Very interesting question Susanne Grassmann ....can't wait for responses, personally I like a ball point pen.

Me gusta escribir con un bolígrafo de punta fina. Pero para aprender a escribir un niño por ejemplo recomiendo el lápiz de igual manera lo recomiendo para hacer borradores.

Hi, I am a fountain pen and pencil user and collector. I also write about handwriting tools and the craft of handwriting. Unfortunately it is mostly in Norwegian - www.fyllepenna.no . A straight quality wooden pencil in HB is excellent for learning to write. Mitsubishi 9850, Tombow Mono 100 (expensive), Ticonderoga (good cheap American), Camlin Supreme (good cheap from India), Nataraj 621 (good cheap from India), ... are just some examples of good quality pencils. Cheap fountain pens like Pilot VPen (fine or medium) and felt tip pens like Sakura Pigma Micron are also very good for learning to write. I recommend this learning system: https://palmermethod.com/ - It is a system that is 100 years old and made for secretaries who were competing with typewriters. Learning to write in this way greatly improves anyones handwriting either you are 5 or 50. Here is a blogg text about pencils and pencil sharpeners https://fyllepenna.no/kjartaniske-vers-onsker-du-deg-spisskompetanse/ - and one about drawing with dip pens https://fyllepenna.no/kjartaniske-vers-under-kaia-i-langesund-finnes-det-snabeldyr/

that looks interesting, Kjartan Skogly Kversøy do you know any comparative studies on ease and successof learning to write with the palmer method?

another question is: older methods fountain pens changed during the past 100 yearsn balpens did not exist (?) 100 years ago. pencils are similar in shape but differ with respect to the composition of the lead compared to 100 years ago.

i am wondering what is it that makes a writing tool good for learning to write? its shape, weight, the friction on paper?

4-8 year-old childrens hands and fingers are much smaller than adult hands. how does that impact optimal pen/pencil design and choice?

Susanne Grassmann Research in this area is limited. Handwriting was used more in the past. This is why the Pamer Method is relevant. It was research of the past with the intent of writing with ease, efficiency and with speed. Everything was written by hand and a good secretary needed to be able to write all day. This is as close to research you get I think. Also, pencil technology has not changed all that much the last 100 years. I recommend the very thorough book «The Pencil» by Henry Petroski. The problem with the ballpoint pen is that it lacks direction. Palmer himself writes about writing tools in his books. He seeks lightweight writing tools and prefers pens and ink, but the alternatives were few. I have seen claims that fatter triangular pencils are better for small hands, but I think the effect is marginal for writing and mostly relevant for drawing at a very early age. You might find research within the field of special education on this. Palmer talks mostly about the technique of writing efficiently and with ease. This is very important. Very few schools take this seriously. Modern people write most often with their hand, while writing with ease requires writing with you arm. Read Palmer carefully to see the important difference.

This is only a simple observation, not a scientific study: When I was young boy, and I was learning to read at school, the teachers were very careful about how to hold a pencil. The position of the fingers was checked very carefully evry day. Over the past 10 years, I have found that college students hold their pencils or pens strangely to me, sometimes very awkwardly! Some found it very difficult to write quickly.

Susanne Grassmann René Pierre Lozi Palmer is very spesific on how to hold your handwriting tool. If the pen or pencil is held to tight, and you write from your wrist out, ease and endurance of writing is more or less impossible. I learned to write in Belgium in the 70s, but about ten years ago I tested the Palmer Method because I lacked endurance and ease of writing. I trained every morning for a month for less than 15 minutes a day and my handwriting improved greatly. Today I write as much as possible with pen and paper. I mainly use quality pencils and vintage fountain pens from the 1920s and 1930s. I mostly draw with dip pens - Tachikawa nib holders and Zebra G-nib. Many current Japanese Manga comic strip artists prefer this cheap nib and nib holder. I use Iron Gall ink or standard black fountain pen ink from a bottle. In Norway at some schools the children do not write by hand before the fourth grade. This idea is terrible. I have young students who write more like children than adults. Many write every letter with a hammer tight grip. No wonder many struggle to write just a page of handwritten sentences without getting exhausted. I advocate handwriting because of the great flexibility over digital text writing. There exists research about handwriting as good for thinking.

1- I had thesis or master's students from several countries. In some countries (USA, and South America) they were writing only in bolck capital letters, which is very surprising compared to French students

2- I learned to write in 1954, with a pen holder and ink in an inkwell placed in each student's desk. It was very difficult to write without getting stained! ballpoint pens were prohibited because they prevented writing with full and hairlines

I got really bad grades because of my writing!

René Pierre Lozi I think the writing system for children in Antwerpen in Belgium during the 70s was similar to the French school system. We started writing with Pelikano fountain pens at age 6 and most of the pupils in my class had good handwriting before age 7. I still have many of the pratice books and see that my handwriting was not so bad. My mother that learned her handwriting in the 1940s and my grandmother that learned her handwriting in the 1910s both have/had a much more beatiful handwriting than me. They both write/wrote with amazing speed, ease and beauty.

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As a former primary school teacher I would suggest a slighter larger than usual, triangular shaped pencil for learning to write. It assists with correct grip, letter formation and fluency.

No pen / pecil . Only mouse . In most of the tab there is an option for dogital pencil - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/528680443750445959/

Hi Susanne Grassmann ,

I would encourage you to look for studies within the field of occupational therapy. Here is one study that might help guide you: Yakimishyn, J. E & Magill-Evans, J. (2002). Comparisons among tools, surface orientation, and pencil grasp for children 23 months of age. Americal Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56(5), 564-572. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.56.5.564

So many factors can influence handwriting development, and often a practitioner will change the type of writing utensil to meet the fine and gross motor needs of the learner. Depending on the learner, there may also be modifications to the writing utensil (ex. adding grips or a slanted writing board) to help adjust the pressure, hand-hold, or overall ergonomics.

dear @Carolyn

thank you so much. this kind of research is indeed what i was looking for

There are things called jumbo pencils. They are slightly larger and allow for children to hold them easier while learning to write. They will then move onto normal-sized pencils once their grip and dexterity develop.

Papermate sells some quality jumbo pencils for toddlers learning to write.