These games will assist in tactile simulation for handwriting. For more on sensory skills and handwriting visit http://teachhandwriting.co.uk/tactile-defensive-activities-to-improve-handwriting.html
Can you feel your name?
What you’ll need:
Plastic letters
pen
note book
blanket
2 pillowcases of a dark non see through colour (one to serve as a feely bag, and the other for a blindfold)
How to play:
Step 1: Place pen and notebook on the table
Step 2: In a separate room, set up the blanket and two pillowcases and a container containing the plastic letters
Step 3: Ask the child to write their in the notebook 5 times
Step 4: Lead the child to the living room and ask your child to pick out the letters that spell his or her name and place them in one pillowcase
Step 5: Spread the blanket out on the floor
Step 6: Before emptying the contents of the first case on the blanket, secure the second case firmly over the child’s eyes so they can’t see anything
Step 7: Have your child spell their name with the plastic letters by feeling each piece
Remove the blindfold and have the child write their name again 5 more times and see if feeling the letters helped your child understand their shape
Blind Man’s Trace
This activity makes one think carefully about hand and arm movements. Because they can’t see they have to pay more attention to being neat and judging where the pen has been, so for example feeling pen movements for the difference between h and n.
This activity also send messages about letter formation in a different way reinforcing the messages because it is not only visual.
What you’ll need:
Blindfold
Pen
Notebook
Pillowcase (to use as a feely bag)
Plastic letters
Step 1: Sit someone down at a desk and place the pen and notebook in front o fthem.
Step 2: Place letters into a non see through cloth bag.
Step 3: Blindfold the participant and ask reach in and take out a letter and identify the letter by feel.
Step 4: Ask them to write each letter they’ve picked out of the book in the notebook.
Step 5: Remove the blindfold, so they can see if they identified the letter and wrote it correctly.
