Cursive Letter P Worksheets

Cursive p is a straight descender with a bowl attached. Run the undercurve up from the baseline to the midline, come straight down through the baseline into the descender space, then retrace back up the same line to the midline, curve right around the bowl and close it against the stem at the baseline before exiting forward. The stem goes down and comes straight back up: it is a retrace, not a loop.

The descender is straight, not looped

This is where p differs from g, j and y, which all loop below the line. A looped p is the most common self taught error and it makes p and g look alike at speed. If a child is looping it, have them write the vertical stroke alone a few times, down and straight back up, before adding the bowl. The bowl is the easy part.

Close the bowl at the baseline

The bowl of p should meet the stem, not float beside it. An open bowl reads as an r followed by a stray mark, and words like pig and pen come apart. Because the letter has two separate targets, the depth of the descender and the closure of the bowl, it is worth checking both on the practice row rather than judging the letter as a whole.

A look at the three worksheets

The extra large page gives P and p at a size where the straight descender is unmistakable, with a solid model followed by three dashed copies on each band and a free ruled band at the foot. The uppercase and lowercase page demonstrates the pair at 96 point, then rows of seven capitals, seven lowercase and four Pp pairs, ending with two lines for unaided writing. The words page traces pig, pen and pot.

Does cursive p have a loop below the line?

No. The stem of p drops below the baseline and retraces straight back up the same path, leaving one line on the page. The lowercase letters that genuinely loop below the baseline are g, j, y, z and f. Adding a loop to p is what makes handwriting hard to read at speed, because p then resembles g.