We all learn in different ways and as a teacher it's a good idea to try to use as many as possible within one course. Of course in my little Book ABC Uncials, I am limited to teaching via a manual! But I have tried to curtail the written instructions and encourage kinesthetic learning. The ways of learning are Visual; Auditory; Reading and Writing; Kinesthetic (VARK) Neil Fleming Blackboard demos are visual and auditory, because you talk the letter through explaining stroke order, direction … [Read more...]
ABC Uncials: Teaching left-handed children calligraphy
ABC Uncials has a secret password for the owners of the book to download free templates and ruled up paper. You can also read up more about teaching children on the website: www.linkerrdesign.co.uk/abcuncials Isabel is nearly 10 and is a left-hander (like many famous artists including Leonardo da Vinci!) She has got her ABC Uncials book and has downloaded some ruled up paper to try the pen excercies in the introduction. This is her very first calligraphy lesson: She is writing on the ruled up … [Read more...]
Walnut Ink – ABC Uncials – Teaching Children Calligraphy
Walnut ink is a warm brown colour, inexpensive and really pleasant to use. It is supplied in a little sachet containing 1 tsp of cystals so that you can mix it immediately and the child can start trying their hand at Uncials as soon as they get the book ABC Uncials with its kit, using the balsa pen which is also in the kit. You sprinkle the sachet onto 4 Tbs of warm water - this is just enough for a tiny jam jar of water - and leave it for a couple of hours to dissolve. When diluted. it is … [Read more...]
Give them real ink! – Teaching Children Calligraphy
There are a few reasons for giving children real ink. Below is a drawing of a house that Hattie (6) did using black waterproof ink and a bamboo pen that I made. I'm showing this picture because I don't have any pctures of child-calligraphy available and because I'd like to make a few points about ink and children. You can't use waterproof or acrylic ink with a dip nib as it will clog the nib. Waterproof ink contains shellac which is varnish, and acrylic ink contains acrylic which will dry on … [Read more...]
ABC Uncials: Teaching Children Calligraphy – what style and what age?
My background as children's teacher and my interest in children's handwriting I used to run holiday courses in winter in my Cape Town studio. We had a large studio surrounded by trees and it rained incessantly. I have also thought about children's handwriting and calligraphy since I was about 14. My two left-handed brothers had writing that was hardly legible and when they were about 12, my mother bought Better Handwriting for them and they had to work from it daily. I took it to boarding … [Read more...]