Letter Y Handwriting Practice

Show the child that Y has two short arms meeting and a tail running down. Trace the solid Y's, then the dashed and dotted rows, and finish with the empty lines. Allow about ten minutes. Talk about where the lowercase y goes: its tail hangs below the baseline, which is the part to watch. A sheet like this works well next to a list of words starting with y, such as yes, yellow and yarn.

Capital Y sits on the baseline like most capitals, with two arms joined to a stem. Lowercase y is the interesting one: the body sits in the lower row and the tail drops below the line, like g, j, p and q. Children often forget the tail or squeeze it back above the baseline. Learning y teaches the idea that some letters hang down. It follows V in shape, and it leads to q, g and p.

Large lines give lowercase y room for a long tail. Move to Medium when the tail reliably crosses the baseline. Small suits second graders who write on narrower school ruling. Use Cursive when print y is solid, because the joined y has a loop at the bottom and the tail matters even more.

Where does the tail of lowercase y go?

Below the baseline, roughly as far down as the body is tall. On these lines there is a gap under the baseline for descenders. Remind the child that the tail should hang, not curl back up.

Is Y one stroke or two?

Print capital Y is usually taught as two strokes: a short diagonal down to the middle, a second diagonal down to meet it, then a vertical stem. Lowercase y often takes two as well. Keep it the same each time.

What letters share y's hanging tail?

The descenders g, j, p and q. Practicing y first gives a child a model for all four, so after this sheet they tend to find those letters easier.