki Horvat OTR/L