Paper still belongs in today’s classroom. While technology has transformed the way we teach, research continues to show that the benefits of printable activities. Handwriting and close reading play an important role in helping students think deeply, remember more, and stay engaged.

By Melissa Bonito | Veteran Teacher • Creator of Peas in a Pod Lessons

🍎 Research-Backed TAKEAWAYS

Printable activities…

✔️ Help students understand what they read more deeply

✔️ Support better memory through handwriting

✔️ Encourage close reading and annotation

✔️ Reduce screen fatigue

✔️ Give teachers a ready-to-use lesson for tomorrow

After years of adding more technology to our classrooms, many teachers are rediscovering something wonderfully simple.

Paper still works.

Not because technology is bad.

Not because digital learning doesn’t have incredible benefits.

But because some learning experiences simply work better with a pencil in hand.

And honestly…

Students need a break from another screen.

I know I do!

Spend more time teaching instead of troubleshooting.

🔍 What the Research Says

Technology has transformed education in amazing ways. But, research continues to remind us that print still plays an important role in literacy instruction.

✅ 1. Handwriting Helps Learning Stick

🔍 Research suggests that writing by hand does more than record information—it helps students process it. One landmark study found that students who took notes by hand outperformed laptop users on questions requiring conceptual understanding because handwriting naturally encourages summarizing instead of copying.

More recently, brain imaging studies have shown that handwriting activates broader networks involved in memory and learning than typing.

🔗 Read the study:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131524001210

✅ 2. Printed Books Support Comprehension

🔍 A 2021 meta-analysis reviewing 39 studies found that young children generally demonstrated stronger reading comprehension when reading printed books compared with identical digital versions. Researchers also found that adult guidance during print reading was especially beneficial.

🔗 Read the study:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0034654321998074

✅ 3. Print Encourages Deeper Reading

🔍 More recent research found that students often processed longer and more complex texts more deeply on paper than on screens—even when students believed they understood both equally well.

Researchers described digital reading as encouraging more “shallow processing” for some reading tasks.

🔗 Read the study:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131524001210

Sometimes a screen is exactly the right tool.

Sometimes a pencil is.

❤️ Why I Love Printable Activities

After more than twenty years in elementary classrooms, I’ve learned something.

Teachers don’t need more complicated.

They need lessons that work.

When I first started creating classroom resources, I wasn’t thinking about educational research.

I was thinking about Tuesday.

You know the kind.

Open House is tomorrow.

Your to-do list is already too long.

And somehow, you still need a lesson your students will actually enjoy.

I didn’t need another login or five devices that needed charged!

Printable activities are hands-on in a way that screens simply can’t replicate.

Students aren’t just clicking.

They’re highlighting.
They’re annotating.
They’re cutting.
They’re folding.
They’re writing.
They’re creating something that’s uniquely theirs.

That’s one of the reasons I love using foldables and crafts.

They transform a lesson into an interactive experience that encourages students to think, organize ideas, and engage with the content in meaningful ways. Best of all, students leave with something they’re proud of—a finished piece they can revisit later.

And let’s be honest…

There’s something special about walking into a classroom filled with colorful foldables, interactive notebook pages, and student work proudly displayed on the walls.

Those displays don’t just brighten the room.

They celebrate learning.