Multisensory Handwriting Activities You Can Do at Home

Paying special attention to developing your child’s handwriting skills is one of the best ways to set them up for both reading and writing success, whether they are just learning how to hold a pencil or have begun writing words and sentences. And thankfully, you don’t need fancy materials or special training! Simple, playful activities at home can make a big difference.

Activities for Pre-Writing Skills

Handwriting success is dependent on a handful of fundamental skills that begin developing as early as infanthood. These skills include—but are not limited to—directionality, laterality, visual discrimination, gross motor skills, and fine motor skills.

Directionality and laterality skills are what children need in order to differentiate left, right, up, and down. These skills help them to understand how letters are formed. Strong directionality can prevent letter reversals and can support correct letter orientation and consistent writing from left to right across a page.
Visual discrimination is the ability to notice differences and similarities in shapes, sizes, and forms. For handwriting, it helps children distinguish between letters that look similar. Visual discrimination helps children spot errors in their own writing, leading to independence through self-correction.

Gross motor skills are needed to ensure your child has the stamina and stability to complete writing tasks. Things like core strength and posture are crucial to support a comfortable position for writing. Fine motor skills are required to hold a pencil, control pressure, and form letters smoothly and legibly.

The following activities are excellent options for all stages of handwriting development. They provide support not only for beginning writers, but also support children who have not yet begun learning to write.

Directionality/Laterality Activities

• Dancing and sports – Dancing and most sports require children to use and coordinate both sides of the body while following directional cues, supporting strong directionality and laterality.
• Simon Says – Simon Says is a classic, fun game to play to help children work on their lefts and rights. Try prompts like “Simon says lift your right foot” or “Simon says jump to the left”.

Visual Discrimination Activities

• Puzzles – Almost any kind of puzzle helps to build visual discrimination skills. Spot-the-difference activities, jigsaw puzzles, tangrams, matching games, sorting games, and hidden picture/I-Spy puzzles all rely on a child’s ability to notice similarities and differences, which will help children who are learning to write differentiate between similar-looking letters.

Fine and Gross Motor Skill Activities

• Outdoor play – Any kind of outdoor play or physical activity will support gross motor skills. Core strength is necessary to maintain a proper posture for writing. To build core strength, try providing opportunities for your child to swing and climb.
• Tweezers, tongs, and scissors – Holding tweezers, tongs, and scissors use the same hand muscles that are needed to hold a pencil. Try having your child move small objects like pompoms or beans from one bowl to another with tongs or tweezers, or practice cutting with safety scissors.

Multisensory Letter Formation

Once children have the necessary skills to begin writing letters, they will need lots of opportunities to practice and reinforce their handwriting skills. This is where multisensory tools that support handwriting are unmatched! Multisensory teaching helps your child move information from short-term memory to long-term memory more efficiently. This means that incorporating as many senses as possible will help the letters your child is learning “stick” in their brains.

Multisensory activities that focus specifically on letter formation end up in two categories: tracing/creating tactile letters, or writing into a tactile medium, such as a sand or rice tray. There are many different variations for these activities to keep letter practice fresh and exciting. Materials suggested below can easily be swapped out based on what you have in your home already.

Tactile Letters

• Glue dot letters – Use a stencil to cut letters out of thick paper, like card stock or construction paper. Place small dots of clear glue along the lines of the letter and let dry. The dots provide sensory feedback as your child traces each letter.
• Sandpaper letters – Use a stencil to cut letters out of sandpaper. You can add dots and arrows with marker to note the correct starting point and stroke directions for each letter or combine this with the glue dot idea and make those markings with glue dots!
• String letters – Write letters onto cardboard, dip string or yarn into glue, and glue it over the lines of the letters. When dry, your child can trace the raised letters with their finger.
• Letter building – Rather than preparing tactile letters for your child to trace ahead of time, you can have your child build their own tactile letters. Building letters out of pipe cleaners, air-dry clay, or blocks can be tons of fun. Plus, on top of practicing their letter formation, children will also be refining their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination!

Tactile Writing Trays

• Sand tray – Writing letters into a tray of coarse, scratchy sand can be a powerful multisensory tool. Try Brainspring’s two-toned Magic Sand®, where letters not only physically appear in the sand, but also stand out visually with a pop of bright green!
• Rice tray – Similar to the sand tray, rice (or something similar in size that you may have around the house, like salt, sugar, flour, chia seeds, or couscous) can be placed in a tray and used to write letters while providing tactile sensory feedback. Use whatever texture is preferable to your child!
• Gel board – Many toy companies make tactile drawing or writing boards that are a thick gel encased in layers of clear plastic. You can also DIY a gel board by adding hair gel to a plastic bag and taping it securely shut. Using a finger to write letters onto the board leaves both a physical and visible impression on the gel.
• Shaving cream – This one can get messy! Spray a bit of foam shaving cream onto a table or tray. Your child can practice writing letters directly into the thick foam.
• Carpet squares – Certain kinds of carpet—particularly the thick, plush, high-pile kind—leave impressions when a finger is dragged across it. You may have high-pile carpet somewhere in your home perfect for writing letters with tactile sensory feedback! Alternatively, you may be able to find a sample of plush carpet to for your child to use.

Multisensory Handwriting Curriculum

While these multisensory activities are amazing for building fundamental skills and reinforcing correct letter formation, your child may need a more structured approach to handwriting instruction. Brainspring’s multisensory handwriting curriculum, Handwriting: Lessons for Print® gives you everything you need to guide your child through handwriting with confidence, while using the same fun, engaging multisensory methods that make learning “stick”!