Teaching kids Calligraphy

With cell phones, instant text messaging and email, the art of calligraphy is now normally only reserved for artistic activities.  However, give your kids a chance to learn how to write with pen and ink, and you never know, they MIGHT even be inspired to write a letter... Calligraphy is good for kids for a whole range of reasons.  But for me I like it because it is an activity that requires patience and focus and is fun.  All you need are some nibs, a nib holder, inks, watercolor paper, and a font guide. 

The ink is going to stain so put old clothes on and have paper towels handy.  Expect a mess and you won't be disappointed with your kids!  The font guide can be an alphabet printed from a word processing package using one of the fonts which you like best from the selection. 

Sometimes I do this for the words I want to write in calligraphy - print them out in the font I want so I can just copy them out as I go rather than having to refer back to the alphabet for each particular letter. Shown here is a fancy calligraphy pen as well - kids love these feather pens, nibs are interchangable.

Want to reinforce something in particular?  Then get the kids to copy it out with the calligraphy pens. 

“Love your neighbor as yourself” is much more eye catching with flowers and love hearts in the margins.  As the kids sit there and patiently copy this out, they will absorb the message as they go.  This is written in Lucinda Calligraphy font (my favorite font for calligraphy in MS Word)

The key to good technique is to move your arm to get the curves rather than the pen.  Hold the nib at a 45 degree angle to the paper.  The thicker the nib the more dramatic difference there will be between the fat and thin parts of the letter.  If you are just starting, practice shapes first, such as circles and triangles.  It takes practice and repitition to understand exactly how much ink to keep on your nib, and exactly when to dip the nib back into the ink.

Watercolor paper will soak up the ink really well, giving the finished product a better look.  Also, you can use watercolors to decorate the margins to give the work a real professional look.  If you can find some illumination, it can be photocopied and cut out and stuck onto one side of the calligraphy as a quicker way to a great looking finished product.

Old English font from Word:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

You can buy a Speedball nib holder and 6 brass nibs for about $12, the nibs are interchangable.  A bottle of really good black or colored ink (big enough for many pages of writing) will set you back $4-$6. Add some watercolor paper for $5 or so, and you are ready to go. 

Aussie Kim

Comments

[Natalie]

I have always loved hand-lettering calligraphy. I wish my dd16 was more interested in it. Thanks for the inspiration and for putting so much time into this blog.

[Aussie Kim]

Natalie,
You might be surprised at how attractive a couple of different sized nibs, watercolor paper and some font alphabets left lying around are! It is SO hard NOT TO dip those nibs into the ink and play on the paper....
Kim

[bill]

where do u buy this?

[Aussie Kim]

Bill,
I buy the nibs at an art store in Memphis called ART CENTER. However, you can buy this sort of stuff online at dick blick art supply or any other art supply store like that.
Good Luck
Kim

[garlic ninja]

i want to know how in the world do you use this pen? i have one and all but a cant seem to figure out how to hold it so that i can write so beautifully!!!!! i hate this

[Aussie Kim]

Hold it like in the photo. The nib needs to be at a 45 degree angle to the direction you write. There is really no substitute for playing around with these pens to figure it out for yourself. Good Luck!