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Saturday 22 December 2012

Learning To Write

Young children need motivation to write. Parents can provide a variety of writing tools to encourage writing. Here are a few suggestions.. 

You can try writing the alphabets in highlighter pens like the one below.  It is still tracing but after the child writes over them, the pencil marks will cover over it making it seem your child managed to do it freehand. 

There are also alphabet stencils that can encourage freehand alphabet writing. Alphabet stencils are easily available in neighbourhood stationery shops or at Popular bookstores. They're made of hard plastic, easy to clean, comes in various fonts and sizes to suit the smallest of hands/fingers. Some stencil templates even support cursive writing.


If you're looking for more fun stencils for younger children, this is a good buy for you to consider. It's Scholastic's Alphabet Stencils and it is available online @ Amazon.com. Alphabet Stencils are excellent tools for use in developing the motor and visual perception skills needed to form and distinguish letters. The following information is found in the guide that comes with the Alphabet Stencil kit. The Alphabet Stencil kit contains uppercase letter stencils and a corresponding animal, person, or object stencil for each letter plus a crayon pack. The stencils are designed to meet the following key instructional goals:
  • naming alphabet letters
  • writing uppercase letters
  • distinguishing confusing letters
  • identifying letter & letter sounds
  • developing automaticity (fluency) with alphabet-recognition skills
The stencil kit is ideal for small group instruction when you are working with selected children who have not yet achieved mastery with these basic skills. Be sure to explicity teach the letter name, sound, and formation. For example, say, "This is the letter s. The letter s stands for the /s/ sound. Watch as I trace the letter with my finger." To accelerate the children's progress, have them say the letter or the sound of the letter as they practice writing the letter (e.g., /b//b/, /f/, as they write the letter bbf).
You can also consider using other interesting mediums for your child to write on... like whiteboard markers, now they even have blackboard markers too! Use a paintbrush to paint letter shapes.. (brushes are also good practice for pencil work... ), chalk (if you have a chalkboard) or even with oil pastels.
Make a rainbow with oil pastel colours on a drawing paper, cover up everything with black oil pastel. Then scratch on the paper with a thin stick and you can see the rainbow colours as you make lines of the alphabets with it.
Another simple at home way is to print using your computer these hollow alphabet tracer. Children can use various writing tools/mediums to trace freehand around the shapes of each alphabet. You may encourage child to change colours after writing/tracing over the letter each time and you then form your own rainbow writer.
Don't wanna waste paper, printing over and over again? Just laminate them, and voila! It can now be used for tracing with markers... over... and over... and over again. It can be binded into an alphabet writing booklet or pasted on the walls of the child's room like an alphabet wall frieze.

There are also a variety of fun lettering or stencil books available in good bookstores and in this day and age, almost everything is available online. These are amongst the few that we have at home.
Clever lettering can turn ordinary words into extraordinary works of art!
 
It's all about using your imagination and experimenting, but most importantly, it's about having fun. And it's so simple!
With the aid of the easy-to-use stencils and basic guidelines in this book, you will be adding that little bit extra to your school projects, greeting cards, posters, bookmarks and even your very own party invitations. There is really no limit to the many ways you can use clever lettering.
My First Lettering Book includes:
• 6 alphabet stencils
• Cool lettering and fun pictures to trace
• Exciting projects to do
• Easy to follow step-by-step instructions

  
  
I bought this in a bookstore in a mall in Penang while we were on our short family vacation.  I wanted to buy a lot more from the store but saved on it thinking there will be other bookshops around!  I saw lotsa people scooping up great deals on powder and liquid paint in big jars going for only like RM11.00! DD1 was like 6+ years old and i remember i got it for her birthday. 7th birthday present. DD1 loves drawing, painting and all sorts of crafts. 
She was ecstatic when i gave it to her. Both DD1 and DD2 had lotsa fun experimenting with the different stencils in the book when we returned to the resort. Hubs and i had nice time catching up on movies (HBO) from that evening onwards.  The girls were kept very occupied. 
The book cost only RM16.90 before their so-call sale price!
It's a STEAL awrite! 
I have not seen this in stores here but if you're interested,
you can consider getting it here on its online store.
They have many other various stencil books on this website!
 
 
Lettering in Crazy Cool Quirky Style is a tool kit for any kid who has ever wanted to make chunky block letters, blobby balloon letters, swirly, curly letters... whatever. A bound-on pouch holds the tools, like fine-tipped markers, a mechanical pencil and a white eraser (on the outside chance any mistakes get made). Best of all? Artist's pencils in 16 different shades turn your words into distinctively colorful language. Use the included practice paper to trace our illustrators' alphabets, or copy them freehand. Not simple enough? We also threw in five plastic stencils — two complete alphabets plus assorted extras — to act as super-stylish training wheels.
I purchased this stencil book during last two year's POPULAR sale @ Expo. I think it was $15.00... The stencils are plastic for this one. I chanced upon this same book @ Page One Vivo City. Or if you prefer... you can also buy it online @ Amazon or Klutz. Click the blue links below to go to their sites.
More stencils at this link! 
Many possibilities to explore! And the possibilities are endless.

1 comment:

  1. Hi, thanks for the invitation. I have pledged. :)

    Here's to preservation of memories. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete