Does your child think that the lines on the handwriting paper are just suggestions, like my Kindergartner? Then, these DUPLO and LEGO brick Handwriting Mats {FREE download at the end of this post} might just do the trick! We’ve played around with our LEGO letters a bit this year to understand that some letters are tall while other letters are short; and some letters even have “tails.”
But then I thought of another way to get him to practice his handwriting {while sneaking in some sight word spelling, too!} with our DUPLO and LEGO bricks. Based on Homeschool Creations’ Read It! Build It! Write it! Mats, I created some that are a perfect fit for LEGO week!
*This post contains affiliate links.
DUPLO Handwriting Mats
While I was up early one morning preparing this activity, MBug {4 years old, my early riser} saw what I was working on and asked if she could join in on the fun. So, she did. She was thrilled to find that she knew some of the sight words from Reading the Alphabet.
Before hand, I printed the DUPLO handwriting mats onto cardstock and laminated them. I pulled out enough DUPLO bricks for both kids {some for tall letters and letters with tails and some for short letters}.
Then, I sat both kiddos down and demonstrated how this would work. They both caught on right away and were off working so excitedly.
First, they placed the sight word card up at the top {under “Read”}. The FREE pack has many beginning sight word cards, either typed within the handwriting lines or
without them. Then, using the DUPLO bricks, they built the shape of the words, paying attention to tall letters, short letters, and letters with “tails”.
Using the shape of the word, they wrote it below on the handwriting mat.
Both kiddos were super excited about this activity and between them, did every word I printed! I was especially proud of how NJoy discovered the purpose of those lines
and how diligent MBug was to “write like a Kindergartner.”
LEGO Handwriting Mats
If you have LEGO bricks instead, you’ll also find 6 different colored LEGO Handwriting Mats included. You can use the same sight words cards. You just may need to trim them down a little bit more to fit.
Instead of using DUPLO bricks, use 3 x 2 and 2 x 2 LEGO bricks.
More Ideas You May Enjoy:
- Spelling with LEGO Letters
- LEGO Word Family Sorting
- Phoneme Counting Cards
- Counting Syllables with LEGO Bricks
- Handwriting Notebooks {with lots of freebies!}
- Roll & Write Handwriting Pages
- Sight Word Guess Who?
Download these FREE DUPLO/LEGO Handwriting Mats HERE.
{If you are unable to get the dotted lines to print when you download this file, try right clicking on the word HERE above, saving the file directly to your computer. The dotted lines should appear when you print from that saved file.}
~Becky
I love this idea and cannot wait to try it with my students in OT. However, when I print out the mat, the dotted lines on the blank mats to do not print. Any ideas how to remedy this?
Okay, if you right click on the link to download them and save them directly to your computer and print from that file, it should work. It did for me any way. Let me know if that works. For some reason PDF files don’t always like those dotted lines. 🙂
I have tried it that way and the lines still do not print. I have had this problem with other lined paper too…not quite sure, but I will keep playing with it to see what I can do. Thanks for trying.
I figured it out. For some reason the dotted lines did not print when I was doing test prints on our black and white laser printer, but they printed when I used a color laser printer. Strange since the lines are black, but glad I finally got it to work. Thanks!
So glad you figured it out!
I LOVE this idea but I cant seem to find where I can download the Lego mats. Can you help?
Towards the end of the post, it says in bold letter to “Download HERE”. Click on HERE.
I love this! any suggestions on where to get a few duplo legos? Most sets are pretty expensive and include way more pieces than I need…
Garage sales or thrift stores would be my suggestions. 🙂
Thank you so much for such an ingenious idea! Am going to try this with my Lego-obsessed kindergartener this week!
Awesome!! 🙂
I took this idea one step further and wrote the alphabet letters on the corresponding sized lego blocks. The students connect the blocks to form the words. Great to work on bilateral integration, sequencing, fine motor and visual motor all at the same time.
Yes! I did this with the smaller LEGO bricks -> https://thisreadingmama.com/spelling-with-lego-letters/