Handwriting practice sheets
Two sets of sheets for learning to write by hand. The first teaches print letters, beginning before letters with the shapes that build pencil control and working through to writing a short letter. The second teaches cursive, from the first joins through to a signature.
Both follow the same principles. Letters are set at the size children really write, not the oversized ones that have to be unlearned later. They are taught in the order that makes each one easiest to learn, rather than A to Z. And nothing is left to guess: every exercise starts with something to trace, copy or finish before the lines to fill. Why they are built this way sets out the research behind each of those decisions.
Both sets print on US Letter, and on A4 with nothing cut off. The only colour on a sheet is in the ruled lines and the check line at the foot; printed in black and white they come out grey, and the dashed middle line still reads differently from the solid baseline.
For a child who is learning to form letters. It starts before letters — with the loops, curves and zigzags that letters are made from — then works through every lowercase letter and capital, the numbers, common words, and finally sentences, an address, and a letter to write.
handwriting-practice-sheets.pdf- Letters at the size children really writeOversized tracing letters teach an oversized hand that has to be corrected later. These stay at ordinary writing size throughout, with a guide line showing how tall each letter should reach.
- Taught in the order that makes each one easiestLetters arrive in small groups that share the same pencil stroke — l, i and t together, then o, a and d — so each new one is a variation on a letter already learned rather than a fresh problem.
- Words to say while they writeEvery letter comes with a short instruction in plain English: “start at the top, straight down”. You can help without having to work out the stroke yourself.
- Nothing to guess atEvery exercise starts them off — a grey letter to trace, a word to copy, or the opening of a sentence to finish — and the blank lines that follow are for more of the same. A child who doesn’t know what to do never has to ask.
- Short on purposeA sheet is a few minutes of writing. Nothing is given over to covers, certificates or pictures to colour in.
- Two blank ruled sheets at the backFor when they just need more paper.
Cursive
27 sheets
For someone who can already print comfortably and is ready to join letters up. It covers every cursive letter and capital, the joins between them, then sentences, whole paragraphs, a thank-you note and a signature. It suits an adult relearning cursive as much as a child learning it.
cursive-handwriting-practice-sheets.pdf- The joins are taught, not assumedLinking letters up is the part that goes wrong, so it is built in from the start. Each join is introduced with the letters that use it, and nothing appears on a page before it has been shown.
- A model on every lineMost rows are grey cursive to trace straight over, so the example sits where the writing goes instead of at the top of the page to keep glancing back at.
- Capitals practised on real namesEach capital is used in names built only from letters already covered, so nothing on the page is guesswork.
- It builds to real writingSentences, then whole paragraphs, then a thank-you note and their own signature — the two things most people still write by hand.
- Two blank ruled sheets at the backFor when they just need more paper.
The order the letters are taught in follows Zaner-Bloser’s, and the cursive joins follow its exit-stroke families. Every fact used as a sentence to copy was checked independently before it went in. The research the sheets are built on, and what to expect from a child’s handwriting at each age, is in Children’s handwriting by age.
For personal and classroom use. Please don’t resell either set or redistribute it as your own.