Kinetic Letters is a programme, which teaches children how to form letters correctly, quickly and with confidence. As handwriting becomes more fluent, children think less about handwriting allowing more time to think about the content of writing.

Handwriting becomes automatic.

There are 4 strands to Kinetic Letters, which we work through

• Red: making bodies stronger

• Green: holding a pencil correctly

• Yellow: Letter formation

• Blue: writing with fluency (speed)

Importance of physical development:

Handwriting requires more than just hand muscles.

• Strong core muscles allow children to sit at tables correctly and comfortably when writing.

• Strong shoulder muscles allow children to be able to control the lower parts of the arm

• Strong wrists enable children to hold the pencil correctly and for longer periods of time

The three friends pencil hold

Pencil hold:

We teach the children the “three friends hold”. The third finger is called the pillow finger and sits underneath the pencil. The thumb and first finger sit on top of the pencil.

How do we learn our Letters?

Letters are grouped into letter families. Each letter family is introduced to the children through a story about two monkeys called Bounce and Skip.

Bounce is a brave monkey and helps write the letters that start from his higher branch, whilst Skip is a scared monkey and helps write the letters that start in the middle of the line.

Please see the Kinetic Letters Families document which provides a detailed background of all the letter families.