Looking to step up your writing game by learning the elegant cursive? Below is a simple step-by-step guide on how to write in cursive.

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Before you start learning cursive writing, make sure you have the following items ready:

Practice sheets for writing in cursive. These are lined papers where every two regular lines have a dotted or dashed line running between them. They’re better than plain paper because they help you create uniform letters.

A pencil. This gives beginners the option of erasing mistakes and trying again.

A felt tip pen, a ballpoint pen, or a gel pen. Make sure the pen you choose has a good flow of ink so it glides smoother on the paper. Also, the ink should be a dark enough color (black or blue) for you to easily see it against the practice sheet. 

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

Once you have your tools ready, you should get into the proper position by learning where everything goes; the paper, the pen, and your free hand.

Lay the practice paper flat on your desk at an angle. This will differ depending on your dominant writing hand:

For right-handed folks, you want the top right corner and the bottom left corner of the sheet to be on the same line as your nose. Place your left hand on the side of the paper closer to your body to make sure it stays still.

For right-handed folks, you want the top left corner and the bottom right corner of the sheet to be on the same line as your nose. Place your right hand on the side of the paper closer to your body to make sure it stays still.

By angling the sheet as such, you’ll have an easier time getting your letters to slant while writing. The ideal slant angle for cursive letters is 35 degrees.

Your grip on the pencil or pen should be light, tilting it at an angle of 45 degrees. You should also rest the pencil or pen against your middle finger while using your index finger and thumb to securely grab and control it.

Your grip shouldn’t be too tight to the point that your fingers get stiff or your fingertips turn white. Maintain a firm yet relaxed grip.

Besides making the paper stay still, also use your free hand to slowly slide the sheet up as you write. This gives you better control and more even writing results.

Additionally, you can use your free hand to guide the sheet so that it’s always at an angle.
 

Step 2: Get the Angles Right

Next, you should warm up by practicing the 3 basic strokes of cursive for a couple of lines:

The entrance and exit strokes — since cursive writing is all about connecting letters together, pretty much every lowercase letter begins and ends with this stroke to ensure easy joining. This is a simple upward stroke that starts at the bottom line and stops at the dotted line.

The upward stroke — this one is similar to the previous stroke but longer. You’ll start the stroke at the bottom line and make your way up until you reach the top line. Don’t stop at the dashed line.

The curve stroke — this is your regular curve stroke but with an extra curl. Begin at about halfway below the dotted line and move up then loop back down in an anticlockwise direction. Curve up the line but don’t join it with the start point. Instead, allow for a small gap. 

Step 3: Get Familiar with the Basic Strokes

The best way to learn how to write in cursive is to practice lowercase letters first. Start by learning the letter u because it’s easiest as it consists of only one type of stroke.

After that, move on to learning other letters that start using an upward stroke. These include the letters b, l, i, t, f, n, m, v, w, h, j, s, k, p, r, x, y, and z.

Some of the letters will fill up the whole space between the bottom and top lines, while others will only be as high as the dotted line. Some lowercase letters such as f, p, and y will go beyond the bottom line until the upper side of the following top line.

After the letter u, practice h, l, b,f, and k since they’re somewhat similar. Go through the rest of the letters above.

Once you’re happy with your progress, take on more challenging curved stroke letters. Start with the letter o then g, a, c, d, and e. Continue practicing until you’re done with all the lowercase alphabets in cursive.

Step 4: Practice Lowercase Letters

Make sure you try writing capital letters in cursive only after you’re confident with your skills in the lowercase cursive department.

The easiest uppercase letters to start learning are L, C, O, E, and G. You should first nail the L then go through the rest of these letters.

After this group of capital letters, you should turn up the heat and attempt writing R. This is one of the trickiest letters to learn, but it’s quite similar to the letters P, B, I, D, F, J, and T.

So, once you master the letter R, it’ll be a lot easier for you to learn the rest of the uppercases.

Step 5: Practice Uppercase Letters

Sharpen your cursive writing skills by following the tips below:

1. Don’t be shy to use letter guides if you’re having a bit of a hard time producing uniform letters.

2. Perfect the technique for each letter by writing it in a joined pattern for an entire line.

3. Learn to write words gradually starting with 2-letter words, then 3-letter words, and so on.

Step 6: Sharpen Your Skills

There you have it, a simple step-by-step guide on how to write in cursive. Remember, cursive is all about repetition and practice. It may be challenging at first, but if you keep at it, writing in cursive will soon come to you as second nature.

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