Want to Motivate Kids to Write? Try Bubble Letters!

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Are you finding it challenging to get your kids to write? Me, too! Sigh. This is why I’m happy about bubble letters because they can really motivate more writing. I love that– and so will you.

bubble letters motivate kids to write

Bubble Letters Lead to More Writing

First of all, bubble letters are the art of lettering or making letters fancy, silly, scary, poofy, etc. Yes, you can make them bubble shaped but that’s only a starting point.

You can change the alphabet letters to become interesting designs and shapes. Make the letters three-dimensional shapes. But then, you can add a shadow on the outside for a more three-dimensional effect. You could add drips or stripes or even shadowing inside the letter. Here are a few tutorials for bubble letters from Design Cuts.

My kids found tons of ideas for different bubble letters in the book How to Be the Best Bubblewriter in the World Ever – from monster letters to caveman letters.

Basically, my kids enjoyed turning their words into ART! Art that got them writing. Hooray and happy dance!

Another great book we like is Hand Lettering and Beginning Calligraphy for Kids.

And calligraphy might interest your child – what do you think? Calligraphy for Kids?

You might like to watch a YouTube video tutorial. Here’s a tutorial from Maira Vial and here’s one from Lettering Daily.

The key is to try a lot of different kinds of bubble letters — and see what your kids like the best.

What will they write? Maybe signs, poems, stories, or cards?

Audrey Wood’s Picture Book Blue Sky

Recently, we read Audrey Wood’s newest picture book, Blue Sky. It’s a simple but lovely story that captures a child’s observations of the sky — blue sky, rain sky, sunset sky.

But the lettering is what I want to point out to you. We LOVED Wood’s text that shows lettering at its best. Each set of words illustrate the sky they describe.

See if your kids will observe the sky. Then, talk about the different types of sky. Can it give them ideas for new ways to write letters?

Show the sky in bubble letters!

It’s entirely possible your kids will still resist writing, even with bubble writing. Writing doesn’t come easily to most kids — you’re using so many systems to think of what to write, to form the letters, to write while thinking about ideas, spelling, punctuation, . . . it’s a lot.

Keep trying. Keep encouraging. Don’t forget to write with them. It’s a special time with you and will keep your own creative energy flowing.

Originally published in 2012, updated in 2023

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7 Comments

  1. What a great way to keep kids excited about writing. My grandsons will love this. I’m going to look for Audrey Wood’s book, too. Thanks for sharing this. Renee

  2. My kids do love to make bubble letters and I love how your ideas bring bubble letters to a whole new artistic level. I need to get my kids writing as well this summer. And reading. And doing math.

    And yet, it’s summer and it’s the only time they are not scheduled up. Ah well, time to let them stay up late and sneak some of this stuff in.

  3. Fun! I love bubble writing and all sorts of other styles like that. I think I’ll have as much fun trying this out as my son will. Love all the resources you shared and really need to check out Audrey Wood’s book Blue Sky.

  4. Thanks for the resources… I’ve gotten journals, special paper yadda, yadda and still he resists writing. It’s hard and he’s not good at it so he doesn’t want to do it.

    One of the things I started when school got out was giving him a piece of paper and pencil for story time. While I read, he writes/draws whatever catches his fancy. It looks like a mish-mash of words and pics but he’s using those muscles. I told him at the end of the summer we’ll put it all together in a book so he can remember the books we read. It seems to help at least with the writing, then I hope it pulls him in to encourage him to read as well as we go. He currently has a challenge with daddy to encourage reading so here’s hoping that works too.

  5. Melissa, I LOVE this post! It’s going to help us with thank you notes! I printed off some of the fonts from “Doodle Art Alley”…thank you!