Drawings Of Names In Cursive

There's a big debate going on in the education world about cursive handwriting. Should it be taught? Will our kids even use it? Call me "old fashioned", but I'm a big believer in teaching cursive handwriting. One of my biggest reasons for teaching it to my 2nd grade son is that I mainly use cursive when I write (well, a mixture of cursive and print would be more honest). In my opinion, it's faster and easier to write in cursive. The second reason I have taught cursive to him is that it looks very different from print (even if you use d'nealian.) In order for him to read my grocery list or the letter from his grandmother, he needs to be familiar with how it works.

Cursive Handwriting Name Art - This Reading Mama

When teaching many literacy skills (the alphabet, reading, or handwriting), I always like to begin with the child's name because his name carries with it a lot of meaning and intrinsic motivation to learn. So, we began cursive handwriting with his name…and a little art fun to boot! This is an activity I did as a child and LOVED it.

Cursive Handwriting Name Art

Materials:

large white construction paper (11×14)
sharpie of choice
4-6 crayon colors (I like to use crayons instead of marker because they don't "bleed" together)

write your name in cursive

To create name art, start by writing your name in cursive with a sharpie. Dark colors work the best.

coloring around your name

Use your first color of crayon to draw squiggles all around your name (inside and out). Do the same thing with your second color. (This is GREAT for fine motor!)

color around your name with crayons

Then follow in suit with the rest of your colors until you've squiggled through all of them. 🙂

cursive name art with crayons

Once you have gone through all your colors, continue through them again as a pattern until you've colored all the way to the edge of your paper and you have no white left. What you get in the end is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

draw circles around your name

Variation–> Use shapes, such as circles, all around the name. It's just a pretty and just as effective for fine motor skills!

More Handwriting Ideas:

Fun with Cursive
Reasons to Teach Handwriting
Handwriting Matters–and Why We Need to Teach It
Free Cursive Handwriting Sheets

Follow This Reading Mama's board Handwriting on Pinterest.

~Becky