Handwriting Apps for Young Writers

Handwriting is quite the loaded topic right now. In the news you read about how schools are focusing less on “composition” and moving towards making sure that children can meet the demands of keyboarding. The discussion right now is focused on cursive handwriting instruction, but with ever-increasing academic demands as early as kindergarten, print instruction may also be affected.

Parents and teachers express concerns that without direct handwriting instruction children will miss out on learning a necessary skill. No matter where you stand on the subject, it sounds like handwriting, especially cursive instruction, could be phased out of many schools – if your school hasn’t done so already.

What we do know is that children will be writing in school. The question is whether or not specific handwriting practice is going to be a parents’ option to do at home.

Luckily, parents now have some of the highest quality handwriting resources at their fingertips. Literally – fingertips! I mean the iPhone and iPad. If your school is getting rid of handwriting lessons, you now have the ability to teach your child this skill yourself, with much less complaining, than ever before.

iWriteWords

I have seen iWriteWords used at restaurants more than any other! A beautiful and entertaining app that children can use long before they can handle a pencil makes this a great purchase. We love how your child can easily use the playback feature to watch how they made their letters and numbers.

Write My Name

With Write My Name you start by tracing and writing your name. Move on to working on uppercase and lowercase letters where children hear the letter name and are guided through how to form each letter. Finally, practice writing over 100 commonly used words and watch a quick animation that models the words’ meanings. Bonus: Option to create name tags for multiple children!

LetterSchool

LetterSchool has an impressive three levels of interaction that support your child from tracing over a line to forming the letter all on their own. A variety of animations and the positive motivational feedback encourages your child and will keep them wanting to use this app. Check out the lite version to try out some of the content for free.