The Mom I Want to Be

Help your children with early writing skills by having them trace their name onto wax paper! Sandwich their name written on a wordstrip or other paper in between folded wax paper. Have them trace over their name with marker (preferable to crayon or pencil which won’t show up as clearly). Save the wax paper each time and track your child’s progress.

 

Why this works:

 

~Enhances name recognition, which gets them ready for Kindergarten and promotes self awareness

~Kids aren’t staring at a blank page, expected to produce their name out of thin air. Perfect for beginning writers.

~I prefer the word strips because they are slim and easily fit between the wax paper. Also, writing on wordstrips shows the correct proportion for lettering. And can be found at the dollar store!

~Tracks your child’s writing progress from week to week. If you save your slips of paper (and date them), you will begin to see their writing smooth out as the days progress. Little Dude does this every morning! Pretty soon, he will be a master at writing his own name!

~This technique can be used with other tracing projects (shapes, numbers, etc.)

 

Tips: Don’t expect perfection. Remember they’re still learning. I have found gentle encouragement, patience and persistence are essential.