Cursive Letters A to Z, Letter by Letter

How to make it

1. Choose the lettersSet From letter and To letter. The same letter in both boxes prints that letter alone; A to Z gives a 26-page booklet with one letter on each page.
2. Choose capitals, lowercase or bothPairs show Ff side by side; capitals only or lowercase only suit a targeted lesson. US traditional cursive is preselected, and the menu holds other school styles.
3. Print one page per letterEach page starts with a dark example, then tracing rows and an empty row, repeated to the bottom. Print at 100% or download the PDF.

Why one letter at a time

Cursive letters are easier to learn in small doses than as a whole alphabet, because many of them look nothing like the print forms a child already knows. A page that holds only one letter gives the hand dozens of repetitions of the same movement, which a single row on an alphabet chart cannot do. Teachers usually introduce two or three letters a week and save the alphabet chart for review; this page prints the practice pages, and the cursive alphabet chart prints the overview.

The descriptions below follow the traditional US cursive taught in many American schools, the style the sheet uses when it opens. Programs differ in small ways, such as whether a letter starts with a loop, so check the model your school sends home. Many US programs group lowercase letters by their first stroke, and the sections follow that grouping: letters that swing up from the baseline, loop letters, letters that start like a c, and letters that start with a hump.

Letters that swing up from the baseline: i, t, u, w, r, s, p, j

Cursive i starts with a slanted stroke up to the midline, comes straight back down and curves out to the right; the dot comes last, after the word is finished. Cursive t is the same movement made taller, rising to just below the top line, and in this style it has no loop, and t in cursive is crossed only once the word is done. Cursive u is two of those up-and-down strokes in a row. Cursive w adds a third short rise and ends with a small checkstroke at the midline, so the letter after w in cursive starts from the top rather than the baseline.

Two letters in this group change the most from print. Cursive r climbs a little past the midline to a point, steps sideways in a short flat shoulder, then drops to the baseline; r in cursive keeps that shoulder even inside a word, where it is easy to flatten. Cursive s climbs to a point at the midline and comes down and around, closing at the bottom, and s in cursive is the letter print readers most often fail to recognize. Practice both on their own pages before they appear inside words.

Cursive p swings up, then slides straight down well below the baseline, climbs back up the same line and closes a round bowl before it exits; that long straight stem is what makes p in cursive look so different from print. Cursive j swings up to the midline and then drops below the baseline into a lower loop that crosses back at the baseline on the left; j in cursive takes its dot after the word, like i.

Loop letters: e, l, h, k, f, b

Cursive e is a small loop at the midline, and e in cursive is the first loop most children learn. Cursive l is the same loop stretched to the top line, so e and l in cursive differ only in height. Cursive h starts with that tall loop and then makes a hump down to the baseline, and cursive k starts the same way but ends with a small loop and a kick at the midline, which is why k in cursive is often mistaken for an h in cursive in a child's first attempts.

Cursive f is the letter with two loops: an upper loop to the top line, then a long stroke down through the baseline into a lower loop that closes on the right before it joins the next letter. Because f in cursive reaches both above the top line and below the baseline, it needs a guide line under the baseline to land on, which the Gray and Blue and red guides include. Cursive b starts as a tall loop and finishes with a small bowl and a checkstroke at the midline; like w, it leaves from the top, so b in cursive bridges into the next letter instead of dipping to the baseline.

Letters that begin like a c: a, d, g, o, c, q

Cursive a starts with an over-and-back stroke at the midline, curves down and around like a c, closes, and finishes with a short straight stroke down to the baseline, the stroke that keeps a in cursive from turning into an o. Cursive d makes the same round shape and then rises to the top line before coming down; in this style d in cursive has no loop at the top. Cursive o closes its oval at the top and leaves with a small bridge at the midline. Cursive c begins with a little hook at the midline and then curves down and around.

Cursive g and cursive q share the round start and both hang below the baseline, but their lower loops turn opposite ways. The loop of g in cursive swings back and crosses on the left, as in j and y. The tail of q in cursive turns forward and closes on the right, as in f, which is the detail that tells the two apart in joined writing.

Letters that start with a hump: n, m, v, x, y, z

Cursive n is two humps and m in cursive is three. The extra hump at the start of n in cursive is the lead-in stroke, which is why a printed n with one hump looks wrong in a joined word, and a cursive m with only two humps reads as an n. Cursive v makes one hump, drops to the baseline and comes back up to finish with a checkstroke at the midline, so v in cursive, like w, bridges into the next letter. Cursive x makes a hump and a slanted stroke down, and the crossing line of x in cursive is added afterward, like the dot on i.

Cursive y begins with a hump, then drops below the baseline into a lower loop that crosses on the left. Cursive z surprises people: in traditional styles it makes a small hump at the midline and then a loop that dips below the baseline, so z in cursive looks more like a curly 3 than a printed z. A full page of cursive z is worth printing before the class meets words such as zoo and lazy.

Cursive capital letters

Capitals usually come after the lowercase letters are fluent, and they vary more between programs. Several are simply large versions of their lowercase letters: capital A, N, M, U and Y. Capital C, E and O start at the top with a curve, and capital E is written as two curves stacked like a backward 3.

A few capitals are the ones adults forget. Cursive capital F and cursive capital T share a wavy stroke across the top, made first, and a stem that curls at the base; to write a capital F in cursive, add a short cross stroke at the middle of the stem. Cursive capital I starts low on the left, sweeps up to the top and comes straight down, and capital I in cursive looks quite unlike a printed I. Cursive capital J adds a lower loop below the baseline to that same start.

Cursive capital G and cursive capital S both begin at the baseline with a tall loop. The capital cursive S then curves down into its familiar shape, while the G finishes with a short stem on the right, so capital S in cursive is usually recognized and the G often is not. Capital Q in many traditional alphabets looks more like a numeral 2 than a printed Q, with a curve over the top and a loop along the baseline. Capital L loops at the top and again at the baseline, and capital Z, like its lowercase letter, drops a loop below the line.

Cursive numbers, joins and the next step

There are no separate cursive numbers in most programs: the digits 0 to 9 are written the same way as in print, one at a time, and never joined to the letters around them. Print digits have their own sheets with stroke arrows on number tracing pages.

Each cursive letter on these pages carries its lead-in and exit strokes, which is where the joins come from. Most letters leave from the baseline and connect upward; b, o, v and w leave from the midline. Once a letter is steady on its own page, put it straight into short words with cursive practice from your own words, where the font joins whatever you type. Adults relearning cursive often prefer the smaller size and two empty rows of handwriting practice for adults, and the guide to handwriting styles by country explains how the same letters change in UK, Australian and other school styles.