Writing with Purpose

• Make cursive practice more enjoyable by giving children a reason to write. Teach them to keep a journal or write letters to you, which you then answer. Have them write letters to a friend or relative far away. Encourage your students to write letters to other students in the class, or find another classroom and become pen-pals. Have students write and send short memos back and forth. Knowing that other people will read their cursive writing will motivate them to practice and work at writing more neatly.
  
  

Wipe Out Mistakes

• Some students struggle with learning to write in cursive because they are too afraid of making mistakes. The ability to quickly erase mistakes often gives these children the confidence to practice and improve. Have students practice cursive on a small whiteboard, chalkboard or magnetic writing tablet. If you do not have whiteboards available, slide handwriting pages into plastic page protectors and have students write on them with dry-erase markers. The pages will wipe clean with a damp paper towel. All of these surfaces allow them to quickly erase any mistakes and start over again. This gives children the opportunity to practice their handwriting without worrying about mistakes.
  
  

Change It Up

• Keep cursive practice interesting by allowing children to write in different places and with different materials. Let children write standing at the chalkboard, lying prone on the floor, sitting on the sidewalk, or standing at a window. Have them write in crayon, pen, marker, chalk or with wet paintbrushes on cement. Encourage children to use their fingers to write on fogged-up mirrors or windows after getting permission from their parents. Keeping the practice fun and varied makes students more willing to work at cursive.
  
  

Tactile Writing

• Paper and pencil do not have much tactile resistance, and some children benefit from practicing with more tactile substances. Have them practice writing in shaving cream, sand or even paint. Students can use their fingers to practice forming letters in cursive. Writing in materials like sand and paint provides more tactile feedback and helps children to feel what they are doing when they write. Of course, it also makes handwriting practice more fun.