Once young children have mastered basic shapes in their early writings (circles, crosses, triangles, and perhaps squares), they will naturally gravitate toward letter production.  And while many preschoolers are “experts” at creating letter shapes on paper, learning to do it “on the lines” is quite difficult!   It can take a great deal of fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination to get that pencil tip to stay exactly within the lines and produce neat-looking letters!

 

 

 

 

I have been working with my 4 year old on letter production and, not wanting to battle with him or discourage him, have been letting him do it in his own time. I spotted this amazing teaching tool at the dollar store this weekend and just knew this would be the next step in our writing adventures!

 

 

 

Dollar Tree in my area has just started selling all of Target’s Back to School supplies from last summer!  And for about 1/5 the price!  They had a bunch of  “ABC” letter borders (the type of border that would go around a bulletin board in a classroom or along the top of the white boards in front of the class) for only $1!  I chose one with a very basic and non-distracting border and headed home (with a ton of other things too, of course!)!

 

 

 

 

 

I have to admit it sat untouched on the kitchen counter for several days before the idea hit me (during a difficult no-nap day! ):  I just left them in the cellophane package, grabbed a dry-erase marker, and let the boy have at it! I had originally wanted to laminate the individual strips and use the dry-erase markers (wipes off very easily with a dry cloth!) or vis-a-vis markers, but this is just so much easier and cheaper. Just open the package carefully (there is a resealable tab on one end) and place two strips in back to back and reseal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I really like about these ABC borders is that they are very simple block print style letters (which is what most schools teach), not the D’Nealian Style with the little tails at the end.

 

 

 

 

And each letter has directional arrows to help with starting pen placement!   “We ALWAYS start at the top and go down; no pushing up!!” said Mrs. Katay. This habit is so hard to break once it’s been taught. And, unfortunately, it’s already been taught over here. *sigh* European handwriting is taught very differently!

 

 

 

 

Learning to write on the lines can be lots of fun!  The boy sat quietly for the better part of an hour tracing the letters.  This is definitely an activity that will be going in our stash of Busy Boxes!