Cursive Is Coming Back: How to Get Your Preschooler Ready at Home
Updated: Oct 11
Remember cursive? Those loopy, joined-up letters your teacher made you practice? Schools quietly dropped it for years. Now it's making a comeback.
If you have a preschooler, this matters sooner than you think. Cursive starts with simple strokes like loops, waves, and curves. Kids can start practicing those at ages 3 to 5, long before they pick up a cursive worksheet.
Here is what is happening, why people care, and how you can get your child ready at home.
What is happening in schools
In October 2023, California passed a law that requires public schools to teach cursive in grades 1 through 6. It took effect in January 2024. The lawmaker behind it wanted kids to be able to read old handwritten documents, like letters from family history.[1]
California is not alone. A 2023 article counted 18 states with cursive rules.[1] That number is now higher. A September 2026 news report says more than half of U.S. states require some cursive teaching. It lists 14 states in 2016, 20 in 2019, and 27 in 2024.[2] One handwriting group says at least 31 states have a rule, but the reporters could only confirm 27.[2]
The rules differ by state. Some states leave the choice to local school districts. Check your own state's rules before you plan around them.
Why people care about cursive
Reading history. Letters, diaries, and old documents are often handwritten in cursive. Kids who can't read it can't read them.[1]
Fine motor skills. Educators say the flowing strokes help small hands build control.[1]
The brain. A 2024 Norwegian study had college students write words by hand and type them while sensors tracked brain activity. Handwriting, including cursive, lit up more connections between brain areas linked to learning and memory than typing did.[3]
Now the honest part. That study was small and used adults. The researchers did not test whether people remembered the words better. Other scientists say the difference could come from the movement itself. So handwriting looks promising, but it is not proof that cursive makes kids smarter.[3]
What we can say for sure: writing by hand uses your brain and your hands in a different way than typing does. That is a good reason to keep it in your child's day.
How to get your preschooler ready for cursive
Don't hand a 4 year old a cursive worksheet. Start with the building blocks. Cursive is made of a few simple shapes, so practice those first.
Draw big in the air. Have your child trace loops, waves, and curves in the air with a finger. Big arm movements come first.
Trace on a tray. Spread a thin layer of flour or salt on a tray. Your child draws waves and loops with one finger. Stay with them, and keep it out of their mouth.
Roll playdough ropes. Rolling ropes builds hand strength. Then shape the ropes into loops and waves.
Crayon rainbows. Draw wavy lines and loops across a page with different crayon colors.
Tracing pages. Use simple line tracing pages for short practice, about 5 minutes at a time.
Cut and paste. Scissor practice builds the same small hand muscles. Always supervise scissors.
Go slow and keep it fun. If your child gets tired, stop and try again tomorrow. Kids learn best when it feels like play.
Get started with Bloom & Beyond
I'm a former preschool teacher, and I built Bloom & Beyond to make this kind of practice easy for parents.
Not sure your child is ready? Get the free Is My Child Ready for Cursive? checklist. It's a quick 9 point check plus a loops warm up page to try at home.
Ready for letters? The new Learn to Write Cursive workbook walks your child through all 26 lowercase letters step by step, plus capitals, name practice, and a certificate at the end.
Still building hand strength? Try the Learning to Trace printable book or the Scissor Skills Activity Book.
Sources
"Cursive Is Making a Comeback." Word Genius, December 2023. https://www.wordgenius.com/cursive-is-making-a-comeback/ZVtgP3asEgAH-2on.
Miller, Heather. "States Where Cursive Handwriting Is Still Taught in Schools." FOX Local, September 17, 2026. https://www.fox5ny.com/news/states-where-cursive-handwriting-is-still-taught-schools.
"Handwriting May Boost Brain Connections More Than Typing Does." Science News, January 26, 2024, reporting on a study by Audrey van der Meer and Ruud van der Weel in Frontiers in Psychology. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/handwriting-brain-connections-learning.
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