Cursive Letter P Practice

Introduce lowercase p as a stem that falls below the floor, then forms a bowl on the baseline. Trace the solid rows, then dashed, then dotted, and write on the blank lines. About twelve minutes is right. Check that the stem reaches below the baseline before praising. Words such as pepper, puppy and pop give three p's each, which makes a good last exercise. Keep the pencil light so erasing is easy.

Lowercase p has a descender and a bowl. The pencil goes down below the baseline, comes back up the same path and curves into a round body. Common slips are a missing descender, a bowl left open, or a stem that is too short. Capital P rises into a tall stroke with a rounded top. P follows O, which is a closed circle, and it comes before Q, which also has a descender. Writing p well strengthens g and j too.

Large lines are best at first because the descender needs room. Medium is for steady writers. Small should wait until the bowl closes. If you switch Style to Print, you can compare how print p is a stick down with a bowl on the right. That helps children see that cursive p follows the same idea, except with a continuous path.

How far should the descender of p go?

About as far below the baseline as the bowl is tall. Large lines leave a visible gap under the baseline for the tail. About as far below the baseline as the bowl is tall. Large lines leave a visible gap under the baseline, so the target is easy to see and hit.

Why does my child's p look like a q?

The bowl is on the wrong side, or the stem lacks the retrace. Cursive p retraces the stem and then curves to the right. The bowl is on the wrong side, or the stem lacks the retrace. Cursive p retraces the stem and then curves to the right, closing at the baseline.

Should p close at the bottom?

No. The descender stays a straight stem without a loop in the common school model, unlike g and j, which loop. No. The descender stays a straight stem without a loop in the common school model, unlike g and j, which loop. Check your own class model, though.