Letter A Handwriting Practice

Sit beside the child and say the strokes while the pencil moves: slant down to the left, slant down to the right, then a short bar across. Trace two or three of the big letters, then stop. The first session might last five minutes, which is right. Come back the next day for the dotted version. A is easy to hunt for in magazines or on cereal boxes, so circle a few together afterward.

Capital A is built from two slanted lines and a crossbar, and the slants are the hard part. Four year olds tend to draw them as vertical sticks, so the top looks flat. Lowercase a is a different shape entirely, a round body with a short stick on the right, and many children mix the two up for a while. The match to a sound is simple: apple, ant, alligator.

Start on Large so the diagonals have room, and have the child tell you where the peak of the A is. Once the point sits at the top line, drop to Medium. If the crossbar floats above or below the middle, go back one size. Swap in Cursive later only when your school teaches it, since cursive a looks nothing like the plain capital.

Why does my child draw A like a tent with no top?

The two diagonals have to meet in a point, and young children find slanted lines harder than straight ones. Trace the two strokes in different colors so the meeting spot is obvious, then try the same with one pencil.

Should capital A or lowercase a come first?

Capital A first in most preschool programs, because it is mostly straight lines. Lowercase a needs a circle and a stick together, which is a harder planning task, so it usually follows a few weeks later.

What words are good for A once the letter is learned?

Short words that start with A: at, an, ant, and, arm, add, and the child's own name if it starts there. They are small enough to write in one row without the pencil running out of line.