Fun Spring-Themed Handwriting Activities for Kids

ByHeather Greutman Hours

Affiliate and Referral links are used below to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission on any purchases made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

I love a good seasonal-themed activity. Spring is a great time to pull out some novel spring-themed handwriting activities to help engage your child or student in handwriting. Here are some of my favorite spring-themed handwriting ideas to use in your home, classroom, or clinic.

Spring Handwriting Activity Ideas for Children

Here are some fun handwriting activities to encourage good handwriting practice.

Spring Yoga Poses

Yoga poses are a great way to begin a handwriting session or practice. It helps to wake the muscles up and prep a child for sitting and focusing while using the smaller muscles of the hand.

As therapists, we often refer to this as starting with proximal movement and then finishing with distal movement. Proximal refers to muscles that are closest to the middle of the body. Distal refers to muscles that are farther away. For example, the fingers are distal, or farther away from the shoulder muscles.

Many children benefit from this approach to treatment since the proximal muscles of the shoulder need to be strong for the distal muscles of the elbow, wrist, and hand to function at their best. To take this concept further, gross motor strength, core strength, and crossing midline are important building blocks for handwriting and function. Yoga poses can help improve all these areas.

Here are some great Spring Yoga Poses from Kids Yoga Stories.

Spring Mad-Libs

Mad-libs are a great way to encourage hesitant writers. It makes writing silly and fun for many kids! Here are some fun free spring-themed mad-libs ideas:

Spring-Themed Writing Trays

Writing trays can be used to help warm up the fingers for handwriting. It can also help reluctant writers have an interest in handwriting again. It is important to note that handwriting trays should not replace practice on paper with a pencil. However, they can help encourage a child to be interested in writing and providing multi-sensory tools to encourage fine motor practice.

Here are some of my favorite spring themed-writing trays:

Spring Alphabet Hunt

You can set this activity up a few different ways, depending on what skills you want to focus on.

For letter recognition, you can write out each letter of the alphabet, hide alphabet blocks or alphabet magnets outside, and go on a letter hunt to match the letters.

There are also spring-themed alphabet hunt printables on TPT, but I prefer an activity that involves movement for this one.

Older children can still go outside and hunt for the letters. Once they find them all, have them come inside and write each letter to match on a piece of paper. To grade this activity up even more, have them write the matching lowercase letter along with the uppercase.

Spring Scavenger Hunt

For this activity, have a piece of paper with each letter of the alphabet written on it. The child can take the paper outside with them and search for items that begin with that letter of the alphabet. After they find all their items, have them go back inside and write the name of each item they found next to the letter of the alphabet it goes with.

Spring Letter Writing

Gather sticks, rocks, or other various items from nature to help create letters. Once you have created your letters from nature, get a paper and pencil and write the matching uppercase and lowercase letters.

Chalk Rainbow Writing

Grab some sidewalk chalk and head outside to practice your spelling words, letter formations, or pre-writing lines and shapes. You can also warm up for this activity by doing a prone rainbow drawing on the ground. This helps focus on crossing midline and getting the shoulder and arm muscles ready for writing. You can watch the video below to see how it is done.

Spring Sticker Pre-Writing Lines

The picture below is an example of setting up this activity. You can use a large piece of butcher paper and draw different pre-writing lines on the sheet. Have some fun spring-themed stickers and have the child line each pre-writing shape with the stickers. Remember to always start at the top!

Peeling stickers for pre-writing line practice.

Spring Pre-Writing Packet

Pre-writing activities are a great way to encourage preschoolers to practice the lines and shapes needed for letter formation. I have a free spring writing packet available on my website that you can check out here.

Spring Handwriting Packets

Handwriting packets can be great for children in older grades such as Kindergarten through elementary age to work on letter formation, pencil control, and other skills needed for handwriting. Here are some of my favorite packets:

You May Also Like:

Heather Greutman, COTA

Heather Greutman is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant with experience in school-based OT services for preschool through high school. She uses her background to share child development tips, tools, and strategies for parents, educators, and therapists. She is the author of many ebooks including The Basics of Fine Motor Skills, and Basics of Pre-Writing Skills, and co-author of Sensory Processing Explained: A Handbook for Parents and Educators.

CONTENT DISCLAIMER: Heather Greutman is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant.
All information on the Website is for informational purposes only and is not a replacement for medical advice from a physician or your pediatrician. Please consult with a medical professional if you suspect any medical or developmental issues with your child. The information on the Websites does not replace the relationship between therapist and client in a one-on-one treatment session with an individualized treatment plan based on their professional evaluation. The information provided on the Website is provided “as is” without any representations or warranties, express or implied.

Do not rely on the information on the Website as an alternative to advice from your medical professional or healthcare provider. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment as a result of any information provided on the Website. All medical information on the Website is for informational purposes only.

All activities outlined on the Website are designed for completion with adult supervision. Please use your own judgment with your child and do not provide objects that could pose a choking hazard to young children. Never leave a child unattended during these activities. Please be aware of and follow all age recommendations on all products used in these activities. Growing Hands-On Kids is not liable for any injury when replicating any of the activities found on this blog.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY The Website was developed strictly for informational purposes. You understand and agree that you are fully responsible for your use of the information provided on the Website. Growing Hands-On Kids makes no representations, warranties, or guarantees. You understand that results may vary from person to person. Growing Hands-On Kids assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions that may appear on the Website.