Thank you to Ethan Whelpley for testing and reviewing cursive apps for children!
In school districts all around, the teaching of cursive is fading away faster than ever. Luckily there are apps that want to change that and teach kids how to learn cursive–for free!
The first app I tried out was called “Handwriting Worksheets for Children.” First, if you have your child use this app, I recommend that an adult download it onto the child’s device. The first time I opened the app there was a pop-up add that said “app of the day”![]()
. After I hit cancel the same add popped right back up, and after I hit the cancel button for the second time it left for good, but then a new app appeared, this time advertising for a medieval game. The ad showed a lot of cleavage, and I know I wouldn’t want my young child to see (if I had one). After that I started to play the game. The way it “teaches” cursive is that it has you trace over the cursive letters with your finger, which I found very difficult. I would give this app 2 1/2 stars because it doesn’t teach cursive. However, it is a really cool drawing app that I would use to draw, but that would be the only reason I would use it and probably the only reason your child would use it. Some ways that it could’ve improved was if it had no ads on it and if it was more interactive and fun to play instead of something that I would feel forced to use. itunes.apple.com/us/app/handwriting-worksheets-for
Another app that I tried out is called “Cursive Writing.” It’s simple. All you do is you trace right over cursive letters just like the other app, and it was also a better layout and it felt more welcoming to the user. It also was easier to use because it didn’t feel so tight on my fingers because the letters were only on one screen at a time.![]()
I also think it could have been more interactive to make the app more entertaining for the user. But overall I think it’s the better app to download so your kid/kids can learn cursive. itunes.apple.com/us/app/cursive-writing
The next app I tried is called “
ABC Cursive.” Turn down the sound because it’s loud and distracting with music and voices. If your child does not mind the sound, this app is more interactive than the first two apps, but the free edition only offers uppercase letters, so you don’t get a full learning experience.
itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-cursive-writing-free-liteFinally, I tried the app “
Cursive Words.” I like this one because it feels good on my fingers. There is a lot of space on the screen so you are not as cramped up as other apps. It’s pretty fun, You get the feeling of how the cursive letters join together to make simple words. The more you use it, the longer the words get. The app is free so there are ads, but they were not offensive and seem to be well-positioned (not distracting) age-appropriate for children.
itunes.apple.com/us/app/cursive-words
Overall, here are keys to the cursive tutorial apps that I tried:
- Use a tablet, not a phone. I started trying apps on my iPhone and the screen is smaller. I think most kids would prefer using the apps on an iPad or other tablet.
- I didn’t find any apps that checked my work. I could have just been scribbling and not trying, and on every app, I could still move on to the next step whether I’d learned or not.
- I’m not sure that learning cursive is necessary anymore, but I don’t think you should rely on these apps to teach a child cursive.
Submitted by Ethan Whelpley when he was an 8th grader at Glenwood Middle School in Chatham. He’s still working on learning cursive. You can find him online on his Ethan Whelpley YouTube channel.
