Mat Man

I absolutely love the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum! Handwriting Without Tears has so much to offer outside of basic handwriting, including Mat Man to work on body awareness. If you are not familiar with Mat Man, you can visit Mat Man World on the Handwriting Without Tears website or check out the video below. Basically, Mat Man is created using the Handwriting Without Tears mat, wooden pieces, and a few other extras. Mat Man also has a fun song to go along with building Mat Man that kids love.

Here's a picture of Mat Man that some students helped me make:

And here are a few before and after pictures. I asked my students to draw a picture of me prior to building Mat Man. After we built Mat Man, I had them draw a picture of me again.

This student was on the right track until he decided I turned into a drooling zombie (the line down the middle is my drool), with LOTS of legs!

This student still has some areas to work on, but I was happy to see that the after picture has ears and a face, and at least somewhat resembles a person.

Here's a video from Handwriting Without Tears about building Mat Man.