Letter P Handwriting Practice

Pull the stick down from the top first, then return to the top and curve to the right, ending at the middle of the stick. Say stick, then bump. Trace the Large row with a finger and a Medium row with a pencil. Pig, pan and pea are all words you can say as you write. A few minutes is enough for a first sitting. Come back the next day for the blank lines, when the shape has had a night to settle.

Capital P has the bump at the top right and stops at the middle. The common error is a bump that does not reach the stick, or one that drops too far down and makes the letter look like R without the leg. Lowercase p is where the problem sits: the stick drops below the baseline, and the bowl faces right, which puts it in a three-way mix with b, d and q.

On Large, stress that the bump stops halfway down. If the child's P looks like a D, shrink the bowl by tracing only from the top to the middle. Move to Medium when the bump meets the stick neatly. Practice p next to q on the same paper to give the child a feel for the left-right difference between the two.

What separates p from q on the page?

In p the bump faces right and the stick is on the left, like a pole with a flag. In q the bowl faces left. Saying pull-down and pop-up can help the child recall.

Why does lowercase p go below the line?

It is a descender, with its stick extending beneath the baseline, like g, j, q and y. This gives it a distinct shape and prevents confusion with other letters.

What are good words to write with P?

Pig, pen, pot, pup and pin use short vowels and few other tricky letters. Each one repeats the stick-and-bump shape, and a quick drawing of the pig or the pot makes a good reward.