There’s a big debate going on in the education world about cursive handwriting. Should it be taught? Will our kids even use it? Call me “old fashioned”, but I’m a big believer in teaching cursive handwriting. One of my biggest reasons for teaching it to my 2nd grade son is that I mainly use cursive when I write (well, a mixture of cursive and print would be more honest). In my opinion, it’s faster and easier to write in cursive. The second reason I have taught cursive to him is that it looks very different from print (even if you use d’nealian.) In order for him to read my grocery list or the letter from his grandmother, he needs to be familiar with how it works.
When teaching many literacy skills (the alphabet, reading, or handwriting), I always like to begin with the child’s name because his name carries with it a lot of meaning and intrinsic motivation to learn. So, we began cursive handwriting with his name…and a little art fun to boot! This is an activity I did as a child and LOVED it.
Cursive Handwriting Name Art
Materials:
- large white construction paper (11×14)
- sharpie of choice
- 4-6 crayon colors (I like to use crayons instead of marker because they don’t “bleed” together)
To create name art, start by writing your name in cursive with a sharpie. Dark colors work the best.
Use your first color of crayon to draw squiggles all around your name (inside and out). Do the same thing with your second color. (This is GREAT for fine motor!)
Then follow in suit with the rest of your colors until you’ve squiggled through all of them. 🙂
Once you have gone through all your colors, continue through them again as a pattern until you’ve colored all the way to the edge of your paper and you have no white left. What you get in the end is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!
Variation–> Use shapes, such as circles, all around the name. It’s just a pretty and just as effective for fine motor skills!
More Handwriting Ideas:
- Fun with Cursive
- Reasons to Teach Handwriting
- Handwriting Matters–and Why We Need to Teach It
- Free Cursive Handwriting Sheets
Follow This Reading Mama’s board Handwriting on Pinterest.
~Becky
I would love to see a picture of the final product!
I’ll be glad to send you one via email. I use a fake name for him online so I didn’t want to disclose that. 🙂
Oh I figured that was why there wasn’t one… even just yours would be great… just to give the kids an idea of the end result. I could do one ahead of time too though! Thanks 🙂
Did you write the name in cursive or did he?
He wrote his own name on the paper. It took a couple of tries to get it “just right” in his mind, but he did all the work.
I have also found that spelling skills improve as children learn/practice cursive, perhaps because you have to think of the next letter or two as you are writing. 🙂
I remember doing this in the first grade and I loved it!
I think I did it around 2nd or 3rd and loved it as well. 🙂
This is a cute idea. I love combining learning and art.
I teach cursive because I thinks it’s so important.
I might even consider laminating the paper so they can save it and practice finger tracing their name.
Awesome idea. Thank you!
Oh, I love the idea of letting them use their finger to trace their name. 🙂