Creative Adventures in Cursive: Write with Glue, String, Markers, Paint, and Icing!

Who knew handwriting could be so much fun? Noted author Rachelle Doorley, the creative force behind Tinkerlab, presents 22 fun step-by-step projects that guide kids in cursive creativity using an array of different materials—piper cleaners, yarn, aluminum foil, polymer clay, icing, and more.

As many educators will attest, writing in cursive provides cognitive benefits in spelling, memory, reading comprehension, language skills, and overall academic confidence. Practicing cursive carries similar benefits when drawing; once you learn the basic shapes, you can play with it by creating your own personal style.

Creative Adventures in Cursive shows you how to use cursive as a wonderful means of self-expression with these and more photo-illustrated projects:

• Create your own bullet journal
• Embroider initials on a cloth napkin
• Paint inspiring messages on rocks
• Write your name in 3-D with yarn and pipe cleaners
• Craft a foil doorplate with repousse (pushed up) letters
• Make a pop-up greeting card

Cursive is fun, and the adventure begins here.

Rachelle Doorley is an arts educator, community builder, and founder of the popular creativity blog Tinkerlab. She is also the author of TinkerLab: A hands-on guide for little inventors, published by Roost in 2014. Rachelle studied costume design at the University of California, Los Angeles, and worked on Hollywood films before finding her true calling as an arts educator. After teaching art in Los Angeles schools, she earned a master’s degree in arts education from Harvard, and then oversaw docent and education programs at the San Jose Museum of Art. Rachelle lives with her husband and her two curious daughters in Palo Alto, where she leads workshops on visual thinking and hands-on creativity. Rachelle believes in finding fun and meaningful ways to make every day creative, and can often be found experimenting in her sketchbook, taking her kids on adventures, and asking lots of open-ended questions. Rachelle enjoys chai tea, hand-drawn letters, train travel, hikes in the woods, artist studios, and ocean air.