Twinkl Handwriting is a comprehensive new handwriting scheme, suitable for KS1 and KS2 (ages 5 to 11). It’s available in both cursive and continuous cursive fonts; we’ve tested the KS2 continuous cursive version.
Worksheets from the T2-E-3720 (Continuous Cursive Letter L) KS2 activity pack.
There are separate activity packs for each alphabet letter. The Twinkl Handwriting KS2 Journey to Continuous Cursive (Letter L) activity pack includes a PowerPoint presentation, display posters, guidance sheets, printables and worksheets. The presentation has a run through of the various worksheets and phonic prompts; maybe skip some of it, if you’re working 1:1 or in very small groups, but you definitely need to read the gross and fine motor warm up slides, and the instructions for The Hare and the Tortoise worksheet.
Lily and Lulu Lamb are now wearing glasses and hearing aids. Stylish ones!
Twinkl Handwriting Activities
Warm ups are suggested, to get your students ready to write; they had my kids merrily contorting themselves, in the name of handwriting. (The gross motor warm up put me vaguely in mind of the “dab” craze). The air writing fine motor exercise is a good way to build confidence as there’s no evidence of errors.
We tried several of the Twinkl Handwriting worksheets. Our favourite sheets were Fluency, Style and Speed Practice and The Hare and the Tortoise. I rather think the purpose of the Hare and Tortoise exercise is to prove that joined up handwriting is faster than laboriously printing each letter. However, I’m afraid my children felt sorry for the slow tortoise and didn’t want to award him last place in the race. (He apparently won “platinum” and the hares won “gold”!)
Fluency, Style and Speed (top), Geoffrey Giraffe’s Ascenders (left), and rice sand tray (right).
Beyond a doubt, our favourite activity was the sand tray. Although I lacked the usual materials (chiefly, sand), they really wanted to do this… so I did what any mom would do; I improvised! Two cups of rice, on a standard lunch tray, works pretty well as substitute sand. (It’s also nearly as messy but it’s far easier to pick up when it spills.)
Getting creative in the “sand” tray!
We drew patterns, made marks, wrote words, and then descended into free play. (At one point, we were apparently reverse archaeologists: you, er, bury the fossils instead of discovering them. One learns something new, everyday!) I nearly vowed, “Never again!” I’d temporarily misplaced my mess mat and I don’t have a real tuff tray… but they absolutely loved it. To be honest, I rather liked playing with the sand tray too! It’s a lovely, sensory activity.
Twinkl Handwriting Versatility
The mix of activities and worksheets is very good; this could easily be incorporated into your teaching environment in a variety of ways. I can see this meshing well with a Montessori setting (the sand tray would be a lovely independent activity) or as copywork for a Charlotte Mason homeschool. Basic formation worksheets are great for remedial studies, whereas fluency worksheets are perfect for more able students that need a boost or differentiated work alongside their peers.
Twinkl Handwriting would be ideal as either a whole school handwriting scheme, or as a homeschool penmanship programme. It’s part of the Twinkl subscription range, and included automatically at the Ultimate level. If you just want to test it out, Letter L is available as a freebie. Other letters, such as Letter T, are clearly labelled as part of the Twinkl Handwriting collection and require any Premium subscription with the add-on or a Premium Ultimate subscription. Compared to Kinetic Letters, or the perennially popular Handwriting Without Tears, I believe Twinkl Handwriting is more versatile as part of the Twinkl one-stop shop! Now, that’s teaching time you can take all the way to the bank. 😉
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