Letter K Handwriting Practice

Draw the stick down first. Then go to the middle, and draw one diagonal up and away, and the second diagonal down and away. Say stick, up arm, down leg. Trace a Large row with a finger so that the touch point is clear, and then a Medium one with a pencil. K words such as kite, key and king can make a nice drawing prompt.

Both diagonals have to touch the stick at the same spot in the middle, and that meeting point is the main challenge. Children often leave a gap between the arm and the stick, or cross the stick and make an X. Lowercase k has the same shape but is taller, so it belongs among the ascender letters. K and the silent k at the start of knee and knife come up in reading later.

Large rows give the child the room to find the meeting point. If the arms are too long, tell them to stop at the stick's neighbors. Move to Medium when the diagonals look balanced. Trace it in two colors, the stick first and the diagonals second, to make the three strokes visible.

Why does my child's K look like an X?

The two diagonals are likely crossing through the stick instead of stopping at it. Trace the stick in one color and the diagonals in another so that the child sees where they should end.

Do the diagonals start at the middle or the stick?

Both diagonals meet at the stick near its middle. Some children draw the arm from the stick outward, others from the outside in. Either works if the point of contact is clean.

Is K used much in early writing?

Not heavily, but kite, kid, key and a classmate's name may call for it. Even when the letter is rare, the page is a good workout for combining a straight stick with slanted lines.