Handwriting Activity Ideas That Are Cooler Than Fortnite And Fidget Spinners (we hope)
Let’s ask an age-old question: how do you get this generation excited when it comes to practicing cultural traditions? Kids are the purveyors of all-things-new and cool and often leave their elders (and their elders’ habits) in the dust. Churning butter and pickling fish? Yeah, no thanks.
When it comes to the endangered practice of handwriting, you’re in luck. We are sharing five fab activities that will excite, engage, and inspire your students:
Activity One: Mad Libs
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Pacon® Multi-Program Handwriting Paper
- Pacon® Ruled Tagboard Sheets
- Marker
- Pencils
- Imagination
WHAT TO DO:
Prior to class, find a silly short story in your classroom or school media center and make a photocopy of each page. On the copy paper, highlight or circle all words in the following categories with a different color:
- Noun - person
- Noun - place
- Noun - thing
- Adjective
- Adverb
- Verb
- Verb ending in “ing”
- Verb ending in “s”
On your large tagboard sheets, write out the short story, leaving only underlines where the highlighted words should be. Under each underline, write (in small letters) what part of speech should go there.
Have each student write any word in each of the above parts of speech in their best handwriting. After everyone is finished, come together as a group to complete the story. Without showing the tagboard, ask for volunteers to share their nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. until the whole story is filled in. Hang the tagboard up and read the silly story aloud!
Activity Two: Spin the Globe
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Pacon® Multi-Program Handwriting Picture Story Paper
- Pencils
- Crayons, colored pencils, or markers
- Globe
WHAT TO DO:
During group time, bring out the globe and identify where your school is located relative to other countries your students may have heard of or visited before. You can compare size, geography, and climate if you’d like.
Give each child the opportunity to spin the globe. Each student will put their finger on the globe to stop it from spinning. Wherever they land, they must try to remember the name of the nearest country (especially if they land in the ocean!). When they return to the picture story paper on their desk, they should write the name of that country several times, using their best handwriting skills. Afterward, they can draw a picture of how they imagine they would travel to that destination. Pirate ships and teleportation are totally allowed!
Activity Three: Confidential Compliments
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Creativity Street® Colored Masking Tape Roll
- GOwrite!® Dry Erase Learning Boards
- Pacon® Whiteboard Erasers (so adorable!)
- Pacon® Triangular Dry Erase Markers
WHAT TO DO:
Before class, draft a list of positive (and classroom-friendly) adjectives to describe people on your favorite word processing software. You will display this list on your smart board during class for your students to reference. Using your masking tape, label the top of each dry erase learning board with every student’s name.
During class, ask for volunteers to distribute markers and erasers. All students should try to sit in groups of four. Hand out the labeled dry erase boards, instructing students to keep the names a secret. Make sure no group has a board with one of their members’ name on it.
Have each student use two adjectives to describe what makes their classmate (listed on the top of each board) so special. Then, tell them to rotate and repeat until every board has eight adjectives on it. Instruct the students to pile the boards up carefully and bring them to the front.
This next part is a choose-your-own-adventure. You can choose to redistribute the dry erase boards to the correct, labeled students right away OR you can look through them during prep time to make sure all students participated with best intentions prior to handing them back out.
This teaches a fantastic lesson in giving and receiving compliments (as well as practicing handwriting)!
Activity Four: Favorite Book
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Pacon® Picture Story Chart Tablet
- Pencils
- Crayons, colored pencils, or markers
WHAT TO DO:
Have each student pick their favorite book in the classroom and write down the key elements of the story (title, characters, setting, problem, solution). Encourage them to take their time and write each “building block” neatly on separate lines of their story chart tablet. After they complete their handwriting activity, they can move on to some serious fun -- illustrating their favorite scene!
Activity Five: Super Senses
WHAT YOU NEED:
WHAT TO DO:
Developed for younger learners, the multi-sensory raised ruled tablet has slightly raised headlines and baselines which help students stay (mostly) within the lines. This paper is perfect for this project, which is all about the senses! Not only can the students see what they are writing, but they can feel the boundaries as they attempt to skim over them.
Have your students choose a few words that represent each of the five senses, based on something they experienced at school that day. For example:
- See = artwork, computer, lights
- Hear = school bell, music, fan
- Taste = banana, milk, muffin
- Smell = chicken nuggets, grass, gym shoes ????
- Touch = pencil, paper lines, zipper
Conclusion
We hope you and your students enjoy a few of these handwriting activities, encouraging positive behavior and using their senses. To receive more fun classroom ideas straight in your inbox, click our subscribe button below.