Role of ‘rewards’ in making kids learn handwriting

The process of learning in kids always depends on the motivation you provide so that he gains interest in doing so willingly. Similar is the case with handwriting practice too!

Children often find it boring and cumbersome to sit down to practice handwriting. As parents, every time you face this challenge and you are put in the toughest drill of your life to motivate him! How about rewarding and appreciating his efforts in order to motivate him?

Rewards in the form of games or activity: You can also tell him that if he completes all the alphabets neatly you will play a game or give him to draw. Such things bring in the element of fun and enjoyment hand-in-hand with games to improve handwriting.

Yes, by occasionally rewarding your kid you can actually motivate him to learn more energetically and enthusiastically. This will also help you in working on handwriting practice for kids.

Concept of rewards

Rewards are the occasional appreciations in the form of certain objects like award certificates, some goodies etc. that act as a motivator driving the kids to work towards achieving them. For example, if you are a parent, you can occasionally tell your kid that with each neat letter he writes you will give him a candy or give him a certificate like – ‘Mr. Neat’! Such things actually inspire the child and make him work with interest.

It is to be kept in mind that here; we are not talking about developing the habit of bribing kids to learn but about occasional stimulators that can boost the learning motivation in them. It is also advisable that kids should not be rewarded for everything they do because then, the very essence of reward will be lost in the process.

Different aims of reward

In order to motivate your child to learn you can use rewards in different ways to help him. You can either use rewards as a motivator or as a feedback.

Motivator: Rewards will help motivate your child who is otherwise unwilling and reluctant to learn. In order to do so design an effective handwriting lesson plan and carefully identify which are the areas where your kid is unwilling to work up on and understand why he does it. Try to understand, if he is facing some difficulty or is it just a behavioral or issue of lack of attention. This will enable you to design the handwriting practice for kids in a manner keeping his needs in mind.

Feedback: It is very important that children become aware of the importance of feedback in learning. By giving them regular and timely feedback on the tasks they complete and the efforts they put in to complete them is very beneficial in teaching them what is right and what is wrong and what should be practiced and what should not be. Feed backs make kids develop the virtue of accepting mistakes and learning to improve on them. This in turn helps them to grow as resilient individuals who always welcome constructive criticism. In working on how to make a child write neatly, you can always tell your kid which are the areas he or she needs to improve and then efficiently plan out a strategy to achieve those goals.

Types of rewards

Once you have understood the importance and the purpose behind rewards let us think of some really good types of reward for your kid.

1. Words of appreciation: Words of appreciation like, ‘wow! You really did an amazing job!’ or ‘your handwriting is really very neat; keep it up!’ go a long way to help your kid’s learning.
2. Mementos or goodies: You can think of some really nice things like a box of colorful crayons or a pack of marbles whenever he completes writing the alphabets without missing out a single one.
3. Reward certificates: You can design simple and interesting looking certificates saying ‘you have written the most beautiful cursive letters’ or ‘Your small letters were neat!’ or ‘I am happy to tell you that your capital letters were absolutely correct and in shape!’ etc.
4. Occasional benefits of fun: You can also motivate him by occasionally telling him that if he practices to write the within the lines neatly you will take him to his favorite ice-cream parlor and so on.

Remember your little child is a new learner and therefore, it’s quite normal that he might not like the process of handwriting practice but, with the uniquely designed customized handwriting worksheets you can always motivate your child and reward his efforts.