Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Writing Boards
My first two children were funny in that they both wanted to learn how to write their name at 3 years old. This was exciting but also troubling because it is hard for a 3 year old to write. It is even harder for a 3 year old to accept failure. And even harder than all that is a 3 year old's ability to be patient while erasing any mistakes. Upon my daughter's first try, and therefore her first writing-temper-tantrum-meltdown, I quickly realized that I needed to do something to make it easier for her so she wouldn't give up. This led me to make writing boards for my kids. I printed out the following pages, glued the first two and last two together, back to back, (I also glued another sheet of paper in between them to make it thicker and prevent images from the back appearing on the front, but you could also just print them on the front and back of a page of cardstock), took them to a print shop to have them laminated, bought some dry erase markers, and VOILA! Now my kids could practice writing their name as often as they wanted. There is also a full number/letter page, a shape tracing page to help kids learn basic pencil strokes, and a fun page for making faces. My kids LOVED these. Now when they made mistakes they didn't even have to tell me, they just swiped the mistake off with their finger or a napkin and kept going. They were great for in the car, at church, in waiting rooms, any place. And it was great seeing how confident my kids were in their writing when we eventually went back to paper. Oh, and I've also made these for other children for birthdays, and if you made them big enough you could even use them for placemats at the table.
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16 comments:
What a fabulous idea! I've been wanting to do something like this for my little girl, who really has zero interest in writing, drawing, coloring... I can't figure it out. But I'd really like for her to learn that skill soon, writing her name, particularly.
Thanks for sharing! Love it. ;)
Cory would love these! I know you have told me about making these before, now I just need to get around to it.
What a great idea! Thanks!
Cute idea! I can see my son throwing the frustrated tantrums. He is definitely like that. I will have to remember this for when he is a bit older!
My son's teacher did that for him when he was in pre-k... such a smart idea.
I love the idea of making them big enough for placemats! Thanks, my boys will love it.
Awesome, awesome ideas. I've just been putting together some of those file folder things and this would be great to add to what I'm already doing. Very, very cool. Thanks for sharing!
You are a gifted teacher. Your kids are so lucky.
Heidi
Oh, but HOW do you get them to write on the boards, and not on the walls and the furniture??? I'm beggin' ya -- tell me how!! :P
(This really is a fabulous idea -- I'll just have to hide the markers with our paints) :D
I've been making these for my son for the last few years as well. You don't have to laminate them. You can just use sleeve page protectors (you can buy a few at a drug store or en-masse at Costco or Office Depot). The dry erase or vis-a-vis markers work just as well on sleeve protectors.
great idea!! And I love your ICE CREAM name print!! ;-)
yup great idea :o)
~simply~
ian would be all over this. he always wants to practice his name but doesn't know how to get past the i without some help. i'll have to add this to my to-do list!:)
That is a GREAT idea!!
What a great idea!! These look really cool. Thanks for sharing!
Good stuff. My 3 year old (daughter) is a show off writing EVERYthing she can.
My 3 year old (son) still holds he pencil in a fist so this is a cute and motivational activity for him.
Great Idea!!! Thank you for sharing it. :)
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