Letter M Handwriting Practice

Say it with the pencil: down, up the slant to the middle, back up and down, then the last stick. Four strokes can take a young child a full minute, and that is fine. Begin with the Large row and take the Medium row after a break. Then write mom, map or moon in the blank lines. Two Large traces and one free attempt make a fine session.

The trouble spot is the V in the middle. Children often let it reach the baseline, which turns M into W-like marks, or make the sticks of different heights. Lowercase m is three humps in a row and needs the arches to be even; it is often drawn with two humps by mistake. The letter starts the word mom, so many children want to write it early.

Choose Large for the first week, because the diagonals are hard to place smoothly at a small size. A child who draws the middle too deep can be told that the V stops halfway down. Move to Medium after the sticks come out evenly. Writing the word mom is a good test.

How deep should the middle of M go?

About to the middle of the letter's height, not the baseline. If the V reaches the bottom, the letter begins to look like a W with extra lines.

Why does my child write only two humps on lowercase m?

Because n has two legs and m has three, children simply forget one. Trace slowly while counting humps aloud: one, two, three. Sound it out as the humps are drawn.

Which M words come first?

Mom, map, man, mop and moon use common sounds and few other difficult letters. They also give the child a chance to draw a meaningful picture.