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Year 1 Handwriting: Trace Letters and Digits with Poppy

Year 1 Handwriting: Trace Letters and Digits with Poppy

Learn Year 1 handwriting: hold a pencil well, start each letter in the right place and form capitals and digits by tracing them on screen.

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What you'll learn

  • How to sit at a table with feet flat and back tall
  • The tripod grip: pinch, flip and rest the pencil
  • Where each lower-case letter starts, which way it goes and where it finishes
  • The four letter families: curly caterpillar, long ladder, one-armed robot, zig-zag
  • Every capital letter starts at the top line
  • How to write digits 0 to 9 without reversing them

Chapter by chapter

  1. Sitting and holding a pencil correctly Free to try

    Year 1 english · 1

  2. Lower-case letters: start, direction and finish

    Year 1 english · 2

  3. Letter families: curly caterpillar letters c a d e g o q f s

    Year 1 english · 3 Year 1 english · 2

  4. Letter families: long ladder letters l i t u j y

    Year 1 english · 3 Year 1 english · 2

  5. Letter families: one-armed robot letters r n m h b p k

    Year 1 english · 3 Year 1 english · 2

  6. Letter families: zig-zag letters v w x z, and sorting all four families

    Year 1 english · 3 Year 1 english · 2

  7. Capital letters: forming them from the top

    Year 1 english · 4

  8. Digits 0 to 9: forming them the right way round

    Year 1 english · 5

  9. Handwriting challenge (10 questions)

What the chapters cover in the national curriculum in England:

  1. Year 1 english: Sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly
  2. Year 1 english: Begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place
  3. Year 1 english: Understand which letters belong to which handwriting 'families' (ie letters that are formed in similar ways) and to practise these
  4. Year 1 english: Form capital letters
  5. Year 1 english: Form digits 0-9

About this adventure

Year 1 Handwriting is an interactive tracing game that teaches children aged 5 to 7 to sit and hold a pencil correctly and to form lower-case letters, capital letters and the digits 0 to 9. It follows the Year 1 handwriting objectives in the national curriculum for England.

Poppy the pencil shows how each letter is written, then the child traces it on lined paper. A green dot marks the start, arrows show the direction and a star marks the finish. If a child starts at the wrong end or goes round the wrong way, Poppy notices and gives a gentle hint.

Children also meet the four handwriting families: letters formed in similar ways, such as the curly caterpillar letters that all begin like c. They sort letters into their families, and they check that tricky digits like 3 and 7 face the right way.

Questions and answers

What handwriting do children learn in Year 1?

In Year 1, children learn to sit correctly and hold a pencil comfortably, to form lower-case letters in the right direction, starting and finishing in the right place, and to form capital letters and the digits 0 to 9. They also learn which letters belong to which handwriting family.

What are handwriting letter families?

Letter families are groups of letters formed with the same first movement. Curly caterpillar letters like c, a and o curl back and round, long ladder letters like l and t go straight down, one-armed robot letters like n and h go down then up and over, and zig-zag letters like v and z use straight slanting lines.

How should a child hold a pencil?

Most children are taught the tripod grip: the pencil is pinched between the thumb and pointer finger and rests on the middle finger. It is held just above the sharpened wooden part. A simple way to find it is to pinch near the point, then flip the pencil back onto the hand.

Why do children write b and d the wrong way round?

Mixing up b and d is common while children are learning to write and usually fades by about age 7. Forming them differently helps: d starts with a curly c shape and then a tall line, while b starts with a long line down and then bounces round.

What age is this handwriting game for, and how long does it take?

The game is made for children aged 5 to 7, especially those in Year 1. It has eight short chapters, a 10-question challenge and a practice board for tracing any letter or digit, and takes about 45 minutes to play through in full.

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