Activity books for Junior Infants: handwriting

Developing handwriting abilities is one of the fundamental focusses of early learning. For children of Junior Infants age, handwriting practice starts with essentials such as introductions to writing tools and perfecting grip, recognising patterns, shapes and letters, and left-to-right directional awareness. Once these pre-writing skills have been mastered, letter formation and cursive legibility can be introduced gradually so that children can start to spell out names and simple words.

In this useful guide, we take a look at handwriting activity books for Junior Infants, so that you can understand what the skills these books cover and how they facilitate handwriting development. We’ll also discuss some of the ways you can support your child with their handwriting practice outside of the classroom.

Supporting your Junior Infant with their handwriting

As with all early literacy skills, handwriting is one of the most important developmental milestones and it is important that children are able to learn in a supportive and rewarding environment. Many of the activities your child will partake in before starting Junior Infants at preschool or home, such as building blocks, painting and colouring, are designed to improve their fine motor skills. These skills will be used for developing your child's handwriting abilities once they enter Junior Infants, and there are many ways you can provide support for this outside of the classroom.

Correct posture and positioning

One of the simplest ways to support and encourage handwriting practise is to position your child correctly at the table. The chair should be positioned so that your child is sitting close to the table with their elbows resting comfortably on its surface, feet resting flat on the floor, knees bent at a 90 degree angle and hips back in their chair but hinged slightly towards the desk. Their worksheet or handwriting book can be stabilised with their non-dominant hand and positioned at a slight angle on the table.

Grip

The correct grip for holding a pencil is the dynamic tripod grip, which opens the space between the fingers to support pencil movement. It can help to place markers along the pencil to show your child where the index finger and thumb should be positioned, with the little finger then curled inside.

Pen or pencil?

The tools you give your child for writing are as important as the environment and set-up for practise. You will want to make sure your child has writing implements that are appropriate for their age and ability but also comfortable to hold and use.

There are also different approaches you can adopt for encouraging growth and practice. For example, you may start with pencils only and work up to pens as your child’s handwriting develops, or you could work with both pens and pencils from the start but remove erasers to demonstrate it is OK for your child to make mistakes.

Take small steps

Learning handwriting for the first time can be daunting. Your child's handwriting will not drastically improve overnight, and it takes time to move from pre-cursive letter formation to fully cursive handwriting. All children learn at different speeds and the best way to provide support is to take small steps so your child is not disheartened by mistakes or setbacks.

Patience and practice

Young children are unable to concentrate for long periods of time, and for many, handwriting is not a particularly enjoyable activity. It is important to have plenty of patience and to break your handwriting practice into small sessions with fun activities and workbooks that offer consistent support to their Junior Infants classes.

Pre-cursive activity books

	Folens – All Write Now – Junior Infants – Textbook & Workbook Set	This comprehensive set provides a full programme of activities to take your child from understanding the ‘three P’s’ (posture, pencil grip and page position) at Junior/Senior Infants level through to phonics and grammar at 2nd Class.
	CJ Fallon – Modern Handwriting A – Junior Infants	Designed to be a prewriting aid, this book supports the development of visual skills such as recognising colours, pen/pencil grip, tracing, copying and colouring, directional awareness and spoken language. Follow with Modern Handwriting B - Senior Infants.
	Educate.ie – Just Handwriting Early Years 3-4 and Educate.ie – Just Handwriting Early Years 4-5	Designed to facilitate pre-cursive handwriting development as your child moves through Junior Infants, these activity books are aligned with Aistear and are perfect for the pre-cursive handwriting stage.
	Just Rewards – Just Cursive – Handwriting – Pre-Writing Patterns	An introduction to Just Cursive which focuses on basic movements and pattern practice for letter-like formations. The aim is to help your child retain these skills so they can eventually write with clarity and speed. Features an optional traffic light self-assessment.
	Educate.ie – Just Handwriting – Junior Infants	A pre-cursive handwriting programme written by Irish primary teachers. It features warm up activities, self-assessments, gradual decreases in line width and constructive activities such as quizzes.

Cursive activity books

	Edco – Sunny Street – Gateways: Just Write A	This introduction to cursive writing includes a variety of useful exercises which will improve fine motor skills, hand and eye coordination, orientation and directionality. Once these skills are mastered, the book leads children naturally into letter formation.
	Edco – Ready to Write A1 – Junior Infants	Drawing on the Aistear Early Childhood framework, the Ready to Write uses play and enjoyment to help students with early handwriting skills, including lower and capital letter formation and the basic elements of cursive writing.
	Just Cursive – Handwriting – Junior Infants (Book and Practice Copy Set)	The Just Cursive programme aims to make teaching handwriting as straightforward as possible. This set features two pages per letter/activity so that your child can have a simple but structured handwriting practice.

Complete handwriting programmes

	Mrs Murphy’s Copies	The Mrs Murphy’s Copies collection includes copy books for pre-cursive and cursive development, as well as one pack which covers a whole year’s writing programme. Designed by Primary School teacher Breda Courtney Murphy and aligned with the Primary Language Curriculum, these books will develop all the key handwriting skills from posture and pen grip to letter formation and writing fluency. Activities are presented in a fun and age-appropriate way, and the programme supports cross-curricular learning in subjects such as Gaeilge and SESE.
	Folens – Write Here A – Junior Infants	This is the first book in the Write Here complete handwriting programme which offers a range of activity books for Junior Infants to 4th Class. This book focuses on letter formation and letter joining with fun word searches, jokes, poems, Irish vocabulary and phonics practice.
	Folens – Write This Way 2 – Junior Infants	The first book in a handwriting series that takes children from Junior Infants to 6th Class. Handwriting practice is structured around activities for fine motor control and directional awareness, as well as essential skills in recognising patterns and shapes before advancing to letter formation.
	CJ Fallon – Handwriting Made Easy Looped Style A and Print Style A	Handwriting Made Easy is a handwriting programme for primary schools that runs from Junior Infants to 4th Class. Book A for Junior Infants has activities in both Irish and English and includes demonstrations on correct posture and pen grip. Children will be introduced to the alphabet and shown how to form letters.