How to Learn Cursive Writing for Beginners: A Comprehensive Guide

In an increasingly digital world, cursive writing might seem like a relic of the past. However, it remains a valuable skill, offering benefits for both students and professionals. From jotting down quick notes to drafting important documents, cursive can be a practical and impressive asset. This article provides a step-by-step guide for beginners looking to master the art of cursive writing.

Why Learn Cursive Writing?

While digital communication dominates modern life, cursive writing still holds significance. It's not just about aesthetics; learning cursive offers several advantages:

Increased Writing Abilities: Cursive can improve overall handwriting skills and fluency.
Improved Memory: The act of writing in cursive engages different parts of the brain, potentially enhancing memory.
Therapy for Dyslexia: Cursive writing has been shown to be a beneficial therapy for individuals with dyslexia.
Impressing Professors: Cursive writing is an impressive skill to gain that impresses professors!

Understanding the Basics of Cursive

Before diving into practice, it's essential to understand the fundamental elements of cursive writing:

Letter Position: Each letter has a specific position relative to the baseline.
Letter Shape: The form of each letter is crucial for legibility.
Joint Writing Style: Cursive is characterized by the joining of letters within a word.
Sloping Letters: Cursive letters typically have a slant, usually beginning at the base of the body line.
Ending Strokes: Most letters end with a stroke at the upper baseline, preparing for the connection to the next letter.
Loops: Some letters incorporate loops, either at the top or bottom, depending on the specific letter.

Step-by-Step Guide to Learning Cursive

Step 1: Start with the Cursive Alphabet

The first step in learning cursive is to familiarize yourself with the cursive alphabet. While typing is now widely taught, mastering cursive requires patience and dedication. There are many ways to learn the alphabet, but some are more effective than others.

Step 2: Lowercase Letters in Cursive

A quick way to start learning how to write in cursive is by starting with lowercase letters. Begin with the easiest letters to write.

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Start by learning to write the letter "u". This is the easiest letter to learn how to write cursive.
Go on to learning these easy-to-write letters: b, f, h, I, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, u, w, x, y. These are by far the easiest letters to begin with because they are made up of only one stroke.

Many lowercase letters remain within the top and bottom lines, though some extend above or below these lines. For example, the lowercase "f" goes above and under the top and bottom line.

Next, attempt the letter "o" in lowercase. Once you have mastered this, go onto trying: b, f, k. These letters are a little more complex than the first letters mentioned in this article. They still consist of one simple stroke but are more complex in their shape. Once you get a grasp of writing them, it will be less difficult to learn how to write cursive letters.

Then try the curved stoker counterparts: a, g, o, c, d, e.

Learning lowercase letters when writing in cursive is a huge step to becoming a cursive master. Once this has been accomplished, it is possible to go onto learning more complex letters.

Step 3: Uppercase Letters in Cursive

When you begin to write in cursive, it is a good idea to only attempt uppercase cursive writing once you feel confident with lowercase letters. The first capital letters we recommend you learn are: C, E, G, L and O. Start with L and then attempt the other letters in the group. Then go onto learning, R. Is it one of the hardest letters to write. But, once you have the hang of it, it will come as a second nature to write.

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Step 4: Selecting a Cursive Font

You are free to choose a font for your cursive writing. Many writers who use this style of writing choose a font, which they use for the rest of their lives. Sometimes, they differentiate their font. Usually, these font styles are on popular word processors, such as MS. Word and Google Docs. The way to choose a font is to study them carefully, and see which font you would like to use in your work.

Here are some examples of cursive fonts:

Allura
Aguafina Script Pro
Blackjack
Caballero
Columbine Light
Kuenstler Script
Fancier Script
Lavender Script
Shelley Script
Citadel Script
Buffet Script
Hummingbird
Creamy Script
Ragazza Script
Ritts Cursive
BelindaStyle Script
Bendo Script
Brody

Step 5: Practice Regularly

"If you don’t use it, you lose it". For mastering this style of writing, it is a good idea to commit some time and dedication to the process. It can be any time of the day. Spend 20 minutes focusing on the alphabet. Make it a priority in order to succeed in gaining this skill. As mentioned, start with lowercase and then move on to uppercase. This will make it much easier to learn how to write cursive. It is rather simple to write this way once practiced.

Why not write essay drafts in cursive? Give it a go. Then, type it later onto a word document. This will make it easier to jot ideas and provide more experience with how to write cursive letters. Many people write their essay drafts by hand.

Cursive Writing Tips

To improve your cursive writing skills, consider these tips:

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Start with Lowercase: Always begin with lowercase letters when you first learn how to write in cursive.
Use Worksheets: Download cursive writing sheets and copy or trace the letters as follows. Once mastered lowercase cursive letters, try copying or tracing capital letters.
Keep it Neat: Keep it neat when joining the letters.
Select a Font: Select a font early on, this allows the focus of a specific way of writing in cursive.
Practice Daily: It is a good idea to practice writing in cursive for at least 20 minutes, every day.
Practice Easy Letters: Practice easy letters such as 𝒪 or 𝒰 as they consist of only one stroke of a pen before moving on to more complex letters.
Don’t Overdo It: Avoid writing too fast. Take your time to write beautifully.
Don’t Press Too Hard: There is no need to apply a high level of pressure. This is a common mistake people use when they first practice cursive writing. Keep the stencils loose when writing in cursive.
Practice Movement Exercises: Practice movement exercises to enhance your abilities in writing in cursive.
Personal Touch: Remember that writing by hand makes your text a lot more personal than if it was typed on a word processor.
Use Lined Paper: Consider using lined paper. It is far better for any style or type of writing, but especially cursive. If it is not possible to possess lined paper, it isn’t the end of the world. Use plain paper or print some lined paper.
Stay Organized: Keep all practice sheets in a file or binder to organize all resources and work efficiently. This makes learning easier.

Additional Tips for Teaching Cursive

Proper Positioning: Their feet comfortably touch the floor. We call it the 90-90-90 position. They have room to angle their elbow out slightly, as paper is often angled when writing in cursive. This means that the desk height should be at the level of the diaphragm or slightly lower. They have a comfortable backrest. In fact, lumbar support is a valuable asset. Anything but a rounded, molded chair! Remember, to learn cursive should feel like a therapeutic activity for the child.
Break Down the Task: Just like adults, children get easily overwhelmed when given an entire concept to master at once. 1. Encourage flowing movements. 2. Practice letters with similar lead-in strokes. Model the movement in forming the letter. 3. Focus on big movements first, then let the child hone the smaller details as they get more comfortable with the movements. 4. Practice! There is no substitute.
Motor Learning Theory: Research into handwriting has shown that the acquisition of a new motor skill, such as writing, adheres to Motor Learning Theory. When learning how to write in cursive, drill work is a must, but you should also include the expectation to actually write in cursive during real-time, meaningful writing assignments. In the years following cursive instruction, request that the child sign every paper with a cursive signature.
Teaching Order: When teaching cursive for beginners, start by teaching the letter “c”. This is a challenge letter that reinforces the retracing stroke, a common feature in many cursive letter formations. Lowercase c, a, d, g, q, and o start with this ‘wave’ movement. Next, teach the PEAK letters. Those are the ones that appear to climb a mountain… then slide back down again. SAILS are next. These are letters with big or little loops and no retracing of the lead-in stroke. In the Size Matters Handwriting Program Cursive Kaleidoscope workbook, we minimize the likelihood of the loop becoming a fat circle by abruptly stopping it at a point at the top. How you learn cursive writing starts with drawing a straight slant line back down, forming something that looks like a sail off a mast. Lastly, there are the HILL letters. No retracing here either. The Cursive Kaleidoscope handwriting practice workbook offers lots of practice on pages marked Instruction, Practice, Roll and Review, Sense and Nonsense, and Enrichment. When a child is learning how to write cursive, it’s a good idea to make sure they’re comfortable with lowercase before moving them to uppercase.
Fun and Engaging: When you’re teaching children how to write in cursive, remember to keep it fun. And, if you’re looking for a creative way to make how to learn cursive writing a positive experience, remember to check out our books on cursive handwriting for kids.

Cursive Letter Order to Promote Legibility

Did you know there is a specific order to teach cursive letters to promote cursive writing legibility and carryover of cursive handwriting? Occupational therapy providers work with the occupation of handwriting and cursive letters are part of that process. The order that cursive letters are taught is based on development of skills. This means that letters are grouped into similar pencil strokes, or letter families.

Learning to write the alphabet in cursive, writing one’s name in cursive, and writing words in cursive is something that many kids want to do around the second grade. It’s around second grade, or 7-8 years of age that fine motor skills develop in such a way that pencil control and graded precision are developed to enable greater in-hand manipulation, and movement through the range of mobility in the thumb and intrinsic muscles within the hand. This enables pencil movements to become more mobile and fluid, which are pre-requisites for cursive writing skills. Prior to this skill achievement, handwriting is taught based on pencil strokes, including uppercase letters before lowercase letters because of the developmental aspect of learning letter formations.

Cursive seems like a “grown up” style of communication that kids see adults or older students using and they try to make swoopy writing on their own. However, one tip for teaching children to write in cursive is to go through the letters in an order that makes sense according to the pencil movements needed to create the letters. Writing cursive letters in a group of similar pencil strokes is helpful for carryover of pencil control practice and letter formation. Here is more information on teaching groups of similar cursive letters together in a chunk, or cursive letter families.

Once kids have a start on cursive letter formation, they can practice in creative ways like on the window. Other children who may not be exposed to cursive written work might have their first exposure to cursive in the classroom. Still other students might be in a public or private classroom where cursive handwriting has been dropped from the curriculum. These kids may need extra practice at home or might need to learn cursive handwriting from the very beginning.

But where to start when teaching kids (or adults!) the cursive writing alphabet and how to form words in cursive? This strategy will outline the alphabet and the letter order to make learning cursive more easy, based on learning letters in a developmental and progressive order.

There are print letter patterns that are directly transferable to cursive letters. These are cursive letters that are formed similarly to their printed letter counterparts. The muscle movements of the hands that are used to form some printed letters are directly related to the same letters. Given the subskills noted above, cursive letter formation will lend to more legible letter formation.

If you take a look at cursive letters, you might see a pattern that is similar among the letters. This is part of why we use a cursive pre-writing lines approach when teaching cursive for the first time. Both of these movements can transfer to different starting lines for the other letters. The muscles used to make these lines can then transfer to the other starting movements. These letters have print patterns that are directly transferable to their cursive letters. This is related to the pencil strokes that are used to form the cursive letters. When we consider printed letters, we can directly translate the pencil strokes to some of the cursive letter counterparts. This means that learning the cursive letter form of the letter should be easier based on knowledge of the printed letter’s form. Having letter recognition skills for printed letters supports the ability to learn cursive letters. This means that the remaining letters are the only ones that need to be taught as a new handwriting motor plan in mind.

b, o, v - These letters can be considered the “tow truck letters” because of the ending connection.

A, C, O, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, P, R, B, H, K, N, M, I, J, E, L, I, J, Q

This letter order uses a combination of research-based strategies and focuses on movement based patterns as well as common letter formations, i.e. the way the letters connect to form words. Read about how to connect cursive letters for specifics. In general, it’s considered that the baseline connecting letters are taught prior to the middle line connecting letters. This upper case cursive letter order (or cursive capital letters) order teaches upper case letters that are similar to lower case letters first.

Is Learning Cursive Worth It?

It doesn’t matter if you have terrible handwriting or never learned cursive in school, you can learn to write cursive.

Why learn cursive writing? Cursive is a very practical style of writing that holds significance in American culture. Cursive handwriting is seen as more mature, professional, and beautiful than print or manuscript writing. Technically, cursive is a flowing script that many find conducive to taking notes or getting thoughts down on the page.

Consistent Cursive Course

Consistent Cursive is a free and comprehensive course for learning cursive. It uses a systematic approach that anyone can follow to learn cursive. Start learning cursive right now. Consistent Cursive was created by David DiGiovanni, aka Perfect Biscuits on YouTube. David has spent countless hours studying American penmanship since 2016, focusing on practical scripts like cursive. David also studies and teaches the traditional method of writing called, “muscular movement” (aka Palmer Method), where the arm is used to write cursive script. Consistent Cursive does not teach muscular movement, but is a great first step towards learning it.

FAQ About the Consistent Cursive Course

Is the course really free? Yes, it is 100% free. If you’d like, you can show support by paying what you like when you download the worksheets.
Can I download or stream the videos ad-free? Yes, you can purchase the ad-free course here and download or stream the videos without ads.
Do I need any prior experience with cursive or handwriting to take this course? The ability to write by hand is the only prerequisite. Young children will probably need the help of an adult to make it through the course.
How long will it take to complete the course? The course could be completed in a week or months, depending on your skill level and commitment. Feel free to go at your own pace.
What kind of cursive writing will I be learning? The course teaches a standard American cursive script, rooted in the tradition of American penmanship. The forms are similar to “Business Penmanship” or “Palmer Method”. The arm-writing approach of Palmer Method is not covered in this course, however, this course is a great start if you want to learn Palmer Method. You can learn more about The Palmer Method at ThePalmerMethod.com.
Can left-handed writers take this course? Everything about writing cursive is the same for left-handers as it is for right-handers, except for how you position your hand and body relative to the writing. In the lesson on paper position, I speak directly to the left-handers and provide a method for writing that will allow you to execute the cursive forms without smudging your writing.

Cursive Writing and Occupational Therapy

Just like printed handwriting, cursive letters are one form of written expression however, there are differences when it comes to legibility. We have many blog posts here on The OT Toolbox that support cursive letter writing. Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive.

Do you remember learning cursive? It was challenging, and yet, if done correctly, learning how to write in cursive can be one of the most rewarding occupational therapy activities available to children. With the advent of digital communication and devices, there are some who object to learning how to write cursive. Before a child learns how to write cursive, they should fully understand what it is. A cursive homeschool curriculum is a connected writing style that encourages you to fully write each word before lifting your pencil from the paper. Its letter formation is unique from block writing and challenges learners in new ways. If you’re wondering how to teach cursive writing at home, we’ve outlined some key components to cover in order to convey both the principles of the cursive alphabet and its benefits. Review our guide before teaching anyone how to write in cursive.

Proper positioning is particularly crucial because most desks and tables are designed for adults to sit comfortably. Equally concerning is that inattention to correcting postural, grip, or other setup needs could result in the acquisition of poor or inefficient habits that are harder to change later on.

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