Letter formation guide
Letter Formation Guide: Stroke Order, Common Mistakes and Worksheets
A short, practical guide for parents and teachers. 5 minutes of reading that saves months of un-learning backwards letters.
1. Why stroke order
Start in the right place and the rest follows
Correct starting points and directions turn letters into automatic movements. That frees up attention for spelling and ideas, and it is the biggest single predictor of fewer reversals at age 6 to 7.
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Top down
All 26 capitals start their first stroke at the top line or just below it, and so do most lowercase letters. Teach "start at the top" as a rule.
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Anti-clockwise circles
a, c, d, e, f, g, o, q, s all begin with the same anti-clockwise c movement. Learn c and you have the entry to 9 letters.
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Fewer pencil lifts
Continuous strokes are faster and more fluent than letters built from pieces. 20 of the 26 lowercase letters are one stroke.
2. The 4 letter families
Teach one movement, get a family of letters
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Curly caterpillars (9 letters)
All begin with the same anti-clockwise c movement.
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Ladder letters (6 letters)
Start at the top and go straight down.
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One-armed robots (7 letters)
Down, back up, then over the arch.
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Zig-zag monsters (4 letters)
Straight lines that change direction.
Family names follow the scheme used in most UK reception classes. See the worksheet list for every letter by family.
3. Common mistakes
Spot these early
The 4 habits that cause most of the trouble, and one fix for each.
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Bottom-up letters
Child starts l, t or i at the base line and pushes up.
Point to the start dot before every letter. Every sheet here has one.
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Clockwise circles
o and a drawn clockwise lead to a floating tail on a and d.
Practise c first. It is the entry to all 9 round letters.
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Reversals
b/d, p/q and S are flipped.
Use the belly trick: b has its belly in front, d has its belly behind.
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Tight grip
White knuckles, heavy pressure, tiring quickly.
Short pencils or broken crayons force a tripod grip.
4. Hard letters
Tips for the letters that trip everyone up
The 6 letters children reverse most. Each one links to its free worksheet page, or see all 6 with every download on the letters children reverse page.
- Bb 3+1 strokes , letter B tracing worksheet
Tall stick first, then the belly in front.
- Dd 2+1 strokes , letter D tracing worksheet
Start with c, go up tall, come back down.
- Gg 1+1 strokes , letter G tracing worksheet
c, close it, then hook under the line.
- Pp 2+1 strokes , letter P tracing worksheet
Stick down under the line, back up, round.
- Qq 2+1 strokes , letter Q tracing worksheet
c first, then a long tail with a flick.
- Ss 1+1 strokes , letter S tracing worksheet
Start top right. Say "round, slide, round".
Letters children reverse: all 6 with downloads. For practice without letters, blank handwriting paper in 3 line sizes.
5. Pencil grip
The tripod grip in 3 checks
Grip matters less than most people think, as long as the hand is relaxed and the pencil moves from the fingers, not the whole arm. Three quick checks.
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Pinch
Thumb and first finger pinch the pencil about 2 cm from the tip. The middle finger rests underneath as a shelf.
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Rest
The side of the hand and the little finger rest on the paper. If the wrist floats, the arm is doing the work.
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Relax
Knuckles should not go white. A short pencil, 6 to 8 cm, makes a fist grip impossible and a tripod grip natural.
More on grip, including what to do about a fist grip and when to worry, on the pencil grip page.
Coming soon to iOS
Stroke order, with a coach on screen
The Letter Tracing App shows the start dot, lights up the path as your child traces and celebrates every letter. Coming soon to iOS.
Notify me at launch